Basi/Virk... T-Minus-Minus

T-Minus 40 - 42 = 82 Days
AndCountingVille


Sheesh.

Will this thing never start?

This morning we learn, via Mark Hume in the Globe, that British Columbia's trial of the century won't begin until June 5th.

On the plus side, however, Hume does go long with a little bit of speculative question asking:

Has the potentially explosive information that led police to raid the British Columbia legislature in 2003 been kept too secret, too long? Or should it continue to be withheld from the public to protect the rights of the accused to a fair trial?

Those were the essential questions put to Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett of B.C. Supreme Court yesterday as The Globe and Mail sought to unseal a series of search warrants issued in a case involving Udhe Singh (Dave) Basi, Bobby Singh Virk and Aneal Basi.

Judge Bennett reserved judgment until March 28, at which time she will decide if the details of the police case can come out, or if they should remain sealed until presented in the course of the trial which starts June 5.

From there it devolves into all the lawyers saying over and over and over again to hide everything.

One extra tidbit worth mentioning is the fact that Mr Virk's lawyer had a little bit more to say on the taint issue that we brought up yesterday.

Kevin McCullough, Mr. Virk's lawyer, said he was concerned that "witness tainting" could result from the reporting of statements in the documents given to police by various witnesses.

"The potential for tainting isn't illusory, it's real," he said.

To which we respond,

"Let Them Eat Taint!"

Because after more than two years it is high time we, the public, got to know who got what and when as a result of this deal.

After all, it's not like it wasn't our railway that was sold.

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Making like Tim Crouse to Sean Holman's Thompson (we reckon) on the front end of this thing, Irwin Loy has more in 24 hours, including extra background.

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Basi/Virk - The Countdown Continues...

T-Minus 41 Days
AndCountingVille

Federal Liberals......Provincial Liberals......Martini Operatives....Former GordCoCabinet Ministers....A man called Spiderman.....Allegations of Fraud.....Corruption....A Billion Dollar Deal.....The Selling Off Of A Crown Jewel.....

And it all begins in 41 days with the scheduled start of the Basi/Virk trial on April 24th.

And, apparently the media, the lawyers, and, perhaps, a few former cabinet minister are starting to get restless:

Canadian Press (No Byline)
Monday Mar 13

Lawyers for several Vancouver media outlets have asked a B.C. Supreme Court judge to release search warrant information related to the 2003 raid on the B.C. legislature.

The special prosecutor in the case and the lawyers for Bobby Virk, Dave Basi and Aneal Basi oppose releasing the information.

Special prosecutor Bill Berardino told Justice Elizabeth Bennett that a fair trial could be compromised if the information was released.

Dave Basi's lawyer, Michael Bolton, says releasing the information at this stage could taint witnesses who will testify when the trial starts in June.

Media lawyer Heather McConchie says because only some of the warrant information has been released the public isn't getting a complete picture of what the case is about.

Bennett has reserved her decision on the search warrants until March 28.

Dave Basi and Virk are charged with accepting a bribe, influence peddling, breach of trust and two counts of fraud over $5,000.

To which we would respond........Taint them all who are deserving. And the sooner the better.


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Root Causes Don't Count

MoneyMatters
EmpireVille


Yesterday we mentioned that Canada's new Dinosaur Jr. government jumped, with both feet, into the forced march towards that far-off valhalla known as 'Creative Destruction' in the Middle East when we voted with the United States (and only the United States), against a U.N. resolution designed to help Palestinian refugees return to their homes.

But not to worry.

After all, when you are not one of the chosen ones, who needs a Homeland to Secure as long as you've got a little green, especially if it's got 'humanitarian' written all over it in invisible ink.

Because, apparently, a little more cash is just what Condoleeza Rice now has in mind to assuage the non-existent, and certainly not seething, anger of all those displaced persons:

"We are looking at ways to even increase our humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people during this period of time, but there are important choices that the Palestinian people face concerning the road map and the Quartet requirements," she (Ms. Rice) said.



So, what's next - an exchange of hospitals and schools for cell phones and Wal-Marts?

And now that we are in the game, perhaps we could throw in a Timmy's or twelve.

After all, the idea of a honey-trapped Neocon Utopia sure worked wonders in Bagdhad.

Didn't it?


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Photo-credit: The late Paul Moran.

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Switch Into Glide

SoftPowerStomped
FlunkyVille

There are a number of very good reasons to do the right thing in Afghanistan.

And an excellent summary was recently posted by Dave at the Galloping Beaver.

