This Day In Clarkland...The Confidence Of Cookie Dough Mike.

AllYourProperProcedures'R
OursVille


The latest limited Clarklandian hangout on the 'inquiry' from NW's Charmaine de Silva:

...On Tuesday, (current Finance Minister Michael) de Jong told reporters he takes responsibility for the way the investigation was handled (when he was Health Minister in 2012), but he doesn’t support the many calls that have been made for public inquiry.

“What is the question that is to be answered by an inquiry, that generally will require spending millions upon millions of dollars?”

De Jong says he’s confident proper procedures are now in place to make sure employees are treated fairly in all circumstances...


Sure thing Mr. de Jong.

But what if, as it would appear, actually following 'procedures' and 'procedurals' had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this?



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Cookie Dough?...For real?....You bet.


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Lotuslandian ProPrint Media Update...Is It Time To Cue Mr. Morrison?

...Because a letter from Postmedia's man-about-town Gord Fisher  to all Pacific Newspaper Group (i.e. VSun and Province) staff certainly suggests that this just might be 'The End'.

Here's an excerpt via the other daily that kinda/sorta has a presence 'round here:

...The reality is, regardless of the exact mix of digital, print and subscription revenue we need to survive, there is only one path for us to follow in the immediate term. And that is, as I have reinforced in all of my communications, we must continue to become a more efficient operation.

Today we are announcing another implementation of a Voluntary Staff Reduction Program (VSRP) at PNG. All employees, including management staff, will be eligible for the program. Nigel Miller, our Vice President of Human Resources, will provide further specific details about the program in the coming days...



Gosh.

One can only wonder if revenues and readership are way, way down at, say, the Sandy Garossino-helmed Observer?


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The Keef Report....In A World.

Keef does know that Vancouver's actual Main St. was closed on Sunday doesn't he?

And nobody seemed too upset.

But maybe that was because the event had been planned for months and there was no deflector-spike spin/cynical photo-op associated with it.

Oh.

And one other thing...

The closure of Vancouver's Main St. wasn't designed to kill another pre-planned street fair  a couple of blocks over.

OK?


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One can only wonder...If the Main St. closing had been super-secretly, double-probationally leaked by an uber-important Wizard at 12th and Cambie, would the 'reporter' concerned have known about it then?
Link to the Keef''s latest bit of Twittmachine-assisted baiting of the 'hysterical' citizenry is here... Comments are most interesting, especially the one from the Dean that was actually kind of funny but still did not address the actual, you know....Facts.


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This Day In Clarkland...'Find Me A New Shiny!'

AllTheClub'sA
HerdVille


The local Lotuslandian proMedia herd, including (gasp!) NW's Mr. Leslie really has turned, as was pointed out by reader Lew in the comments on the weekend:

Health Minister Terry Lake appeared on 'NW with Sean Leslie (Friday)... afternoon to not answer questions and stated that he doesn’t know how much the government has paid in settlements to some of the fired researchers because that’s something that’s done by his deputy working with legal counsel and other civil servants. Now, a minister who doesn’t know that information on such a sensitive and explosive file, or a minister who does know that information and publicly says he doesn’t, isn’t fit to hold office. He’s fit to be a BC Liberal, but not to occupy an office that belongs to the citizens of BC.

He allowed that he’s looked at the case from “every which way I can” and essentially said there’s nothing there that he wouldn’t want people to know except what actually happened. He goes on to say he won’t put the reputations of those who made the decisions at risk or cause them “undue stress” because that’s what was done to the fired researchers, and that would be two wrongs trying to make a right. So the current minister says there was definitely wrongdoing under the minister at the time and he knows who it is, but would rather have the public pick a name and guess who it was, thereby putting the reputation of everyone even remotely involved at risk whether they’re guilty or not. And the deputy minister that signed the dismissal letters says he knows there is blame to be laid, just not on him. He won’t name names either.

The scary thing is that you can pretty much pick any ministry of the current government and you’ll find a scandal and a double talking minister that claims no knowledge of what those sneaky civil servants are up to. It’s time those sneaky devils started speaking up to defend themselves.

So.

Given all that, (and the just published poll thingy with the sliding approval numbers for M. Figurehead) you can be sure that the wizards are doing their best to find something new and shiny to distract the herd.

