...Smearing Begin!
Yesterday morning we noted that the smearing, which Ben Parfitt early today indicated was orchestrated by a PR firm (and if that was, indeed, the case, where did the money come from to pay said PR firm we wonder?), began before the report was withheld by the Speaker of the House around lunchtime.
What we did not mention was that there were Doppler echoes of the smear reverberating later in the afternoon into the early evening.
Echoes....errrrr...'rants'...like.....this.
But now that the AG's report that you paid for has finally been released (which you can actually read for yourself, sans pay wall, here), the smear machine is cranking up all over again.
Why?
Because, apparently, the Auditor General must be discredited at all costs to ensure that no one actually reads and considers the report on its merits.
At least that seems to be story according to BC Liberal government Environment Minister Terry Lake:
Terry Lake: "I guess the question is who audits the auditor general ... His conclusions are not backed up by the data." #bcpoli
— Andrew MacLeod (@A_MacLeod_Tyee) March 27, 2013
Personally, based what I have read in the AG's actual report so far, and in the analysis from folks like Laila Yuile and Bob Simpson, people like the good Minister and the other propagators of the smear are soon going to regret their words.
Or, at the very least, be forced to eat them.
OK?
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15 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxY4H9tIY4E&feature=youtu.be
I think Terry Lake needs to take a time-out
Oh Yeah and there's more smearing behind the Globe's pay wall...here's a big chunk of Mark Hume's latest report:
On Wednesday the government joined that attack, with B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake calling a press conference in Vancouver to dismiss Mr. Doyle’s report only an hour after it was officially released.
“We fundamentally reject the Auditor-General’s conclusions,” said Mr. Lake, who claimed Mr. Doyle simply didn’t have the expertise needed to understand and critique carbon-offset projects.
“I guess the question is: who audits the auditor-general? And in this case, you know, he’s come to conclusions we feel that are not backed up by the data,” said Mr. Lake.
Companies that trade in carbon offsets and the Pacific Carbon Trust, a Crown agency set up by the government for that purpose, made similar points in statements Wednesday.
The effort to undermine Mr. Doyle, however, began months earlier, when a flood of letters to the Auditor-General and to the Attorney-General raised concerns that the audit was biased and needed to be vetted by government before it was released.
...
Mr. Doyle’s critics say they wrote the letters because they were concerned the report could unfairly damage the carbon-trading market and perhaps destroy the Pacific Carbon Trust.
But in his report Mr. Doyle complains he was the target of a campaign that was clearly meant to throw him off track and ruin his credibility.
“Of all the reports I have issued, never has one been targeted in such an overt manner by vested interests, nor has an audited organization ever broken my confidence, as did the senior managers at PCT by disclosing confidential information to carbon market developers and brokers,” he states in the report.
The Pacific Carbon Trust did not respond to a request for an interview, but issued a statement saying the audit wasn’t fair.
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James Tansey, CEO of Offsetters, a private company, said there was no conspiracy to discredit the Auditor-General or stop his report from being released.
“I’ve been saying for weeks, just get the report out,” Mr. Tansey said Wednesday.
“I wrote to [Attorney-General] Shirley Bond … not to say please block the report, but to say they might want to review it before it was released to make sure there is nothing in it that is written in bad faith and leaves the province open to being sued,” he said.
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In the Darkwoods project the government bought offsets from the Nature Conservancy of Canada for setting aside timber in southeast B.C. The government also bought offsets from the Encana Underbalance Drilling project, in which the company reduced gas flaring near Fort Nelson.
The audit concludes that both of those projects would have proceeded without the $6-million in carbon offsets purchased by the government.
“The Pacific Carbon Trust has not purchased credible offsets,” states the audit, which also concludes government paid far higher than open market prices.
In its efforts to be carbon neutral, B.C. requires all government agencies, including schools and hospitals, to offset greenhouse gas emissions with purchases made by the Pacific Carbon Trust.
