At The End Of The Day...

JustBecauseYouDidn'tWriteAboutItDoesn'tMeanIt
Didn'tHappenVille


...Sometimes there just isn't enough time for poli-blogging.

Why?

Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure.

Maybe it's because we have been working pretty hard at getting another paper out the last few weeks. This one has been a bit of a slog because the gradual student who originally did the work has moved on and is now doing his post-doc stint on the other side of the continent. All of which led to a whole lot of Skyping and long distance experiment doing by folks in my lab who became his remote hands after we got the reviews back from the editor. And while I hated those reviews when we first got them, now that there is a light at the end of the tunnel it's hard pretend that they haven't made the work much better.

But that's not really it.

Maybe, instead, it's because the geezers have a couple of rock and roll shows coming up. One will be in a cabin in the woods and one will be in a fancy hotel ballroom....Gosh....I wonder which one will be more fun. Anyway...There are new tunes to be learned which means a bit of frenzy of actual practicing away from the band so that I don't drive the lead guitar genius guy crazy...All joking aside,  really fun part of it all is that Bigger E will be singing with us for both shows.

But that's not really it either.

To be really, really honest I think a wee bit of the ennui has snuck its way into my poli-blogging hideaway.

But not to worry, because I'm pretty sure it will soon pass (as it has done so before).

In the meantime, carry-on and be sure to visit all those sites on the blog-roll over there on the left side of the page that are doing all the good stuff for all the right reasons.

OK?


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Sometimes At The End Of The Day...

...Everybody looks forward to seeing Ms. Irglova on stage with Mr. Hansard again doing their thing.

This time they were in Poland.

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And, just in case you missed it, when the music starts to crowd out the poli-blogging, feel free to blame Mr. Hansard for absolutely everything.


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My Purple Friend Ian Reid: He Was The Prince Of The Paupers...

...Crowned Downtown At The Beggar's Bash.

Back in dinosaur days, when Lotuslandian poli-blogging was still a (relatively) new and (kinda/sorta) lonely game, Ian Reid and I became pretty well acquainted on-line.

But it wasn't until we got to talking about music and our kids that we really became friends.

Here's what I wrote about all that a few years ago, back when Ian was still managing to fight off the disease that would eventually kill him:

When Ian popped-up here, in the comments, after I started writing about the Casino Industrial Complex that arrived still-borne, but fully-wurlitzered, in the deep, spikey shadows of the devil-horned roof from nowhere, I was a little surprised.

In the ensuing months we corresponded quite a bit, both here in the bloggodome and offline, about what was really going down.

To be absolutely clear about this, even though a lot of the stuff Ian told me was pure gold I was initially wary because he is an old Pol.

And while I am mostly sympathetic to the party that he has worked for over the years, I have come to learn that you can never be too sure when an old Pol might be working you rather than just talking to you.

But all that fell away when Ian began to respond to the stuff I wrote about making music with my kids.

Because both of those things are personal.

And as we kept talking, purely in pixels mind you, it turned out that, while it would appear on the surface that we have very little in common other than politics, we actually do.

Have lots of things in common I mean.

But it was the differences that I became really interested in.

Like how he would tell me proudly about all the crazy, wild and exhilarating adventures that his own, now fully grown, kids are involved in.

This was a real comfort to me given that my own kids are still young enough that it is hard, as much as I would like to, to let them rush headlong straight into their own private Adventurelands.

As for the musical differences.....

Well, those don't really matter.

Except to mention that I have never really been a Bowie fan.

But then I read a recent post from Ian that lets us know about all the Life (and yes, maybe even death) Changes he's been going through for quite some time now.

So.

I decided to go looking for the intersection of Mr. Bowie and all that I hold dear, musically at least.

And I think I found it.

Here you go Ian (and, thanks).....

****

Anyway.

As I should have known, Ian really dug Prince and just about everything else interesting under the musical sun.

Luckily Ian's son Shamus, writing on Ian's old blog, has made sure we all know that now, and why:

...This weekend I spent time with Prince, trying to figure out what he meant to me. I’m writing on this blog, so you might have guessed it comes back to my dad. With Prince, I just lost another piece of him. When I grieve Prince’s loss, I grieve the absence of a conversation with my dad about his life and identity.

My dad was a gateway to the best music. Not just for me, my sisters or the rest of the family, but for his friends, his acquaintances, his readers, anybody he liked even a little bit.

