RailGateStillRustingVille
The Campbell-Clark government released the Toope report today, right before everyone took off for the Remembrance Day long weekend.
And it most definitely does NOT deal with the Basi-Virk double-down in any detail.
How do we know this?
Because it is stated, up front, by the author himself, on page 2:
"...I was well aware in conducting this review that the concern to reconsider the indemnity policy was prompted in some considerable measure by public interest in the indemnities granted to Messrs. Basi and Virk in criminal proceedings against them. However, my mandate did not focus on those cases alone. Although I consider them, I do so only in the context of fifteen or so years of practice involving many other cases....."
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Now.
When Dr. Toope was asked to conduct his review back in the late spring of this year, the ask was designed, in my opinion, to mollify a riled-up electorate that was extremely angry about the $6 million that was paid out to Mess'rs Basi and Virk that facilitate the abrupt end of the Railgate trial just as all manner of Campbell-Clark government functionaries and associates were set to take the stand to answer questions, under oath, with no Sub-Judice Priests to protect them....
So.
Who was it, exactly, that commissioned this review that did not review the thing that the public most wanted reviewed?
Well, conventional wisdom has it that it was then (but now no longer) Attorney General Barry Penner.
But...
I seem to recall another possibility.
One that was raised by Les Leyne in a little smidgeon of a 'Day-In-The-Life' story in the VT-C from back in June that goes like this:
"....There's also a hint the premier may have been involved in naming UBC's Stephen Toope to review the $6-million Basi-Virk legal payout.
Attorney General Barry Penner told the legislature about it in May, but Clark met with Toope for an hour on April 15, when unspecified issues were discussed...."
Interesting that, especially given the fact that Ms. Clark is now nowhere to be found given that she is far, far away in China on this, the latest BC Government, 'Take Out The Trash Day'.
OK?
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4 comments:
According to
Hansard, Christy Clark said "Nothing is explicitly excluded from Dr. Toope's purview."
Of course, the $5-million Basi/Virk enticement is not part of what he was asked to examine either. That fact guaranteed he would not examine it, just as he would not examine the efficacy of the new malaria vaccine or causes of global warming, also not part of his references. Toope may be a reputable man but the institution he heads in massively dependant on funding of Christy Clark's government. He should not have accepted the assignment in the first place. Does he not understand CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
It is absolutely clear that Toope report is a mere diversion. Nobody was faulting the policies in place, we were faulting the government's failure to follow existing policies, which are traditional and widespread through parliamentary democracies.
Civil servants are not protected from the costs and consequences of wrongs done outside their duties, particularly when they act against the interests of the Crown.
Had authorities proceeded with charges involving illegal drug distribution, would the Liberals have paid the defendants' costs?
Thank-you Norman,
I cannot disagree with anything you've said.
And, that passage from Hansard is a doozie. Pretty much puts Ms. Clark's 'purview', not to mention fingerprints, all over this outcome.
I'll comment on it (see Norman's link above) later.
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On a completely unrelated note....Where'd that DHo trial go?
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Palmer sure looks young in the above graphic. As in young enough to have watched the Millionaires win the Stanley Cup, which seems like the length of time this Railgate thing has been festering like an incurable, but never quite fatal, disease.
Beer--
The Dean was very likely at the some of the same punk rock shows that we both went to see back in the old days....
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