But that doesn't mean we, the Canuckistani people, should keep silent when we do the wrong thing. For example, as reported by Paul Koring last week:

"But neither the new Conservative government in Ottawa nor its previous Liberal governments seem troubled by the sprawling detainee camps at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Not only has there been no Canadian demand for it to close, but Canada's special-forces units in Afghanistan continue to hand terrorism suspects over to U.S. forces who ship at least some of them to Guantanamo."


And, now there's this from Jeff Sallot today:

OTTAWA -- Canada voted against a controversial resolution on Palestinian rights at the United Nations yesterday, an early sign that the new Harper government is aligning its Middle East policy more closely with the views of Israel and the United States.

The previous Liberal government had abstained on the identical resolution last year. But on instructions from Ottawa, the Canadian delegation at the UN joined the United States to vote against a non-binding motion calling on Israel to allow all Palestinian refugee women and children to return to their homes.

The South-African-sponsored resolution was adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council by a vote of 41-2 with only Canada and the United States voting against it.

This was the first Middle East resolution to come before a UN body since Stephen Harper's Conservative government was sworn in last month.

Passivity is one thing, but active support for doomed policies of repression that encourage extremism is quite another.

Which, of course, is a clear example of why really knowing what you're voting for does count, regardless the minority thing.

Because, now, when even Republicans down south are jumping off the Strangelove-inspired PNACKian Doomwagon, Canada is being seen as suddenly clamouring to get on board.

And for what?

So that we can be honoured with the booby prize of giving the Jebbinator all of our oil in 2010?

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Original Link Source on Dave's Afghan piece from Cathie.
Update: Longtime reader and Quebec correspondent eteba wonders if Lester Pearson is spinning in his grave. We figure that if he is it's probably happening at approximately 1956 rpm.

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Privatize All The Lab Coats

LivingLargeInSweden
GreenVille


This is British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell visiting a private hospital in Sweden recently.

This is Mr. Campbell wearing a private green hospital lab coat.

This is Mr. Campbell after he appears to have had some difficulty buttoning his private green lab coat.

And then there's the hair net.*

Now, of course, pointing out a photo-op gone wrong could be considered by some to be little more than petty snark-o-lepsy.

And people of that opinion just might be right.

Then again, wasn't it our money that Mr. Campbell spent while he traipzed around Europe with his entourage in search the PerfectPublicPrivate Photo-op (ie. P3-Poo)?

Thus, it could be argued that we deserve to get something tangible out of the deal.

Even if it is only a brief chuckle or two.

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*And just so BC Liberal PR folks understand, especially the US Republican-inspired ones .....this is kind of like one of those Dukakis-in-the-tank-wearing-the-goofy-helmut - type moments.
For an adult-oriented, reality-based, P3Poo-free look at the red herring that the privatization issue really is, Andre Picard's piece in today's Globe was very, very good.


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De-Mock-Crazy

DownOnTheCorner
VancouverKingswayVille


Voters in mock byelection want Emerson to resign
Sun 05 Mar 2006 CBC News

Voters in David Emerson's riding are putting more pressure on him to resign following his defection to the Conservatives after being elected as a Liberal in the Jan. 23 federal election.

More than 900 people in his Vancouver-Kingsway riding voted in a mock election on Saturday. Nearly 95 per cent said they want Emerson to resign and run in a byelection.

It was a straw vote held at a few street corners around the riding for three hours, between 1:00pm and 4:00pm, on a reasonably nice early spring afternoon in Vancouver.

And after getting the youngest to and from tap dance class and then helping get some of the stuff required for her seven year old birthday party the next day (we had Starchild do the honours - she's fantastic), I arrived at Main and 26th just before 2pm to do my duty.

It was a fabulous scene - young/old; hip/square; Lib/NDP/Green; all ethnicities, and everybody was happy to vent about the betrayal, especially a very nice older lady who explained that she had worked like heck banging on doors for Mr. Emerson because she bought into his pre-election codswallop about how important it was for Canada and all it stands for to keep the CPC from gaining power.

Heckfire - just imagine if the thing had been formalized and if it had run all day long.

Regardless, as I've said before, I don't actually want Mr. Emerson to go.

Why?

Because I want to see him hanging from the neck of Mr. Harper like a huge bling bling-encrusted millstone from now until election day.

Nice mind's eye image, no?

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Just What Is A Pound Of Our Flesh Going For?

SellEverything
PrivatizationVille


Johnathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, March 04, 2006

The provincial government has auctioned off computer tapes containing thousands of highly sensitive records, including information about people's medical conditions, their social insurance numbers and their dates of birth.

Sold for $300 along with various other pieces of equipment, the 41 high-capacity data tapes were auctioned in mid-2005 at a site in Surrey that routinely sells government surplus items to the public.

