Monday, March 30, 2015

This Day In Clarkland...Did Conflictyness Play A Role In The Abbott Affair?

JustATeenyTinyLittleCommunications
ProblemVille


Remember, after she apologized only for making a mess of the 'communications' aspect of the thing, how Ms. Clark explained away the not hiring/pre-emptive firing of Mr. Abbott for the Treaty Commissioner job:

...Premier Christy Clark said her cabinet vetoed the appointment of former Liberal minister George Abbott as chief of the B.C. Treaty Commission because her government wants to reform the entire treaty process.

Clark said cabinet decided to stop investing in a system that has cost $600 million and produced just four treaties in 22 years. “We have to be able to move faster and we have to find a way to include more First Nations in the process,” she said. “Fifty out of 200 First Nations involved in the process? That’s not enough. So it was a policy decision … not to appoint a treaty commissioner...



But.

What if certain folks in certain circles (i.e. Clarkland-connected wizards and patrons, for example) started getting a wee bit nervous about the possibility that Mr. Abbott, who seemed to be getting along with everybody in the run-up to taking the job, might actually get the process moving?

Non card-carrying Club member Charlie Smith, of the GStraight, had a thought or two about that on the weekend:

...(Abbott) was excited about the prospect of bringing about reconciliation between First Nations people and the rest of society.

Less than two weeks before Abbott was about to start, the B.C. Liberal cabinet revoked his appointment. What's worse is that the premier didn't notify First Nations leaders in advance.

I can only wonder which businessperson or senior mandarin whispered in her ear that it was necessary to undermine the tripartite treaty process with this phone call to Abbott to tell him he wasn't being hired.

Was it anyone connected to plans to build oil refineries or liquefied-natural-gas facilities on the north coast? Did it have anything to do with private companies wanting to do deals with financially strapped First Nations before they had nailed down their full legal rights in the form of a treaty?

I don't have the answers to these questions, nor does anyone else until the government comes clean on this...



Gosh.

That's not really possible, even given the connectedness of certain members of the wizardry, previous life partners or not, and/or the pedigree of a certain patron.

Is it?



________
Meanwhile, back in Clubland....The Dean thinks Mr. Horgan and friends got an upper hand in the 'game' last week....Which is sports reporting and hot stove analysis of the most vital kind...Because, you know, the 'game' is what this is really all about, right?
Club?...What club, you may be asking?...Well...Norm Farrell has an update on something else they are not taking seriously in the members-only lounge...


.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

the gift that keeps on giving?

Anonymous said...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-premiers-shift-undermines-treaty-process/article23680784/

North Van's Grumps said...

For a BC Premier to claim that $600 million has been spent thus far in treaty negotiations implies that the money has been coming out of OUR province's Treasury.

15 years, 4 treaties, 50 bands

In fact, the 'funding' has been coming from Ottawa (their responsibility via the Indian Act). Victoria responsibility is land being returned to the First Nations due to a couple of legal loopholes created by Ottawa: Railway Belt (created for CNR and CPR bottom line) and the War Measures Act (expropriated land for the defense of North America during the First and Second World Wars.)

The First Nations has only borrowed the $600 million from Ottawa with a requirement that the funds be returned upon completion of negotiations per treaty.

The more money provided by Ottawa, the longer that the negotiations drag on, the less the First Nations will gain.

Anonymous said...

"Did it have anything to do with private companies wanting to do deals with financially strapped First Nations before they had nailed down their full legal rights in the form of a treaty?"

Bingo!

Bill said...

"Meanwhile, back in Clubland....The Dean thinks Mr. Horgan and friends got an upper hand in the 'game' last week....Which is sports reporting and hot stove analysis of the most vital kind...Because, you know, the 'game' is what this is really all about, right?"

Exactly right Ross. Palmer as always minimizes. He can take an important matter and by shifting, shaping and spinning we get 'analysis' that totally deflects the very effective and significant work of the opposition in question period. The Liberals have been caught out, every time they stand up to not answer the serious questions put to them - they repeat over and over so much nonsense (with their pants spontaneously combusting into flames). Palmer does not report any of this with the weight of its true significance.

The 'Deaner' is no friend of the truth, simply a hack cheerleader for his Liberal family.

Anonymous said...

Money - had I any - would be on the Harperites pulling strings in Victoria to derail the talks so "private companies wanting to do deals with financially strapped First Nations before they had nailed down their full legal rights in the form of a treaty" would have more leverage.

Crediting CC with this is farcical.