This Afternoon In Clarkland....Scaring Other People's Kids.

Premier!
LeaveThoseKidsAloneVille


From our fine Premier's address to the Council of Forest Industries, as reported by the Tyee's Andrew MacLeod:

...(Christy) Clark says she tells kids, "If we don't cut down trees in British Columbia, we have to take more money from your Mom and Dad."...


But.

If she does that, how will all those Mom's and Dad's be able to afford to send their kids' to the private schools that their increased taxes and user fees (up the wazuku) are helping to pay for?



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After, of course, all the public schools have closed and/or the Fraser Institute has convinced all those Mom's and Dad's that said public schools are worse than dungeons and/or an Edinburgh dorm room when it comes to actually learning anything...Whichever comes first.


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This Day In Clarkland...Conflicty Business?

Selective
RecusalVille

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Update: Please see mama mea culpa at bottom of the post.

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Remember when John van Dongen went rogue(ish) way back in 2012 and asked British Columbia's Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Paul Fraser, to look into then GordCo Inc. minister Christy Clark's role in RailGate.

And remember when said Conflict Commissioner had to recuse himself and bring in an outside arbiter.

Why?

Well...

You know, the following as reported at the time by Justine Hunter of the Globe:

A conflict-of-interest probe into allegations against Premier Christy Clark will now be handled by an out-of-province lawyer, giving Independent MLA John van Dongen fresh hope that some of his questions about the long-running BC Rail case will be answered before the next provincial election...

{snip}

...Last week, Mr. van Dongen questioned (Conflict Commissioner) Mr. (Paul) Fraser’s impartiality, saying there was a “reasonable apprehension of bias” because the conflict commissioner’s son is connected to Ms. Clark’s government.

In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Fraser maintained that his son’s career did not inhibit his ability to handle the matter, but said the perception of bias could not be ignored...

****

Now we have this, as reported by Mark Hume in the Globe today:

B.C. Conflict of Interest Commissioner Paul Fraser has launched an investigation into complaints about politicians raising funds by selling access to exclusive events.

New Democrat MLA David Eby and Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher recently filed separate complaints after media reports that Premier Christy Clark attended fundraising events at which people paid thousands of dollars for exclusive access to her.

Mr. Fraser told the complainants he will issue one opinion on the two complaints...


So.

Here's a question we can't help asking, in the here and now (i.e. 2016)...

Why, exactly, is the Conflict Commissioner himself now ignoring the perception of bias in a matter pertaining to Ms. Clark given the fact that the Commissioner's son is still, it would appear, in the employ of Ms. Clark's government as an OIC-appointed Deputy Minister?

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And, just in case you were also wondering, being a deputy minister in Ms. Clark's government is not the younger Mr. Fraser's only connection to Ms. Clark. 
Update: In the original postscript to this post I incorrectly indicated that both the 2012 and 2016 Globe and Mail stories quoted here were under Justine Hunter's byline, which was incorrect (Mark Hume wrote the more recent 2016 story)....As a result, I said that I found it curious that the 'conflicty' aspect of the first story had not made its way into the second story...The implication was that  Ms. Hunter (and/or her editor) may have either forgotten about the conflictyness or decided not to include it...That, clearly, was unfair to Ms. Hunter and for that I apologize.


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At The End Of The Day...

NevermindTheBollocks
HereComesTheBogusBollywoodBashVille



...When you don't have enough money for bus passes for the adult disabled, you've got ask yourself if you want to use $11 million dollars of public money (again?) so that you can watch the BC Liberal Party's 'reasonable' purse-holding minister do....

This.

Sheesh.

No....

Super sheesh.


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That 'reasonable' minister thing?....That's Ron Obvious' term, not mine. 
Bob Mackin has the extended play of Mr. de Jong's fun times at our expense...Here.


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BC Liberal Pay-To-Play....All Your Real Estates 'R Us.

TheUltimateTen
PercentersVille


From the fine folks at Integrity BC:

The BC Liberal party is brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood property developer.

Since 2005, property developers have donated $10.7 million to the BC Liberals, including $1.55 million in personal donations. It represents more than 10 per cent of the party's total $106.3 million haul. Five companies gave $4.3 million...



And, as someone said on one of the comment threads recently, it is amazing how little it takes buy our fine government's favour these days.

