Friday, April 11, 2014

This Afternoon In Snookland...Sometimes A Walk In The Park Is Not What It Seems.

ThatWasThen
ThisIs NowVille



Walking in the park in the dead of the winter:

...RCI CEO John Park was asked on Jan. 21 if Clark was involved with RCI, in addition to her then-husband, lobbyist Mark Marissen.

"With RCI? No never," Park told The Tyee. "We hired Mark because of his work with then federal Liberal leader [Stephane] Dion. He was, from what I've been told, the strategic campaign manager for Mr. Dion. So just out of his competence in that area is the reason we hired Mark for a file. Nothing to do with then Christy Clark, as you say, was just doing talk radio. In fact, I've never met Christy Clark before then."...


Walking in the park in the clear, clean light of spring:

...(Mr.) Park did not respond to Tyee interview requests on April 10, but was quoted in other media reports claiming Clark was not paid and didn't do any work, despite corporate registry records showing she remained a director of RCI Pacific Gateway Education Inc. until it was dissolved on May 16, 2011 -- two months into her premiership -- for failure to file...

{snippety doodle-dandy}

...An April 2, 2008 RCI letter to University of New Brunswick Saint John associate vice-president Mohamed Kabir was copied to "RCI PGEI chairman" Clark. That letter proposed a $52 million program to recruit 1,050 foreign students over three years. It does not appear to have succeeded.

"PGEI whose founding chair is former B.C. deputy premier and education minister Christy Clark, has developed an innovative and turn-key business model designed to undertake large-scale recruitment of international students in partnership with a Canadian public university," the letter said...




This moment in fresh air and exercise has been brought to you by the irrepressible Mr. Bob Mackin.



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3 comments:

North Van's Grumps said...

So when Stockwell Day stepped up to the plate to Endorse Christy Clark's end run into the Kelowna Riding Seat in 2013, did he happen to mention their common tie to the RCI Group.

Or Stockwell Day's other interest: WesternOne, which runs Britco, a temporary/modular home builder, and WesternOne Rentals and Sales, an equipment rental company destined for the Three/Five LNG plants....in Northern British Columbia .....if it manages to build up its LNG industry in the northwest, there’s a good chance WesternOne would benefit (the company figured in the B.C. Liberal re-election campaign and sits on the board).

No mention though of donations in FRPC (Financial Reports and Political Contributions) by Elections BC database. Britco Yes, but not since 2010. Maybe it was via mobile offices.

paul said...

I think the most significant information is the April 2008 letter to UNB which indicates the company was operating long after Park and Clark claim it closed and was still presenting Clark as the chair.
It's also notable that neither Clark nor the company have produced any paper trail to show the contract providing her with four-per-cent of revenues and commissions was terminated. No board minutes, or letter of resignation - nothing. That kind of evidence would put things to rest.
At the very best, it looks like a sloppy and incompetent way to do business.

RossK said...

Paul--

That, coupled with the 'contract', that Mr. Millar has put up on line for sure.

There's something else that is important to consider here, in terms of the bigger picture...

Which is how post-secondary institutions in this country have gone whole hog with programs for foreign students...

Revenue generator?

Sure.

But who else, besides the institutions, is wins?

(and is anybody losing?)

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