After he died, a friend of mine who worked with him told me he had turned her onto Massive Attack in the nineties. Over a decade her senior and he gave her the inside scoop on one of the greatest bands of her generation. My fake-Uncle Adrian—one of several of my dad’s remarkable close friends from childhood—told me about a visit from my dad while he was studying law in Toronto. Pestered, he finally agreed to close the books and go see some new band dad was excited about. They were called U2.

A year before his death he introduced me to Spiritualized at the Rickshaw in Vancouver, prompting another friend to ask “what’s it like having a dad who’s cooler than you?” It was pretty awesome. Didn’t give me an inferiority complex at all.

Anyone who knew him could probably give you a list of bands he introduced them to that became deeply meaningful to them. Mine includes such diversity as Drive-by Truckers, Beck, Patti Smith, KRS-One (I know, right?), Nirvana, Fela Kuti, Tracy Chapman (joint effort with my mom), Bill Callahan (joint effort with my step-dad), Antony & The Johnsons, Lucinda Williams, Joy Division, Parliament-Funkadelic, and so many more. And, Prince, of course.

My dad turned people on to music like an evangelist turns people on to Jesus. I think he did it for the same reason too. Music saved him. He wrote once on this blog about seeing Van Morrison for the first time on PBS when he was 16. Seeing a pudgy, awkward Irishman, made him realize he—a pudgy, awkward Scot—might have the miseries of his life saved by rock and roll...

****

Now.

If I've said it once I've said it a million times...

It's not the Web or the Tubez or the Apps, or even the ever thickening layer of Pixel Dust that really matters around here.

Instead, it's the people.

OK?


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Trump Takes New York...Start Spreadin' The News.

ButWillItPlayIn
ClevelandVille


Looks like it's not just artists, hipsters, Broadway showgoers and the ultra-rich who are into New York these days (i.e. since primary vote counting came to a conclusion Tuesday night).

Andy Borowitz has the (snark-filled) story in that always homerish and booster-filled rag, 'The New Yorker':

America’s racists, who have long viewed New York with a mixture of hostility, contempt, and fear, are suddenly feeling much more positive about the Empire State, a cross-section of racists confirmed on Tuesday night...

{snipppety doo-dah}

...Improving attitudes about New York were not limited to racists, however, as interviews on Tuesday night revealed a sudden warming toward the state among misogynists, xenophobes, and people who enjoy sucker-punching others in the face.


Imagine that!


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And, on the flipside....This. 


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More Bullshite In BC Liberal Budgeting Exposed...The Smoothening.

WhenInDoubtDeferDeferAndDeferDebtAgainAgainAndAgain
WhenYouAreNotTooBusyDeletingVille


From Andrew MacLeod's excellent Tyee piece on all the accounting tricks going down at BC Hydro published yesterday:

...(In 2017) BC Hydro will draw down $250 million from a rate-smoothing account, money that it doesn't plan to finish repaying until 2024.

For context, the provincial government has budgeted an overall surplus of $287 million in 2017-2018, which in part depends on receiving $706 million from BC Hydro.

The rate-smoothing money is therefore more than one-third of the amount the government plans to take from the utility in the election year....


And what will we see, hear and read about this, which clearly demonstrates that the Clarklandian  faux balancing of the budget is bogus, from the Lotuslandian proMedia during the election campaign next spring?

My prediction...

Crickets.

(and/or Dean-fried codswallop about the importance of grocery bills and clawback timing)


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This Carbon-Based Day In Clarkland...The Real Filth And The Real Belching.

AllThingsToAll
CarbonEmittersVille


Yesterday, I took umbrage with the following statement from our fine Premier that was uttered at a pro-Frack gas rally in Northeastern British Columbia as reported by Jonny Wakefield in the Alaska Highway News:

“This early start to the fire season is alarming for everyone in the province,” (Premier Christy) Clark told reporters after a speech to LNG supporters from the back of an oilfield crane truck. “I know it’s been an immediate, urgent issue for people in the northeast, but if it’s starting this early here, it’s going to start early everywhere in the province.”

“If there’s any argument for exporting LNG and helping fight climate change, surely it is all around us when we see these fires burning out of control.”

“This is the reality we’re facing today as the planet gets warmer,” she continued, saying climate change leads to dry conditions that exacerbate wildfires. “If there’s any argument for exporting LNG and helping fight climate change, surely it is all around us when we see these fires burning out of control.” ...

{snip}

“The only way China is not going to build those filthy, belching coal plants is if they have a different fuel to power the country. That has to be LNG,” Clark said in a followup interview. “If everyone who is using coal and oil switched to natural gas today, we would be a third less polluting. In one leap.”...