Included among the files were records showing certain people's medical status -- including whether they have a mental illness, HIV or a substance-abuse problem -- details of applications for social assistance, and whether or not people are fit to work.

"This should never happen," Mary Carlson, director of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C., said Friday in an interview.

"There are dignity issues involved in a lot of these disclosures," she said, pointing to things such as HIV status and a need to apply for social assistance.

In an interview Friday afternoon, Labour Minister Mike de Jong, whose ministry oversees the auction process, said he has ordered an immediate investigation to determine how the breach took place.

"It is completely unacceptable for information like this to be unsecured in the way this clearly is," he said.

"People deserve to know [this] type of information . . . is secure and kept private," he added, offering an apology. "I can think of no excuse for information of this sort finding its way into the public domain."

Clearly, Mr. de Jong is shocked.....just shocked!

Which brings us back to a question we have asked about Mr. Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal Government many times before:

Is there anything of ours that this bunch wouldn't sell for money?

Because somehow we get the feeling that they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

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Mr. Harper Takes the Highroad.....

TheDerangement
Part XIX

.....Not!

OTTAWA (CP) - There's a possibility Stephen Harper's first act as prime minister may have breached the parliamentary ethical code for MPs, the federal ethics commissioner indicated Friday.

But Bernard Shapiro's decision to launch a "preliminary inquiry" into Harper's controversial appointment of former Liberal David Emerson to the Conservative cabinet met with a furious rebuttal from the Prime Minister's Office.

"The prime minister is loath to co-operate with an individual whose decision-making ability has been questioned and who has been found in contempt of the House," Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, said late Friday.

Sure thing Mr. Harper, sure thing.

After all, you may have a point that Mr. Shapiro is, indeed, a partisan hack.

Then again, in the words of that infamous straight-shooter, Baretta:

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

Or should that be something about keeping your eye on all those sparrows swooping down on 24 Sussex Drive?

Sheesh.

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Banging The Snooze Button On Saturday

Sibling Synergy
CampbellVille

I made a big mistake last night when I left the clock radio tuned to the (not-so)Giant '98 after listening to the the Canucklehead's game.

As a result, I was jolted awake this morning by the caterwauling of Michael Campbell.

And what I learned from my early morning scolding delivered by the Premier's brother is that anyone who is concerned about the consequences of increased private delivery for a universal public health care system is an idiot.

And one of the reasons for this self-delusional idiocy is the fact that, according to Campbell the Michael, fully 75% of our delivery is already private.

This is a statement he made most emphatically while inferring that anyone who didn't know it is actually an ostrich of very little brain.

Now, I have no idea of such a statement has even a grain of truth to it.

But the way Mr. Campbell trumpeted it as a reason for needing more private delivery is nothing short of bizarre.

Why?

Because if it is true it indicates that the runaway costs in our health care system are being driven not by the 25% of the delivery that is public, but rather by the 75% that is private.

And if that is, indeed, the case it would seem that even the most simplistic version of bean counter logic would lead one to conclude that it is the public, not the private, delivery that should be expanded to control costs and promote sustainability.

But, then again, no one has ever said that the glimmer twins built their empire of simplistic sibling synergy on stone cold logic.

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Are The Natives Getting Restless?

PrivatizationIsThyGame
GougerVille

Hmmm.....

Could be wrong, but can't remember this happening when we still owned, and ran, the ferries that we, the people of British Columbia, built:

Victoria -- About 100 demonstrators staged a protest at the legislature yesterday over the rising costs on B.C. ferries that serve smaller communities along the coast.

Jim Abram, a director with the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona, says fares have risen by 38 per cent in three years, with 17 per cent of that in the past five months.

Mr, Abrahm says ferry users feel there is no accountability to the people of the province from B.C. Ferry Services, which he calls Premier Gordon Campbell's failed experiment. CP

Oh, for the halcyon days when CP Rail and Blackball ferried us across the mercy whenever they darn well pleased.

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Update: Thanks to reader Lenny in the comments who gives us the URL to a petition demanding that BC Ferries Chairperson David Hahn listen to frequent riders concerns.
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Mr. Stark Hooks The Big Falafel

GetTheeToHisFunnery
SpinnerVille

Mike Stark is the proprietor of an amazing site aptly named 'Calling All Wingnuts' .

Essentially, he and a growing band of Spinners that we like to call 'Merry Pranksters' call up The Screamers of far right radio talkshows down south and do their best to give 'em enough rope to hoist themselves on their own petards.

And yesterday Mr. Stark handed the hemp to Mr. Bill O'Reilly.

