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Bob Mackin reckons the Campbell/Clark Government just may have pulled another billion dollar fast-one for a friendly:

Did the British Columbia government botch another billion-dollar deal?

Some of the biggest companies in Canada think so and this may ultimately be at the root of the cancellation of the Telus naming rights deal for B.C. Place Stadium.

Bell, Rogers and Shaw have accused the B.C. government of unfair tendering practices. They allege that the direct award of the government's $1 billion, 10-year long distance, voice, data and mobile phone service contract to Telusviolates national and international free trade agreements and even the government's own regulations! ...

{snippety doo-dah}

...This is what happened. The government issued a Negotiated Request for Proposal for its Strategic Telecommunications Services Procurement Project on Dec. 22, 2008. Just over two-and-a-half years later, the government suddenly halted the process of tendering nine "bundles" of work, took a 180-degree turn and gave Telus the whole enchilada, as they say, on June 29, 2011...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...The deal includes a two-year renewal option, so Telus could make $1.2 billion by the end of the term. Unsuccessful bidders had until July 13, 2011 to file complaints and, boy, did they ever!

A political party, whose name was not disclosed, obtained the vendor complaints after filing a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Labour, Citizens Services and Open Government. The 189 pages of information were posted online March 9, 2012. Download them all here....

And here I thought Telus generated all those jobs because their CEO, and their board, which includes Stockwell Day, were such brilliant free-enterprisers for truth, justice, and the Red Deer way.

Imagine that!

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Go read the entire Mackin piece, and marvel how this quasi-independent keeps banging the gongs of the entire PostMedia/BellGlobeEverythingElseMedia staffs put together when it comes to retail scoop-em'mundos.

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