Well.

'These days' since 2001, I mean.


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This Day In Clarkland...Bogus Bollywood Bonanza (Part Deux)?

Fundraising?WeDon'tNeedNoStinkingFundraising!
YourMoneyVille


It's bad enough that the Clarklandians, including one of their most 'reasonable' ministers according to Ron Obvious, can cow us to thinking that Pay-To-Play is a good thing.

But now, there is, apparently, this, according to Shelby Thom of CKNW:

CKNW has learned the Times of India wants to return to BC “given the success of their past event” here...


And, why not?

Or, to put it another way, why wouldn't the 'Times of India' want to do it again when our fine Premier cold-called, out of the blue, and promptly fronted them (at least) $11 million to do it last time after the 'real' Bollywood awards told her to go take a hike?

Gosh.

I wonder if Moe will be there this time also?


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As Charlie Smith points out, this is little more than a 'trial balloon' at this point....But the fact that they would even consider doing this thing again shows how much contempt they have for the rubes they are allegedly 'governing'.
Bizarrely, the Clarklandians are still claiming that 100 million people from outside Rubeville (i.e. South Asia) watched the original $11million dollar bash on the TeeVee....Except...The last reliable number (after an initial claim of 400 million viewers) we had was 29 million. 
Interestingly, the comments are 'closed' on the CKNW story....Hmmmmm...Wonder why?
Tip O' The Toque to an Anon-O-Mouse on a previous comment threat for bringing this to our attention...Somewhere BC Mary is smiling!


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Pay-To-Play proMedia Pundit Round-Up...The Good, The Bad And The Keefly.

ThereIsA
ClubVille


First, the good, from Kate Webb in Vancouver Metro:

I’ll admit it. The first time I read about Christy Clark’s $20,000-a-plate fundraisers, in which donors pay for access to B.C.’s most powerful politician, I shrugged and thought, “What else is new? Isn’t that just how politics works? How else would parties raise enough money to win an election?”

But it’s not “just how politics works,” and there are other models, and my initial apathy is indicative of how normalized B.C.’s culture of corruption has become. As I learned after some digging, most of the provinces in Canada, as well as the federal government, have banned these types of payments for access, because they create clear conflicts of interest.

Like Ontario — whose Premier is currently caving (wisely) to similar pressure to reform her province’s campaign finance laws — British Columbia is one of the few jurisdictions left in Canada with absolutely no limits on how much individuals, corporations and unions can donate to political parties. What’s worse — they can do it anonymously.

The good news is that, with the 2017 provincial election one year away, we are about to see a huge resurgence of the movement to get big money out of B.C. politics.

Democracy Watch, a non-partisan advocacy group, issued a press release last Thursday calling these private fundraisers attended by B.C. politicians “a clear violation of conflict-of-interest laws that prohibit politicians across Canada from accepting gifts connected with their positions.” The group is urging B.C. to adopt Quebec’s model, which limits individual donations to $100 a year plus another $100 in election years, and bans union and corporate donations...



Next, the bad, as reported by longtime reader Lew:

(Yesterday) afternoon just after one o’clock on CKNW, Assistant News Director Charmaine de Silva was chewing the fat with Simi Sara about Christy Clark’s fundraising activities. In the face of numerous NDP attempts to introduce a bill banning union and corporate donations (the latest well advertised for this afternoon), and the fact it was one of the planks in the NDP’s last election campaign, they offered this:

Assistant News Director: “What’s interesting to me is I think this is a real opportunity for the NDP…if the NDP wants to jump on this and say they’re in support of banning union and corporate donations...but remember, the NDP has played on this side of the fence as well...they don’t want to ban union donations…”

Simi Sara: “They have to! Come on! Plum opportunity here!”

Assistant News Director: “That’s what I’m saying. I mean this is an opportunity…if you want to say that you’re on the right side of this...you can do this as well, but I...you know what… I heavily doubt that’s gonna happen because the NDP without…without…you know, they get a fair share of corporate donations as well, plus union donations...that’s gonna be a…a big problem for that party also…”

Simi Sara: You know who loses? We do. We lose with all of this. It’s just ridiculous!”...