In case you haven't been following it Bill O'Reilly is having a little spat with a contender for the ratings crown named Keith Olbermann. Olbermann is actually not bad as far as these guys go - example: he actually repeatedly said somebody should have a look at what happened in Ohio during the last US federal election.

Anyway, Mr. Stark managed to get on with Mr. O'Reilly yesterday and even got as far as almost saying Olbermann's name when he was immediately cut-off and then threatened with a little visit from Fox Security and/or local authorities:

O'REILLY: Orlando, Florida, Mike, go.

CALLER: Hey Bill, I appreciate you taking my call.

O'REILLY: Sure.

CALLER: I like to listen to you during the day, I think Keith Olbermann's show --

O'REILLY: There ya go, Mike is -- he's a gone guy. You know, we have his -- we have your phone numbers, by the way. So, if you're listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we're going to turn it over to Fox security, and you'll be getting a little visit.

HILL: Maybe Mike is from the mothership.

O'REILLY: No, Maybe Mike is going to get into big trouble, because we're not going to play around. When you call us, ladies and gentleman, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable. Fair?

HILL: That's fair.

O'REILLY: So, just -- all you guys who do this kind of a thing, you know, I know some shock jocks. Whatever. You will be held accountable. Believe it.

We'll be right back.

If you want to hear the entire exchange, you can listen directly at Stark's place here.

All of which is hilarious, of course.

But also sinister, especially when the Spinners started receiving calls from a very fine fellow who said he was the head of said gaulieter security services.

Luckily for the U.S. Constitution's first amendment, people like the good folks from Media Matters (linked to above) and then heavyweight lefty bloggers like Atrios and Jane Hamsher grabbed the rod and started reeling Mr. O'Reilly in (or should that be 'up'?). As a result, the entire thing was screened on Olbermann's MSNBC show this evening. The latter was both hilarious and serious as Mr. Olbermann had a former state prosecutor on who's opinion it was that the only person who has crossed the line here is O'Reilly by uttering threats. Crooks and Liars has the video.

What I really like about Mr. Stark's approach is that it is all DIY and so simple, direct and powerful.

Imagine, if you will, one guy, with no money and little more than his wits, guile and guts taking down the entire Ailean propaganda machine all on his own.

It's incredible.

Which, of course, is why it scares The Screamers and their string pullers so very, very much.


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The Derangement

TheNon-ApologyApology
KingswayVille


From the Oxford minidictionary (which is most excellent for testing runaway farsightedness):

derange: v.t. disrupt: to make insane. derangement n.

______________

"I'm going to be Stephen Harper's worst enemy. We're going to stir the pot and you better believe we are going to make a heck of a lot of noise."

David Emerson, To the National Media, Jan 23rd (Election Night), 2006

"People want a member of Parliament who can help them, who gets things done. I feel I can have the most impact in cabinet, particularly when they are asking me to join them."

David Emerson, To the National Media, Feb 6th (Cabinet Day), 2006

"I know many of my constituents are having difficulty with the choice I have made,To those of you who are upset with my decision -- I apologize. However, I did not come by this decision lightly and I stand firm behind the decision to become a part of this new government."

David Emerson, To My Mailbox, Mar 01 (PlayingUsForSaps Day), 2006

______________

So, my question for my Member of Parliament is the following:

When did this derangement actually occur?

Was it when you got together with Mr. John Reynolds after the election, or did it occur before that? You know, back when you were essentially, and repeatedly, calling Mr. Harper an 'Enemy Of The State' while rumours swirled that you were simultaneously helping to hold up an imminent Softwood Lumber agreement with the hated (or is that loved? - I can't quite keep track) Bush Administration?

OTTAWA—Here's the plot of a real-life political thriller: David Emerson defected to the Conservatives this week carrying a multi-billion dollar softwood lumber deal that Liberals, for political reasons, didn't finalize before the federal election.

Former colleagues as well as officials and diplomats privy to the secret, backchannel talks insist Emerson was instrumental in delaying a breakthrough in the decades-old dispute that cost thousands of Canadian jobs. They say the former Liberal industry minister worried that a pre-election announcement would damage Liberal prospects in key British Columbia ridings.

James Travers, Toronto Star, Feb 09, 2006

We have questions - you have answers.

Could you just give us a straight one?

Please?

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Original Link Source to the Travers piece: Tim at pogge.

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My Letter From Mr. Emerson

WaitAMinuteMr.Postman
KingswayVille

Mr. Emerson's so-called 'apology' turned up in my mailbox today.

And, more than ever, it left me wondering the following:

Is my member of parliament deranged?

(more to follow.....)