My taking of the umbrage was based on the science of the thing.

Rigourously peer-reviewed science like the following, as published in the top-of the ladder publication 'Nature':

...Assessment of the full impact of abundant gas (obtained by fracturing) on climate change requires an integrated approach to the global energy–economy–climate systems, but the literature has been limited in either its geographic scope or its coverage of greenhouse gases. Here we show that market-driven increases in global supplies of unconventional natural gas do not discernibly reduce the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions or climate forcing. 

{snip}

...Our results show that although market penetration of globally abundant gas may substantially change the future energy system, it is not necessarily an effective substitute for climate change mitigation policy...

****

Now.

If the science of the thing is not bad enough...

There is also the blatant hypochristy, as Laila noted late last night:

...Some days, I would rather muck out the dirty stalls of a horse ranch and not wade through this kind of muck instead.

Let’s talk about that dirty nasty coal BC LNG is going to save the world from. And why Premier Clark, so clearly motivated to save the world from those “filthy belching coal plants”, isn’t stepping into immediately intervene and help those trying to stop more thermal coal exports overseas out of Surrey Fraser Docks? 

Yes, you read that right. Surrey Fraser Docks and Port of Vancouver are trying to get the courts to drop the challenge against this facility that would see coal ships loaded with thermal coal brought up by train from the US, to ships in the Fraser River. Frankly after reading Clark’s comments above, I’m shocked she isn’t down there protesting herself to stop it! Oh but wait…she’s too busy making sure the Massey Bridge gets built,a project specifically designed to allow large ships to travel up and down the Fraser to ship that dirty coal overseas….

But wait, I haven’t even begun to talk about the mile long trains of thermal coal moved through White Rock,Surrey and Delta daily that US ports won’t ship and has been shipping out of Deltaport for years!...


So.

What's next...

A massive  'Bonfire Of The Carbon Capture Vanities'-type  PR blitzkrieg ghost-written by the life partner of the failed sheep herder?



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Please note: North Van's Grumps was also on to the hypocrisy of the thing right out of the gate in the comment threads last night.



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Of Headlines And Obviousness.

There'sNoBamboozlementLikeSelf-Inflicted
BamboozlementVille


So.

Mr. Mason of the Globe has a column up today under the following header:

Alberta, B.C. discuss deal to swap pipeline for electricity.

Except, when you actually read the piece it is neither Notley nor Clark who say anything about this 'swap' deal specifically.

In fact Ms. Notley goes out of her way not to say anything explicit about any deal making.

So who does Mr. Mason rely on for his 'confirmation' of a deal being in the works?

Well....

As you might have guessed...

One of the Clarklandia's most notorious spinmeisters:

...A spokesman for B.C. Premier Christy Clark confirmed that energy talks between the two provinces are under way and agreed that there is renewed optimism around the Kinder Morgan pipeline project, in particular.

Ben Chin, executive director of communications and issues management for Ms. Clark, said that while the five conditions the province has imposed on any pipeline project to B.C. would still have to be met, there is more optimism now that this can occur.

This, too, serves as a change for B.C., which last year came out against Kinder Morgan at the NEB hearings in Vancouver. Mr. Chin said that was not an unequivocal no, but rather a “not yet.” He said the B.C. government understands Alberta’s position regarding an electricity deal; that it would have to come with a pipeline. He said that clean electricity would help its neighbour “brand their product better.”

“If you’re electrifying the northern industrial heartland and are able to say we’re avoiding three to six megatons of greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacturing of this barrel of oil, making it the cleanest or second cleanest or one of the best barrels of oil you can get … does electricity help you make that argument?” Mr. Chin said. “We believe it can.”...


Hmmmmm...

And if Mr. Mason we're to call up Marky Mark and ask him if Enbridge is still the bees knees, just like it was way back in 2005,  would he, Mr. Mason, then write a column about how the governments of Alberta and British Columbia are planning to institute an 'Enbridge Honey Day' festival in Kicking Horse Pass every summer from here to eternity?


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And isn't it interesting that a very similar header sits atop a similarly flimsy piece in today's Edmonton Sun...Someone is sure working hard to push the 'aura of inevitability' sound-bite button here...



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The Keef Report....The Tipping Of The Dippers.

ExileOn
KeefStreetVille


It's not often that we have two Keef Reports in one day, but the following was impossible to ignore:

 Link

Now, based on the time stamp, one can only assume that the Keef banged this out after he learned of the Conservative victory in Manitoba last night.

