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

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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.

.