And it will have to be something big.

After all that business with the hands-free driving punishment-improvement project/website from Ms. Always Campaigning went absolutely nowhere.

The real question is - Will the new shiny bauble be both big AND negative?

Or will it be something to do with rescuing lost canines from the meat grinder in far away lands?

Or will it be both?

As for actually governing?

Well...

You know.


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Had a good laugh when Ms. Anton breathlessly told the MoCo's Kirk Williams last week that her hands-free penalization project was so popular with the public that the website, after a massive wizard-assisted PR push, had attracted 990 visitors in a single day...Why was I laughing?...Because that actually rivals the numbers for this little F-Troop list blog...Gosh...The magic!



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This Day In Clarkland...Sometimes The Entire Herd Does Turn.

ThereAreSomeThingsThatEvenTheClub
Can'tIgnoreVille


And sometimes the entire herd actually turns fully.

To wit, the latest editorial from the VSun that starts like this:

Enough of the obfuscating, weaseling, dissimulation, doubletalk, verbal subterfuge, stonewalling and other distasteful conduct that hangs like a miasma over the shameful events surrounding the precipitous sacking of nine ministry of health employees in 2012...


Gosh.

The language.

****

Now.

Two things....

First, no Keef Report tweets about how 'hysterical' those calling for an inquiry are (at least not yet).

Second, none of this precludes the Fazilless VSun from endorsing Clarkland all over again 23 months from now.


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And as for all the self-congratulatory back-slapping going on in the Club these (very recent) days?...Well...Maybe the time has come to give Andrew MacLeod a free membership and full voting rights...


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Where's That Confounded Bridge?....The Tai Chi Folks Weigh In.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

This Day In Clark/Anton/deJong Land...Show Us The (Legal Aid) Money!

AllOurBaitsAndSwitches'RYours
BogusBalancedBudgetVille


Lotuslandian Bloggers like Laila and Grant have been all over this for awhile...

Now it's the local division of the MoCo's turn, coming straight out of the 'On The Coast' engine room:

A Victoria lawyer says the provincial government is failing to use all the money it collects for legal aid.

Michael Mulligan says he has proof that the province is short-changing B.C.'s Legal Services Society, which helps people who can't afford a lawyer.

Mulligan says documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that last year the province raised close to $172 million through a special legal services tax, in addition to $14 million from Ottawa for legal aid. However the B.C. government only spent $75 million dollars of that money on the program.

"So the net result is that the provincial government is failing to provide more than $100 million a year of this money," he said...

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The actual interview between Mr. Mulligan and Stephen Quinn that this piece was built on is....Here.
Lawyerly types that stop by here occasionally (and I know there are a few of you) and/or a certain former politician-type person who had something to do with the original legislation....Feel free to weigh in...Either in the comments or by Email (pacificgazette at yahoo dot c+a).


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Building That Health Worker Firing Inquiry 'Top 40'.

There'sNoCultLikeA
CultFullOfAllKindsOfCitizensVille


As we noted a few days ago, the Dean of the British Columbia Parliamentary Press Gallery recently lost his mind and made like an old Railgate Cult Member when he started assembling a list of possible witnesses for a 'potential' Health Care Worker Firing Inquiry.

And now Integrity BC's Dermod Travis has started to flesh the list out a little in the GStraight:

...When it comes to the health ministry firings, five names spring to mind, but former health minister Margaret MacDiarmid isn't one of them.

She pulled the trigger and takes the rap for it, but sworn in as health minister only the day before, it's doubtful she was involved in the process. At that point her knowledge would be limited to briefing notes and what might have been said around the cabinet table.

Finance minister Mike de Jong was health minister from March 2011 until September 4, 2012. The suspensions happened under his watch.

Graham Whitmarsh, deputy minister of health until June 2013, played a key role.

John Dyble, deputy minister of health (June 2009 to March 2011) and today deputy minister to the premier and head of the public service was clearly involved.

The premier's communications director at the time, Sara MacIntyre, was no wallflower. It's a pretty safe bet she had something to say about something related to the firings.

And then there was the premier's chief of staff, Ken Boessenkool.

