PropVille
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Update, Friday Afternoon: Merv Adey has the latest on the 'leaning' aspect of this story....Here
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A while back blogger Merv Adey, with the help of an inquisitive reader, explained why those BC Liberal government ads claiming that 20 billion dollars had been invested in the province because of LNG were filled to bursting with codswallop.
Subsequently, Mr. Adey's reader filed a complaint about the ads being misleading to the 'Advertising Standards Council' (ASC). According to Merv, here's what happened:
...Who knew that the ASC worked so fast? Eleven days later, at the height of the Christmas season no less, our guy is informed that rather than respond to the complaint… the BC Government has decided to withdraw the misleading $20 Billion figure from all its advertising. The ASC now considers the matter closed, though a case summary with no names attached will appear on the ASC’s quarterly report...
All of which is a great story of how Clarklandian codswallop can be dealt with effectively by the citizenry, particularly when the puffed-up proMedia punditry continues to happily wallow in said codswallop, snouts down, in search of the tastiest bits of submerged insider access offal at the bottom of the trough.
But then Andrew MacLeod of the Tyee did a little extra digging and the story took a turn...
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Mr. MacLeod first contacted the Clarklandian natural gas development ministry for a comment and got stonewalled.
So he called the fine folks in charge of government propaganda, a.k.a. the advanced education ministry (that last bit is not a joke in case you were wondering), and got a PAB-Botian-type spokesthingy on the line who said that Mr. Adey was mistaken because the government had, indeed, responded:
...The decision to take the LNG ad out of rotation “a few days” early was not directly due to the complaint, the spokesperson said. He said Advertising Standards Canada had “erroneously” told the complainant in a Dec. 21 letter that it was.
After the government complained to the ASC about the Dec. 21 letter, the agency sent a second letter to the complainant. “The letter states: ‘In effect, the substance of the complaint was not determined by ASC or Standards Council. However, the advertiser opted to remove the advertisement and ASC now considers the matter closed.’”
The advanced education ministry spokesperson said the government had sent material supporting its claim to Advertising Standards Canada, which said it was going to review the matter.
It made sense to pull the ad since it was coming out of rotation soon and was getting complaints, the spokesperson said...
So.
There you have it....
Even when they are caught with their pants on fire these fine folks (folks who are paid by you and me) can twist absolutely anything into a pretzellian logic turd that can clog even the largest diameter crapper.
Merv, via the Twittmachine, has let us know that he has an update coming.
And I would not be surprised to see a follow-up from Mr. Macleod.
As for the local puffed-up punditry?
Well, given that they know who butters their insider accessed offal-laden toast shanks located deep within the codswallop trough, I'm pretty sure they will move onto the next really big obvious thing as soon as possible.
OK?
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And as for that 'material supporting its claim' that the government allegedly sent to the Advertising Standards Council?....Will that ever see the light of day?...Somehow I doubt that too.
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18 comments:
This story was like an early Christmas present. I hope we see much more of this kind of thing in 2017!
Anon-Above--
Agreed.
Also shows that independence matters...Because, if the spokesthingy's story is correct, this would NOT have happened if the Clarklandians had gotten to the ASC first.
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I have noticed a nightly brainwash with these ads on the Global Liberal TV station, and regularly yell "how many jobs" at the big screen TV.
Maybe not so many?
Chuck--
Maybe not, indeed.
(me, I try to do my yelling in blog-space; yelling at the TeeVee and/or radio scares the neighbours)
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RossK- This is what I found at Pacific Northwest LNG in regards to jobs.
"There are currently no job openings. Please check back later."
How much later Christy? 20 Billion later?
Nothing to do with a complaint, the ad was pulled because they didn't have any cats in it.
Chuck--
Well...
Luckily for him and his, a former sheep farmer with absolutely no discernible oil and gas experienced, managed to land pretty good job flogging non-existent LNG Sparkle Ponies on our dime.
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mcg--
Me still laughing.
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Merv's update is up...
...Here.
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Jeez, what if I'd invested in, say, a house up in 20-billion-dollar-land on the basis of that BC Lieberal $20 billion? Would I have a case if my attorney could show the BC Liberal government willfully misinformed me and nearly (i.e., excepting a certain small crony-cartel of BC Liberal insiders) everybody else?
SH @ Merv,
Imagine, unassuming Mr. Adey, leading Goliath to the precipice.
I've heard Merv on radio with Tsakumis…Clark style gloating wouldn't be his style. Indeed, the meek DO inherit the Earth.
“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
“As the playwright George Bernard Shaw once put it: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
SH:
The fine Mr. Adey:
"Oh, and one more bit..Government decided to pull the ad early because it was generating complaints! Imagine that."
The Smart brain trust, are so delightfully responsive in demonstrating their precious sensitivity. Must be the Season of Miracles.
Pretty much fits the definition of a false prospectus. A person could face some jail time re s400 of the Criminal Code if he used the same material trying to lure investors.
I guess the citizenry is not allowed the same protection from its government trying to lure voters.
I think Lew just answered Scotty's question...
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SH--
On the Gladwell quote and all it entails...
On the other hand, when one's paycheque involves believing something is true (or at least not abjectly false) it becomes very easy to ignore the warning signs.
Which is why, sometimes, the amateurs, especially the good ones like Mr. Adey, have a real role to play.
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I really like the Upton Sinclair quote "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Jason--
Ya.
That's the one!
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The worst part of all the things that the BC Liberal Party have been able to get away with is the fact that the scribes and reporters that have been given the honour of being members of the press gallery, and all the perks that go along with this honour, continue to be put to shame by the likes of Bob Mackin and Dermond Travis. I don't believe that either can be labelled as members of a left wing group or any other label one can try to apply to them. They just do what a good reporter is supposed to do.
If the likes of Baldrey, Palmer, Smyth etc. did not question the claims of this taxpayer funded advertisement then they should all be looking for a new career. My rant has nothing to do with political party allegiance but rather the fact that the taxpayer is continually treated as a sucker by both our governance and the media types that are supposedly entrusted with keeping said governance's feet to the fire. This advertisement never passed the smell test from the get go and no matter what the spin doctors, that are also funded by the overburdened taxpayers, produce as its legitimacy is nothing but verbal diarrhea. Maybe if the government spent less taxpayer funded monies on polishing their own apple there would be no need for initiatives such as the newly announced first time home buyers program.
I feel better now. Merry Christmas to everyone.
CP--
Agreed.
And not that I want to spoil your Christmas cheer or anything...But if you want to see an example of the quislingification of all things local press gang clubbery have a gander at what S Smart said to Andrew MacLeod when the former 'apologized' for denying Andrew MacLeod an 'audience' with his dear leader...
...Here.
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