Finally, the Keefly, from the Keef:

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And, lest you think I have been selectively exclusionary on pay-to-play (or even secret big money hook-up tweets sans pay-to-play) tweets from the Keef, feel free to scan his Twitmachine feed (if you must).
This has been a special kinda/sorta edition of 'The Keef Report'....Previous editions can be found...Here.


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At The End Of The Day...

AllTheWorldsA
TuneVille


...Sometimes there is only one true test for new music:

"...I was not sure (about the new Iggy Pop album) until I asked myself the question rock 'n' roll music fans should all ask themselves if they are unsure what to think of a record. Would they like to hear the record being played good and f*cking loud at a party they just walked into?..."


Mr. Beer 'N Hockey explains (and gives you his answer regarding the new IPop album)....Here.


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Another Lotuslandian proMedia Member Buries The 'Pay-To-Play' Lede.

BossBoss
TheHerdVille


This time it is Mr. Leyne of the VTC, who starts his latest column thusly:

Eventually, they might become victims of their own success. The B.C. Liberals might be shamed into putting some limits on campaign fundraising just by virtue of the fact they’re raking in so much more than their opponents it’s starting to look unseemly.
The latest tallies released Tuesday confirm the embarrassment-of-riches trend. The party is awash in money and bringing in over three times more than their opponents, the NDP.
All those $10,000 meet-and-greets, six-figure personal cheques and sustained contributions from corporate players add up. If they add up to the public impression that it’s all a bit much, B.C. Liberals will have to restrain themselves.
In 2015, the B.C. Liberals collected $9.9 million, just short of what they raised the previous year. The NDP posted $3 million in contributions, also comparable to last year.
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/les-leyne-public-might-force-fundraising-changes-1.2224545#sthash.15jUqfmE.dpu

Eventually, they might become victims of their own success. The B.C. Liberals might be shamed into putting some limits on campaign fundraising just by virtue of the fact they’re raking in so much more than their opponents it’s starting to look unseemly.

The latest tallies released Tuesday confirm the embarrassment-of-riches trend. The party is awash in money and bringing in over three times more than their opponents, the NDP.

All those $10,000 meet-and-greets, six-figure personal cheques and sustained contributions from corporate players add up. If they add up to the public impression that it’s all a bit much, B.C. Liberals will have to restrain themselves.

In 2015, the B.C. Liberals collected $9.9 million, just short of what they raised the previous year. The NDP posted $3 million in contributions, also comparable to last year...

The column continues on in that vein (i.e. this thing is really all about the Clarklandians raising too much money, or some such thing) until it finally gets to a point that actually matters right at the bottom:

...A politician once gained fame in a long-ago scandal by saying simply: “Money talks.”

If that public nose ever gets such a whiff, B.C. Liberals will regret not curbing the take...


But here's the thing...

How will the public ever get to use it's collective nose if fine folks like Mr. Leyne and his compatriots don't uncover the stink and bring it out into the air for all to smell its full putridity.

Stink like, say, this.

Or...

This.

Or...

This.

Or (even)...

This.

If you get my (present day AND historical) drift.


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This Day In Clarkland: Discussions? We Don't Need No Stinking Dissussions...

AllTheInfluenceThatFits
PedalPedalHardVille

...On Pay-To-Play.

First, the legislative gambit by the leader of the Opposition John Horgan re: legislation to eliminate big money political donations from anybody or anything:

Next, the in-ledge, on-the-record response of the Clarklandians:

Imagine that!


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So....Can we now expect a full column from his Deanship explaining how Ms. Clark slithered away from pay-to-play purgatory by outsmarting Horgan and patiently waiting for the news cycle to roll on past (unlike, say, that wimp Kathleen Wynne)?


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The Fog Of Clarkland: When In Doubt Deflect, Deflect, Deflect, And...

...Deflect Some More.

First, this, from Monday:

And then, when Wednesday comes, this:

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And, apropos of yesterday, we wonder how those fine folks over at the Globe, now that Mr. Mason has them all riled up, are doing examining the BC Liberal donor lists and, say, matching them to what's in the lobby registry?...We understand that they are so, so strapped for resources, but as a lowly blogger with a day job too, I'm about halfway through the $50K donations already.
Meanwhile, a blogger of one, Alison of Creekside, has done the real deal in terms of pay-to-play dot connecting...Here.