Given his position Boessenkool can't have been a mere bystander through the whole affair, particularly with an election a year away. He was either part of the decision-making process or was focused with MacIntyre on preparing for any fallout...

{snippety doo-dah}

...Boessenkool was brought in from Alberta to be Premier Christy Clark's new chief of staff.

According to his biography, Boessenkool was a "senior policy advisor and strategist to Conservative Party of Canada Leader Stephen Harper" and "played senior strategic roles in the 2004 and 2006 Conservative campaigns."

He was also a registered lobbyist for three pharmaceutical firms in Ottawa between 2004 and 2010, including Pfizer Canada...


Hmmmmmm....

Government mixing with corporatism to screw people over with dictatorial decrees (and actions and deeds).

Gosh.

Isn't that the definition of something or other?


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Railgate 'Top 40'?....Well, you know....This.


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This Friday Afternoon In Clarkland...Was It Ever About The Yoga?

And, yes....

As far as we can ascertain the abomination pictured above did come from the good Ms. Clark's official Twittmachine feed.

It's like the ol' Turdstormer all over again.

Times a billion.

(or at least 4 million and change)



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This Day In Clarkland...It Was Never About The 'Politics'.

Well.

Except, you know, for the beginning 'n stuff.



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This Day In Clarkland...Where's That Confounded Bridge?

Yes.

You read that right.

That Yoga-On-Bridge thing was never political.

Not one bit.



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The responses are pretty interesting...See if you can spot the flying surrender monkeys.


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Finally, The Dean Throws A Left Jab.

CreditWhereCreditIs
Kinda/Sorta/AlmostDueVille


Well, a jab followed by an upper-cut actually.

First, the jab from the good Mr. Palmer of the VSun:

...The police repeatedly asked the government investigating team for that reputed evidence of conflict of interest, inappropriate contracting procedures, improper handling of confidential data and other alleged criminal wrongdoing (relating to the fired health care workers). They never got it.

“Do you know why information the RCMP was requesting wasn’t handed over?” (current BC Liberal government Health minister Terry) Lake was asked.

“I’m not aware of the RCMP coming to the ministry of health and saying please give us this information and the ministry not co-operating,” he replied. “That is not my understanding whatsoever.”

Again, note the choice of words. He’s not aware. It is not his understanding. One is left to conclude the minister only knows what he’s been told, after not asking too many followup questions...


Then comes the upper-cut:

...If (Minister) Lake wanted to know more, he could interview Wendy Taylor, the senior public servant who headed the internal investigation for the government. Three of his own assistant deputy ministers — Barbara Walman, Manjit Sidhu and Lindsay Kislock — handled aspects of the matter as well...

{snippety doo-dah}

...Indeed, if placed under oath, Taylor and the others could make a plausible starter set of witnesses for a public inquiry into this affair...


Ooooh-wee.

Namin' names and kinda/sorta/almost (but not quite) calling for a public inquiry with people being placed under an oath and everything.

Gosh.

If he keeps this up, the next thing you know Mr. Palmer will publishing a potential witness 'Top 40' list.

Just like the cultists used to do.


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And why am I using a sporting analogy for a columnist's coverage of the BC Liberal government's unwarranted willful destruction of healthworkers' lives and reputations?...Because last weekend that particular columnist told us this was all a 'game'....Hopefully he no longer sees it that way...Heckfire, perhaps he and his might want to consider setting up a 'war room' with all kinds of in-depth info on the various and sundry concerned tacked up on the walls...Naw...They would never do a thing like that for something that actually matters...Right?


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Hey, Mr. Palmer....Which Overtime Is This Anyway?

AllTheirMisleadings'R
UsVille


First, from the BC Liberal government press release of September 6, 2012:

VICTORIA - The Ministry of Health has asked the RCMP to investigate allegations of inappropriate conduct, contracting and data-management practices involving ministry employees and drug researchers.

Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said today that the ministry has provided the RCMP with interim results of an internal investigation, which was supported by a lead investigator from the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Ministry of Citizens' Services and Open Government. It examined contracting and research grant practices between ministry employees and researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.

