Friday, March 24, 2017

Two Advisors In Clarkland With Exactly The Same Middle Name.

Who'sAdvising
WhoVille

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Please see update at the bottom of the post
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According to Rob Shaw, Mr. Steven Carr is a former Deputy Minister who had become Premier Clark's 'special advisor' and de-facto chief of staff by January of 2016 when the Vancouver Sun published Mr. Shaw's piece titled "Meet the 5 Powerful People Behind The Premier":

"The LNG Boss" Special adviser

The top staffer in the premier's office is a former 27-year civil servant who helped the premier kickstart her most important file: liquefied natural gas.

An economist by training, Steve Carr spent years as deputy minister of LNG, growing what's become the core of the premier's jobs plan. He created the new LNG tax regime and led negotiations with large LNG companies (though none have made final investment decisions). The importance of the file led to close work with Clark, both within B.C. and on overseas trade trips. When Carr, 56, announced his intent to retire last year (i.e. 2015), Clark asked him to instead lead her staff. Don't let his title of special adviser fool you. Carr has all the powers of her chief of staff, overseeing political employees in the building and making sure virtually every file of importance to government is aligned with the premier's priorities. It's the second time Clark has turned to an experienced, non-partisan civil servant to take on the hyper-partisan role of running her office. Carr's predecessor, Dan Doyle, spent 50 years working for the government and was known for his calm demeanour and problem-solving skills. Carr appears a similar choice...



As you might expect, it turns out that the good Mr. Carr was compensated well for his work, presumably in his role as Deputy Minister in fiscal 2015/16 (see pg 11 of the document; pg 10 of the pdf file):



Now, the level of compensation for Mr. Carr is not the item I would like you to focus on here.

Instead, please note the good Mr. Carr's middle name, which is 'James'.

This is something I will return to later in the post.


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So, moving on....

Also in fiscal 2015/16...

A numbered company called '1048216 B.C. LTD' was awarded a no bid contract worth $228,000 to provide 'Strategic and Personnel Advice' to the Premier's office beginning on February 01, 2016.

As a result, this particular numbered company received $57,394 compensation from the province of British Columbia in fiscal year 2015/16 (i.e. between February 1 and April 30, 2016 when the fiscal year's accounting for such contracts ended; see pg 385 of the document; pg 383 of the pdf):



Interestingly, this particular numbered company later received a second no bid contract for $190,000 to provide the same 'Strategic and Personnel Advice' to the Premier's office between Oct 01, 2016 and April 10, 2017.

We noted the details of these contracts, worth a total of $418,000 over a period of approximately 14 months, yesterday. 

Also yesterday, we noted that up until December of  2015  '1048216 B.C. LTD' was instead known as 'STEVECARR CONSULTANTS INC.'

Now.

Yesterday, I was willing to concede that this might all be a coincidence.

After all, there are likely numerous folks named Steve Carr living across the depth and breadth of British Columbia and there might even be a few Steve Carrs among that group that have the skill set to provide 'Strategic and Personnel Advice' to the office of the Premier of the province.

But then the following turned up in my Email inbox:



Hmmmm....

Mr. Carr the 'Consultant' is also named Steven James Carr and he also lives in Victoria British Columbia?

Gosh.

Armed with this new information I can't help but conclude that the 'special advisor' to the Premier of British Columbia and the president of '1048216 B.C. LTD' are the very, very, very likely the very one and the same person.

Which begs the question...

Is the Premier's special advisor receiving $418,000 worth of advice from himself?

And/or...

Is the consultant also the advisor who, at least according to Mr. Shaw of the VSun as noted above, also:

...has all the powers of her (i.e. Ms. Clark's) chief of staff, overseeing political employees in the building and making sure virtually every file of importance to government is aligned with the premier's priorities...




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Post-script: To be clear, there is no evidence that Mr. Carr, the special advisor to the Premier, is not being compensated entirely through the no-bid contracts. Regardless, why the numbered company cloak?...Furthermore, as was pointed out in the original post, the details of the contracts themselves are not publicly available due to matters of 'confidentiality'...Finally, someone in the 'media' has submitted freedom of information request for the details of the numbered companies actions and expenditures in carrying out the original contract. Apparently, this request is currently under 'legislative review'.




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Special thanks to reader Lew for digging up the public accounts records (and the specific pages!) that detail the compensation to Mr. Carr and Mr. Carr's company in fiscal 2015/16
Also special thanks to  A. Reader for sending the corporate director info on '1048216 B.C. LTD' my way. I cannot link to it because it is behind a paywall at BCOnline.gov.bc.ca...The public can get access but you have to subscribe for a hundred bucks....I was willing to pay but I was not willing to wait for them to do the paperwork on my application...Which is great because now I can send the $100 to a much more worthwhile endeavour.
Finally, please note that... I removed the street address for Mr. Carr from the corporate directory document, above and have not listed the second principal in the company...
And extra-special finally...Those of you who like to stop by here occasionally who may have noticed that I've been trying like heckfire to get out of the hard-core BCPoli Blogging game...But I know my good friend BCMary would, if she could, very likely smack me up the side of the head if I really did so before election day... 
Update, late Friday:  In the original version of this post it could have been assumed that I was indicating that Mr. Carr was receiving additional compensation separate from the contracts themselves. There is no evidence of that. Thus, I have edited the post to make sure that is clear and I have added the post-script.


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18 comments:

davemj said...

It will be a sorry day for your readers when and if this should happen know it must be so time consuming i can understand if you were ever to make that decision but the service and information you give us is greatly appreciated.I hope there is no pressure behind your thoughts as the people at the trough are capable of the nasty corrupt acts.Thank you so much

RossK said...

davemj--

Naw.