Interestingly, I don't remember him tweeting anything similar about the Cons after they got stomped in the Albertalands and Fed-Gen elections recently.


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Previous editions of the Keef Report can be found....Here.



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Latenight In Clarkland...This Way Insanity Reigns Supreme.

WhenWordSaladIsNot
EnoughVille


As a follow-up to our last post on carbon and wildfires and all that, our fine Premier has flown up to Sparkle Ponyland and she has spoken.

Jonny Wakefield of Alaska Highway News has the story.

Here is his lede, and a wee bit more, so that you can get a real feel for the insanity she is once again pushing:

Liquefied natural gas can help cut China’s coal consumption and turn the tide against climate change, which is contributing to an early wildfire season in Northeast B.C., Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday in Fort St. John.

The premier was in the Peace Region for a pro-LNG rally, planned weeks before a rash of wildfires forced people from their homes across northern B.C.

Asked about the early start to the fire season, Clark made a pivot to her government’s plan to export LNG to Asia.

“This early start to the fire season is alarming for everyone in the province,” Clark told reporters after a speech to LNG supporters from the back of an oilfield crane truck. “I know it’s been an immediate, urgent issue for people in the northeast, but if it’s starting this early here, it’s going to start early everywhere in the province.”

“This is the reality we’re facing today as the planet gets warmer,” she continued, saying climate change leads to dry conditions that exacerbate wildfires. “If there’s any argument for exporting LNG and helping fight climate change, surely it is all around us when we see these fires burning out of control.”

Clark tailored her comments to the current wildfires, but the argument is far from new. The BC Liberal government has long argued that LNG is less carbon-intensive than oil and coal, making it a net-positive for emissions reduction...


As for upstream emissions and scientists who say that what Ms. Clark is selling is pure, unadulterated codswallop?

Well.

You know...


______
And we await, with bated-breath, the puffed-up punditry's coming commentary about how the Premier has once again bested the leader of the Opposition by once again (again!) spouting bullshite that once again (again! again!) has gone unchallenged by said punditry...Sheesh.


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Can You Offset The Carbon From Wildfires?

FoolingAsManyPeopleAsThePossiblyCan
AtAllPossibleTimesVille


The wizards and digitial influencers of Clarklandia  have apparently joined forces with the Ezra-phants in further riling up the folks of Northeastern BC who, as might be expected given the resurrection of the promises of Sparkle Ponies forever, are calling for folks to support the expansion of frack-based fossil fuel extraction in their region.

And I sympathize with them, I really do.

The folks of Northeastern BC, I mean (not the wizards and the full on shillophantic ones, Ezra-linked or otherwise).

But there is a thing downstream of all this desired extraction that we are going to have to come to grips with sooner or later.

Which is that it is only mid-April and Northeastern BC is burning.

And, as climate blogger Robert Scribbler notes, that is a real problem that cannot be waved away by media grandstanding:

...The new Canadian fire season, the one that climate change is bringing on, now starts in April. And it will likely continue on through September of this year. Nearly a half year of wildfires burning in what should have been one of the coldest climate zones in the world. A place now wracked by dangerous and difficult changes. A place where billions of sparks will fly this year over one of the world’s greatest piles of sequestered carbon....


OK?



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This Afternoon In Clarkland: The Forced Closing Of Schools...

...What's In A Number?

Or, to be more precise, what's in that '95%' capacity number that the Clarklandians are insisting upon before they will spend commit money to saving kids from death and/or dismemberment by earthquake?

As Tracey Sherlock reported recently in the Vancouver Sun, essentially nothing.

Here is her lede and a bit more (to include a pathetic response from the Clarklandian Ministry of (Anti-Public) Education:

The B.C. ministry of education is forcing the province’s school districts to have their schools 95-per-cent full before they can get funding for seismic upgrades. But next door in Alberta, the Calgary district is working on a plan to reduce its capacity, from the current level of 85 per cent, down to 80 per cent.

The Calgary Board of Education just approved a three-year capital plan asking for 20 new schools and 13 major upgrades. The objective of the plan is to get schools back to just 80 per cent utilization.

“The Calgary Board of Education has a recommended school utilization rate of 80 per cent,” said Joanne Anderson, the board’s media relations representative. “As a whole, the … system utilization rate is 86 per cent, and more than one-third of schools are over 90 per cent. By freeing up space, schools have more flexible learning spaces and can maintain other learning spaces such as music and art rooms and a school learning commons (library).”