"We take all allegations of this nature very seriously," she said. "I have instructed the ministry to continue to take whatever steps are necessary to respond to these matters thoroughly. We must ensure confidence is maintained in the integrity of the public service to execute its responsibilities in a manner that meets the high standards of conduct expected by the public."

The formal investigation, which commenced in May 2012, examined financial controls, contracting, data management and employee/contractor relationships, and produced evidence of potential conflict of interest, and inappropriate contract management and data access with external drug researchers...


Second, from Mr. Vaughn Palmer's latest VSun column, plunked down right at the end of the thing (after the Dean had already re-heated the details of the Rob Shaw-obtained federal FOI release that clearly demonstrated that the BC Liberal government repeatedly misled both the public and the RCMP with respect to the only recently 'concluded' investigation first referred to in the Sept 2012 press release cited above):

...After media reports that the comptroller-general’s office was still engaged in a two-year-old investigation of the contract irregularities, the police reopened their file (which they had closed months earlier due to a lack of information from the government) and reached out to (the government's) lead investigator Dan Peck.

“Completing this file remains my investigation unit’s priority,” advised Peck. But when police asked “what his instincts were in regards to potential criminal offences, he said that he had not yet uncovered any clear evidence of a crime.”

This after two years of comprehensive investigation by the office that serves as the government’s fraud prevention branch. When the comptroller finally did wrap up its work this year, the findings were delivered to police.

“Any further determination will be up to them” a government representative said this week. Police declined to comment. And so the game continues.
(stuff in brackets mine, inserted for clarity)


Hmmmm...

Perhaps Mr. Palmer could tell us, his dear readers, how (and why), exactly, is this a 'game'?



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For those who have may have forgotten (thanks Lew!)... Andrew McLeod of The Tyee had this one pretty much nailed down, based on a Dipper-obtained FOI, back in February... 


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This Day In Clarkland: Which Is Worse...

...Misleading The Public Or Misleading The Police?

From today's FOI-assisted report on the continuing saga of the wrongful firing of provincial healthcare workers by Rob Shaw in the VSun:

...The records, obtained by The Vancouver Sun through the federal Access to Information Act, show that the B.C. government repeatedly pointed to an RCMP investigation over several years, while at the same time doing virtually nothing to inform police about the case and failing to provide any evidence of a crime.

“Despite inferences in the media that the RCMP has undertaken an investigation or received information from the Province, this has not been the case,” wrote Const. Dean Miller from the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime section, in a late 2014 report. “No tangible evidence or reports related to the allegations have been handed over. As such, no investigation has been initiated.”...

NDP critic Adrian Dix said the documents “show a government that not just misled the public but misled the police. And it’s a very serious thing.”...

This firing of health workers stuff and then pretending that it was done because criminal acts may have occurred when no such evidence has been provided to anyone, including the police, is really, really bad.

And it all happened on Ms. Clark's watch.

Thus, none of it can be fobbed off on the bad old '90's (that were actually pretty darned good by many comparisons) or even the regime of the Knotty Gordian.

None of it.

And, just in case any Lotuslandian proMedia club members are getting ready to pull their punches on this one, yet again, they may wish to remember that this anti-democratic codswallopanarianism destroyed lives.

OK?


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And, just to be very clear here...The records concerned (which can be found here) were obtained by the VSun through a federal (i.e. not a provincial) FOI request...



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I Hear Johnny Cash...

...Died Of A Broken Heart.

The note, above, was written by Mr. Cash a couple of months after his partner June passed away.

A couple of months later Johnny was gone too.

Which brings me to a very fine tune that you may not have heard before (but most definitely should) by Kelley McRae...

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Ms. McRae's original version, done with her partner Matt Casteline, is fantastic...And like Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, McRae and Casteline went all in awhile back when they sold everything, quit their day jobs, bought themselves a (notso)VW Microbus and spent a year on the road playing music full time...You can go listen to (and buy some) of their great stuff...Here.
Johnny's note above first showed up in his son John's coffee table book and then later (of course) over at 'Letters of Note'...
As for the PoliMedia-Blogging?...I'm just real busy with the science geek stuff at the moment developing a new project which means lots of work-related reading time that can't be devoted to (wasted?) fisking the usual suspects...I'll get back to it soon...Maybe.


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