I'm just tired.

'Cause I've been doing this for a long...

...time.


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Alison said...

Yes you have. Magnificently. I figure at this point we're all keeping the faith for the next batch of pamphleteers.

So a Steve Carr was the Board Chair of the BC Oil & Gas Commission in 2015.
Page 5 https://www.bcogc.ca/node/12876/download

North Van's Grumps said...

How many of the Appointees that the BC Liberals make via the BRDO donate a $1000 of their funding back to the BC Liberals?

"There are over 300 public agencies to which the provincial government makes appointments. The term agency includes: authorities, boards, commissions, corporations and councils."


Board Resourcing and Development Office Openings ... like Steve Carr's appointment by Christy Clark

Current Vacancies

BC Assessment Authority
BC Land Title and Survey Authority
Board of Examiners (Local Government)
Community Living British Columbia
Drug Benefit Council - Professional Members
Drug Benefit Council - Public Members
Health Authority - Northern
Insurance Council of British Columbia
University - University of Northern British Columbia
Agricultural Land Commission
Assayers Certification Board of Examiners
Auditor Certification Board
BC Chicken Marketing Board
BC Transit Corporation
BC Utilities Commission

etc, etc, etc, etc

North Van's Grumps said...

BCUC Chairman Steve Carr recent decisions

Lew said...

RossK, Rob Shaw said in the Vancouver Sun article that Mr. Carr is the top "staffer" in the Premier's office, and is "an experienced, non-partisan civil servant". Now, if that is true, Mr. Carr and Christy have some serious explaining to do regarding why there are large contracts coming out of her office to a numbered company with apparent connections (to say the least) to Mr. Carr.

Now, if Rob Shaw's Vancouver Sun story isn't true, and Mr. Carr in fact retired and went immediately to work on large sole-source contract(s) while receiving a Deputy Minister's pension rather than just moving laterally in to "lead her staff", then Rob Shaw has some serious explaining to do about why he misled us.

There are serious ramifications arising from whether or not Mr. Carr is a contractor or a civil servant, and Christy Clark needs to step up and explain what's going on here.

Anonymous said...

Excellent work, no wonder the mainstream media is so afraid of the bloggers!

Hats off to you!

Anonymous said...

Yes ..... Sure miss BC MARY ..... She sure was most excellent.
Thanks for your similar style.
Dan.

Anonymous said...

I also appreciate your blog Ross and check it every day.

As for the Carr/Clark relationship, it seems akin to the Campbell no-records Dobell arrangement. RG

Anonymous said...

The original BCRail site blog

http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.ca

Grant G said...

Mr. K....Fine work indeed....Impressive.

I'd like to add this..for what it's worth(considering I'm a mere lowly blogger)

Gordon Wilson 2013 to the present has been paid near $500,000.00 to promote and foster LNG growth...Steve Carr was paid by guv while DM in the natural gas/lng ministry...

Now Steve Carr is being paid a fortune more under the guise of LNG..

And here it 1/4 of the way through 2017 and there is no LNG...and there will be no big LNG project coming online for a decade or more, maybe, probably never..

The amount spent by guv on LNG..not counting the above, countless press releases, phony photo-ops, Asian LNG missions...and as Norm Farrell has highlighted, untold giveaways with drilling credits, deep-drilling credits, royalty reductions, etc etc etc..

Now our nat-gas industry is now a welfare industry, all to lure in Big LNG...

All that "expertise"..spindoctors, bullshit new releases...

The LNG results we see today, was all forecast by yours truly for free..

Foolish, stupid, costly, nothing to show for but losses and giveaways...for if a smart premier, a smart government would never have approached LNG like this..

A smart premier and government would have focused on getting 1 big LNG plant, to the proponent who offered BC the best deal...a smart guv would have offered something select, exclusive....but no, Clark blathered about $trillions and 20 LNG plants, running around like chickens only to end up with an empty nest..

The "best and the brightest" Christy Clark and her Liberal gang have relied on come at great cost to taxpayers, and future taxpayers..

Thanks again Ross

Anonymous said...

As I understand it David Morton is the Chair and CEO of BC Utilities Commission. I see no reference to Steve Carr appearing anywhere in the BCUC decisions. It would be horrifying if he had anything to do with BCUC. It would be akin to appointing Jessica McDonald as chair and CEO. But I wouldn't doubt for a minute that the BC Liberal Party of Quislings would attempt such a thing.

RossK said...

Points very well taken Lew--

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Thanks everyone.

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Anon-Above--

I believe you are correct.

NVG - are missing something?




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North Van's Grumps said...

January 14, 2014 Steve Carr, Chair of BC Oil and Gas Commission Page 5 of 7

RossK said...

Got that NVG--

Have been following the comings and goings of that fine group very finest of the fine fine folks since the days of the GordCo Inc's six million dollar (made) man.


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davemj said...

God help us how much worse does it get, i thought there were rules about majority of media being owned by the same share holders owners? No wonder people do not buy these rags so they they are bought by
Govt and their backers.While crapping on the peons!

John's Aghast said...

I too have been wondering about the makeup of the BCUC, in case Mr. Horgan finds a need to call on them after May 9th.
Are we sure they are non-partisan?
Are they 'keeping up to speed' with regards to Site C, just in case they are called upon to perform a review?
How are they compensated?
Do they have a 'day job'?

Darryl R Taylor said...

Has anything happened with the FOI request mentioned at the tail end of the article?

Even with the replacement of several key BC Hydro personnel by the Horgan government, there is still a likelihood that there are people appointed by Clark and her Cabinet throughout multiple agencies, whose interests are either selfish or those of outside agencies (ie the folks who have been calling the shots for BC Liberal policy setting for a decade or more).