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Let Mr. Simons Speak

DoTheRightThing
WhistleblowerVille

In her recent budget Ms. Carole Taylor promised to restore some of the funding to the BC Ministry of Children and Families that Gordon Campbell's Liberal government had previously slashed, and some might say burned, out of it.

But how do we know this government and the Minister currently running this 'Yes Minister' ministry will do the right thing with the money?

Because, clearly, the problem here is more than just money.

Way more.

As exhibit 337,492a, we offer up the latest on the Sherry Charlie tragedy from Paul Willcocks:

The director’s review, an internal investigation, was supposed to look at the lessons that could be learned. (The Liberals had eliminated the Children’s Commission, which provided effective oversight when a child died. The Coroners’ Service is supposed to investigate child deaths, but has failed. An inquest into Sherry’s death was only held this month.)

The ministry’s internal review was plagued with problems. It hired Nicholas Simons to do the review. Simons, now a New Democrat MLA, was then executive director of child and family services for the Sechelt Nation then.

Simons hadn’t done a review like this before, and the ministry never clearly conveyed its expectations. The review went through 25 drafts and ended up pretty much as Simons submitted it in September, 2003, Morley reports.

But not entirely. Recommendations on ways the ministry could improve were gradually eased out of the report.

The ministry view was that the report should only look at whether people followed existing policy, not whether those policies were adequate to protect children. (Simons’ initial draft said that homes where children were to be placed under the new “Kith and Kin” agreements should be evaluated as thoroughly as any other placement; the ministry resisted including the recommendation.)

Perhaps now we can understand why Mr. Simons was not allowed to speak at the Coroner's Inquest or why the current Minister in charge of the Ministry, Mr. Stan Hagen, was so quick to discredit Mr. Simons almost immediately after Ms. Morely's non-report, report was released.

And no, to the best of my knowledge we are not living in a Joseph Heller novel.

Because this is a very real, not a comic, tragedy.

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Secret Social Workers For Simons?

RevengeOfTheSmeared
HagenVille

As we mentioned yesterday, British Columbia's current Minister of Child and Family Development Stan Hagen (there have been many more BC Liberals before him) has been feeling put upon because some in the media have been calling him on his smear of a gagged Nicholas Simons.

Simons, a former social worker who was heading up the Sherry Charlie review before he was elected as a rookie NDP MLA last year, has been bound and gagged by a confidentiality agreement with Mr. Hagen's Ministry.

Which didn't stop Mr. Hagen from dragging Mr. Simons through the mud when he was feeling a little heat after the completion of the Coroner's Inquest and the Morley (non-)Report.

Sure, this all sounds like 'inside baseball', but it does speak to how little is actually being done vs. how much time and effort is instead being spent on the spin and the smear.

Well, that and the fact an avalanche of leaked documents from, one can only guess social workers, from inside the Ministry has allowed NDP critic Adrian Dix to go on the attack once again. As reported by Sean Holman in 24 hrs:

The B.C. Liberal government tolerated high risks for vulnerable children by leaving child protection reports incomplete for too long, an NDP critic says.

NDP Children and Family Development critic Adrian Dix said internal government documents show thousands of reports were not finished in an acceptable timeframe.

"The established standard timeframe for Child Protection Reports is 30 days," Dix said. "Ministry statistics now show that thousands remain incomplete for more than 90 days."

Dix said between October 2003 and October 2005, statistics in the government's own database show a 53 per cent increase in reports being left open for greater than 30 days.

"These delays are hampering the government's ability to monitor children in care ... the government is putting these children at risk," Dix said.

Children and family development minister Stan Hagen wasn't available to respond to Dix but a ministry spokesman agreed files were being left open for too long, although he added it was simply a matter of filling out the requisite paperwork to close them.

The spokesman also said the number of open case files has remained constant over the years.

And Jeff Davies on CBC radio this morning reported that a whole bunch of the reviews have gone on for more than one year.

Could it be that Minister Hagen couldn't speak because he was too busy trying to plug all the leaks? Perhaps he could stop them tomorrow by offering up SUV exemptions.

Oh, wait, maybe social workers can't (or won't) give hundreds of thousands of dollars to BC Liberal campaigns for no (greater) good reason at all.

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Update: Mr. Holman is now reporting that the so-far silent Mr. Simons wants the gag removed so that he can defend himself from the smear.
Btw: Why does it seem like it's almost 'All Holman, All The Time' these days? Because, almost invariably, he is first to the story. And even when he's not (ie. he was not first out of the gate on the Hagen smear of Simons - something about birthday celebrations are some darn thing), he seems to go hardest on the follow-up. As we said last week, the no longer really young man appears to be lapping the field.

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