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Ron Obvious Explains Why The Lotuslandian proMedia Can't Explain Influence Peddling To The Public.

ThereAreNoExcusesLike
ProMediaExcusesVille

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Update: A lowly blogger, with no proMedia resources at all, has already started doing the job that the Lotuslandian proMedia won't....Here.

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Because there just aren't enough of proMedia members here in B.C. to do the job, unlike, apparently, in Ontario:

...The ever-shrinking number of reporters devoted to covering politics in B.C. means even they have less time to scrutinize this (political donor list) stuff properly, let alone members of the public...


Hmmmmm...

Maybe if they stopped chasing shiny baubles and pinky swore to not stop digging as soon as these things moved into the Premier's office, we might get somewhere.


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So, you know what this means...If he and his won't do it, it looks like we the idiots bloggers of Lotusland will have to fisk the donor lists ourselves...Oh what fun! (and I'm almost certain that NVG has started already).
And while Mr. Mason errrr Obvious did tell his readers that there is 'something truly disgraceful' about all this pay-to-play stuff, he also let us know that he felt kinda/sorta felt sorry for one of the more 'reasonable' members of Ms. Clark's cabinet who was allegedly forced to slather lipstick all over this pig earlier today...Gosh...Would Mr. Obvious say the same thing about, say, 'Good Germans'?...You know, as someone who can actually remember my father howling at the radio when Jack Webster took another quisling like that particular cabinet member down, I know that it only takes one fully committed proMedia member to do the job when the stakes are this high...So...Why won't Mr. Mason and or one of his fellow Club members do it?
Speaking of fellow Club members, the Dean is throwing mega-kudos Vicky Huntington's way for beating the Dippers to the legislative punch (ignoring of course the previous multiple times the BC NDP has been there)...But why, enquiring minds want to know, didn't Mr. Palmer also chide Ms. Huntington for not taking care of this back in the 1980's when she had the chance while working for Brian Mulroney's government (if you get my drift). 


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How Does The BC Liberal Party Keep Getting Away With This Stuff?

TheCronificationOf
EverythingVille

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Update: A lowly blogger has already started to do the job on Pay-To-Play that the proMedia has so far proved not capable of doing...Here.

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Is that not THE question of the last fifteen years here in British Columbia?

But, by way of illustrative example, how about we just focus the here-and-now for the moment.

So.

How, specifically, are the BC Liberals getting away with these super-secret hook-ups between big money donors and their leader, who doles out our resources, our treasure and longterm contracts that we have to pay for, to whomever she (and they) please?

Well.

Below, I will attempt to show you how they getting away with it in just three easy steps.

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First, the following is the lede of Rob Shaw's latest in the Vancouver Sun:

B.C. will not be following Ontario’s lead in banning political donations from corporations and unions, says the province’s finance minister.

Mike de Jong said Monday that the provincial government will not introduce legislation that would ban big money from politics, or set limits on donors. Instead, he argued that B.C.’s existing laws on fundraising, reporting and fixed election dates — combined with a new pledge from Premier Christy Clark to move toward real-time disclosure of donors — is sufficient for public confidence in the system.

“Not that there isn’t room for improvement, (but) it’s fairly transparent compared to the way it once was,” de Jong said in an interview. “The conversation ultimately comes around to … is the government contemplating adopting the kind of ban that others are talking about on corporate donations and union donations? We are not.”...


Second, the following is (an almost real-time!) tweet from Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail:

Third, is the next paragraph in Mr. Shaw's VSun piece:

...B.C.’s rejection of political finance reform comes amid renewed pressure in other provinces to remove the influence of large donations on politicians and political parties. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne pledged Monday to speed up legislation to ban corporate and union donations, after the Toronto Star reported her party had placed $500,000 fundraising targets upon her ministers, raising the prospect they could be soliciting money from businesses and people that they regulate...


Do you see what I did there with a little bit of red pixel dust?

And do you see what our local proMedia herd is NOT doing?

Which, of course, is what the BC Liberals, and their finest-of-the-fine donors are counting on.

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As for last week's distracto-babble from our fine premier on the fantastic improvements that 'real time' reporting will bring to the world of publicly supported influence peddling...Well...The Dean of the local legislative press gallery, Mr. Vaughn Palmer, has already given his approval to that (scroll down to the last two paragraphs).