Bob Simpson, an independent MLA who has repeatedly questioned the practice, said it’s clear vested interests are trying to destroy Mr. Doyle’s credibility.
Mr. Simpson said last year several organizations told him Pacific Carbon Trust officials had asked them “to write a letter to the Auditor-General decrying the audit.”
...
And if you can't READ the report there's alway's the talkie/listen version complete a slide show.... produced by the Auditor General's Office.
"Terry Lake dismissed the audit because it was not conducted by experts in the field of carbon offsets."
"Terry Lake told reporters that all the carbon offsets the government has purchased from the private sector are legitimate because they have been vetted by third-party verifiers and validators."
LOL what a comedian.
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Auditor+general+delivers+damning+report+controversial+carbon+trading/8160696/story.html
BC Liberals: "There's Doyle!"
BC Liberals: "Get Doyle in your sights!"
BC Liberals: "Ready. Aim. FIRE!"
BC Liberals: "Damn, we shot ourselves in the foot... again."
Have a llok at the qualifications of the board and management of the Pacific Carbon Trust..The CEO is a school teacher; and the rest of the gang is here:
http://pacificcarbontrust.com/who-we-are/our-team/
Intersting they'd be so quick to crtiicize John Doyle
I was, in a past life, a corporate guy. The idea that I could dismiss a negative audit by claiming PWC or Touche Ross didn't understand the business is ridiculous. Shareholders would smell a rat. I would have been fired.
And why is Terry Lake responding?
Mike de Jong, as finance minister, is responsible for PCT, and the alleged waste of millions of dollars. Ministerial accountability should matter.
Interesting that Mike Watson, on the Board of Directors of Pacific Carbon Trust and responsible for the direction of that entity is also a principal of Wazuku Advisory Group, which is conducting the CC4BC smear of Adrian Dix.
Thanks everybody.
And ya, as per Paul's comment, there sure to seem to be all manner of rodential odours emanating from this one, eh.
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us ordinary folk understand perfectly well that the Pacific Carbon Trust was a scam, that the HST was a massive tax shift onto our backs, and that BC has been run into bankruptcy by the BC Liberals and their cronies.
All of us ordinary folk are far, far smarter than the BC Liberals and MSM give us credit for.
Thanks Ross for being one of the good guys!
otr
James King above provides quotes from one of Mark Hume's G&M pieces, wherein he quotes James Tansey of Offsetters, a critic of the Auditor General.
Mr. Tansey is probably quite happy with Pacfic Carbon Trust and its operations. No wonder. Offsetters Clean Technology Inc. received $1,613,957 from this public agency.
Presumably much of that cash would otherwise have been wasted on schools and hospitals.
If PCT sends me a cool million, I'll get on board as well.
I should have indicated the source of the information disclosing the payments to Offsetters.
Bob Mackin fought PCT for months seeking information. After Bob appealed their evasion attempts, he learned who got large piles of money from PCT. (No wonder the BC Libs are trying to s tarnish Bob's triple-A reputation and delay his dogged investigations.)
Find the list here:
Should you trust the Pacific Carbon Trust?
Be a regular at Bob's site. He's one of the best.
Thanks Norm. And thanks to Bob too..I've been looking into the qualifications of the "team" at Pacific Carbon Trust and I've come to the conclusion there's virtually no one in that group with the beans to criticize John Doyle's work... and the Board is no better. Chaired by Chris Trumpy, who was involved (in one way or another) in much of the BC Rail 'sale', I don't see them as very credible either.
I notice Tansey has been twittering like a canary though.
Thanks James and Norm--
I agree.
Mr. Mackin has done yoeman's work on all this stuff.
You know, Mr. Mackin himself would be an interesting interview given that he seems to be doing all this as the ultimate freelancer, and seems to be able to survive doing so.
I would think that if we could ever set up some kind of Lotuslandian division of a proPublica-style organization 'round here that Mr. Mackin is someone who's work we would want to support.
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Looking at Mr. Mackin's list again....
Do find it interesting that there are no PR firms listed there...Could just be the timing, of course.
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