Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Great Coast Guard Base Swindle...What The 'Memo' Says.

There'sNoBlueprintLike
TheHighCommissioner'sBlueprintVille


Now.

It is still not entirely clear that  the 'memo' first mentioned by Jas Johal and Peter Meiszner of Global on Friday and, apparently, leaked by Jim Sinclair, actually refers to the Kits Coast Guard Base land.

But the timing is mighty suspicious (and does not quite jibe with the previously announced timing of how the other Jericho stuff farther west was supposed to go down).

And with that in mind...

Sam Cooper, of the The Province, gives us a little more of the text of the 'memo':

...The federal memo...{snippety doo-dah}... obtained by the Sunday Province, says agencies have "presented the First Nation equity proposal for the Jericho Beach, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and RCMP site," in a land negotiation that the government wants to wrap up by May or June 2013.

"This proposal unlocks the value of these properties for the economic benefit of all parties . . . [and the negotiation must establish] a joint-venture agreement between First Nations and Canada Lands Company which will capture the nature of the partnership," says the memo, which does not identify the First Nations involved. Canada Lands Co. is an agency that acquires sites deemed as "surplus properties" no longer needed by government, in order to transfer sale proceeds to the federal treasury...



Look.

We here in Lotusland have seen this 'unlocking of the value' gambit before.

Specifically, it was a grift run by the current High Commisioner of Great Britain, Mr. Gordon Campbell, when he and a bagman ran a little misdirection that led to a billion dollar play that involved the giving away of a chunk of Pacific Spirit Park's heart. 

The thing is, back then, in the case of the Park, the misdirection involved a golf course that had to be 'saved'.

In this case, if the deal really is going down on the end of Kits Point, it was a Coast Guard base that had to be 'killed'.

But, then again, when the potential bonanza for developers is billions....

Well, what does a little faux 'saving' and one true 'killing' really matter when it comes to the public trust?

****


Meanwhile, the federal Minister responsible for (allegedly) turning Public Works private, Ms. Rona Ambrose, was in Lotusland this weekend telling anybody who would listen that it was actually the Coast Guard's decision, or based on their advice, or all such a longtime ago, or some such pretzellian logistical nightmarish thing:

..."Well, my understanding is that was a decision that was made some time ago and everyone in the region was aware of it, and of course this was on the advice of the Coast Guard," she (Ambrose) said...

Sheesh.

No.

Super sheesh.


.

5 comments:

Hugh said...

As if Vancouver needs more ugly condo towers.

savecfbrockcliffe's blog said...

My brother lives in British Columbia---the people of B.C. have lost Marathon Realty/CPR land; the Expo '86 land; lighthouses; marinas and harbours. The Fraser Institute wants Canada Place in Vancouver privatized.Canada Lands owned a DFO property in Richmond; CFB Chilliwack, and now the Canada Lands Company owns CFB Jericho Beach. savecfbrockcliffe.

scotty on Denman said...

Almost seems like a case of hostile collusion-complicity designed to separate First Nations, if any would be tempted, from the broad sympathy for their anti-pipeline stance they currently enjoy. Harper constantly undercuts FN claims to negotiated treaties by political means, specifically by cynical who-gets-what analysis. Treaties are, in contrast, Constitutional in nature and further distinguished from mercurial politics by categorically conclusive SCoC decisions.

And there is spoil.

Anonymous said...

There is not a shred of logistics anywhere, in closing the busiest Rescue Base in Canada. This is likely some of Harper's corporate pals, wanting to build condo's or, who knows what?

The money trail should show up pretty soon. That the Coast Guard favored shutting down Kits, is totally laughable.

Harper's Cons in BC lie just as much as, they do in Ottawa. Besides which. Harper is no Conservative. He flies under a false flag.

West End Bob said...

Is it not annoying as hell to watch the "government of Canada" (aka, harper regime) ads on the TeeVee extolling their job creation?!?

'Course, the opening segment is a shot of downtown Vancouver across English Bay from Jericho Beach. Conveniently absent is the Kits Coast Guard station.

Wonder how many jobs were "created" by that closing ? ? ? ?