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Super-Secret Big $$ BC Liberal Hook-Ups (ctd)...The Shiny Bauble.

There'sNoSpinLike
DeflectorSpikeSpinVille

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Lunchtime Tuesday: Please see the mama mea culpaish update at the bottom of the post

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While (an intensely media scrutinized) Kathleen Wynne was promising to actually do something about her own Super-Secret Big Dollar Hook-Ups, I watched British Columbia's BC Liberal government throw-out its first shiny bauble designed to distract the Lotuslandian media yesterday morning.

It looked like this:

And, voila, by 8:00pm last night they had their first fish on the line.

It looked like this:

And it read like this:

In a decision that the B.C. New Democratic Party shared only with federal regulators and its environmental supporters, the opposition has officially rejected the proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG plant near Prince Rupert, saying plans for an $11.4-billion terminal on Lelu Island would generate significant greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and threaten the important Skeena River salmon runs.

The decision creates a clear political wedge now as the B.C. Liberal government has championed Pacific NorthWest LNG. The project, led by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, is awaiting a decision from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA). In a letter to CEAA dated March 10, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan and his environment critic George Heyman said the project is deficient because it threatens juvenile salmon habitat and would increase the province’s GHG output by 8.5 per cent...


With only the briefest of mentions, of course, of whence the shiny bauble arose:

...Tom Sigurdson, executive director of the BC Building Trades Council, was in Prince Rupert to talk with First Nations leaders about LNG job opportunities on Monday when he learned of the NDP’s position only after B.C. Liberal caucus staff circulated Mr. Horgan’s CEAA letter...


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Meanwhile, this morning, as the fundraising numbers have come out showing the BCL banging the BCNDP like a gong on the backs of big money donors, Cookie Dough Mike says there will be no ban on big corp/union donations as Vicky Huntington and Dippers are calling for because the Dean-approved real-time reporting (that does absolutely nothing) will do just fine thank-you....It's like the entire province is a company town and Ms. Clark is their agent...Gosh...Wonder when she will raise the price of a can of corn in the company store into the stratosphere along with MSP, ICBC, Hydro and every single user fee you can possibly think of? 
Please note: In the original version of this post I had said that there was no mention in Ms. Hunter's piece about the source of the shiny bauble. I was wrong. Although, in my defense the mention was so brief (and, of course, it did not raise the matter of its timing) that I can only hope not everyone will decide to place this blogger all the way over to the right side of the idiot spectrum (or should that be left?...Sheesh)...


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At The End Of The Day...

ChillLaxingWithThe
SlacktivistsVille


...Sometimes you just need to find yourself a bike rave.

Although, truth be told, because I'm working late on a whack of manuscript (of the science-geek kind) editing tonight, I'll probably lock-up my bike in the office and take the bus home.

Geez....

I must be getting soft.

And/or old.

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As an aside or three...Have you seen the BCL's shiny bauble designed to capture the squirrel-like attention of the proMedia as the super-secret big money donor/lobbyist/infy peddling hook-up newscycle grinds on through?...More on that tomorrow (and the second prong in the strater(g)y from....surprise!...the good Ms Miller)...Also working on a Big Murky Muddle Everything Institute (so-called) 'report card' post (hint: think class size and composition).

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How To End Super-Secret Big Money Hook-Ups In British Columbia...Independent Edition.

What'sTwentyThousandAPlateBetween
SecretFriendsVille


Independent MLA from Massey Bridge South, Vicky Huntington, is first out of the gate with a private members bill (apparently beating the Dippers by two days with their fourth try) designed to fix this apparent influence peddling once and for all.

Essentially, it looks to be very similar to what's already in place federally.

From Ms. Huntington's website:

Independent MLA Vicki Huntington introduced a bill in the legislature today to ban corporate and union donations from provincial and municipal politics. The legislation would also limit campaign contributions to $1,500 a year, and prohibit donations from individuals living outside the province...


And here's a province-by-province breakdown from Ms. Huntington which is most interesting (and illuminating):

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And, today, Ontario's Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne indicated that she will move to decrease the big money corp/union donations in that province ASAP....Gosh....Wonder what spurred her to do that while our Ms. Clark sends out her minions on the latest deflector spike spin op (more on that later)...


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