In Vancouver, the board is looking at closing as many as 21 schools to get to a 95-per-cent utilization rate, as mandated by the ministry of education, and required before schools will be upgraded for earthquake safety...

{snip}

...When presented with the information from Alberta, the B.C. ministry of education said it all comes down to the budget.

“District-wide utilization rates are a key tool in making sure we deliver the best possible education for our students while ensuring value for taxpayers,” the ministry said in a statement. “Taxpayers want districts to make the best use of existing facilities before we invest millions of their tax dollars in new schools...


So.

There you have it - no justification of the 95% number and the raising of the false flag of 'new schools' rather than seismic upgrading by the Clarklandian Ministry concerned.

My take?

Kids are being used as hostages to force the closing of public schools on a massive scale for no good (or even defensible) reason whatsoever.


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This Day In Clarkland: The Conflict Commissioner Responds To Concerns Of Conflictyness.

SomeConcernsAreMore
ConcernfulThanOthersVille


As we have previously noted, British Columbia's Conflict-Of-Interest Commissioner, Paul Fraser, has a very close relative that has very close ties to, and currently works for (at her behest as an Order-In-Council appointment), the Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark.

In addition, it was more recently noted that the Conflict Commissioner's then law firm gave a considerable sum of money to the Premier of British Columbia's political party just before he was appointed as the Conflict Commissioner by the previous Premier of British Columbia.

These two facts, which are indisputable, have led to concerns that the Conflict Commissioner may himself, at the very least, be in a perceived conflict of interest when it comes to investigating matters surrounding large donations made by individuals and corporations, at least some of which appear to be law firms, to the political party of the current Premier of British Columbia.

These facts and concerns led to the Conflict Commissioner making public a response to these concerns which the Victoria Times Colonists' Les Leyne noted andcommented on in a column published yesterday.

I am of the opinion that specific aspects of the Conflict Commissioner's response and Mr. Leyne's comments (or lack thereof) require further comment.

These include the following:

"...(Commissioner Fraser told Opposition MLA David) Eby it is well past the time when the career choices of one family member should compromise the aspirations of others..."

I find this statement by Mr. Fraser to be an obfuscation given that career choices and aspirations, compromised or otherwise, are not the point here. Instead, the point is that the Commissioner's son works for the Premier and can be fired by her at any time (and/or anyone who succeeds her). Thus, in my opinion at least, this is a situation that is ripe for potential conflict, particularly given that it is within the Commissioner's purview to make a ruling that could negatively affect the Premier's ability to continue on as Premier.


"...(Commissioner Fraser) said he was a partner with the law firm at the time the donations were made (to the BC Liberal Party), but not the named partner in the title.

The 400-lawyer firm was the result of a series of mergers and was a national firm with offices across Canada.

“I was never active in the management of the firm,” Fraser wrote. “I was not the guiding force in administrative decisions made by FMC in Vancouver or nationally during my tenure as partner.”..."

Now that is an interesting argument. Essentially, if I understand correctly, Mr. Fraser is using the Sergeant Schulz 'I know nothing' defense here by saying that it is a large national firm and that he had nothing to do with the running of the firm's operations in British Columbia because he was not a 'named partner'. However, as is implied in his statement, and is clear from the 'biography' page on the official 'Office Of The Conflict Of Interest Commissioner' website, Mr. Fraser was most definitely a 'partner' in the law firm concerned. Therefore, while may not have been a 'guiding force' is Mr. Fraser arguing that, as a partner operating in British Columbia, he was unaware of administrative decisions made by the firm, particularly those involving large political donations to a political party in British Columbia?


"...(Commissioner) Fraser said large law firms have contributed for years to all mainstream political parties and he said his previous firm’s were comparatively modest. “FMC was not well known for its political connections.”..."
Oh boy. Where to start with this one?

First, does not the fact that Mr. Fraser's law firm at the time was not well known for its political connections and that its previous contributions were modest in comparison to other large firms actually make it more noteworthy that his firm gave more than $25,000 to the BC Liberals during the two years before the then BC Liberal Premier appointed him Conflict Commissioner?

Second, if as Mr. Fraser says, 'large law firms have contributed for years to all mainstream political parties', does this not make the fact that Mr. Fraser's former law firm contributed, as Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch has pointed out, ONLY to the BC Liberal Party in the period under consideration even more noteworthy?

****

And with that I will stop this bit of fisking.

Except to finish with one final comment.

Which is that, again in my opinion, Mr. Fraser's response to the previous concerns raised actually raises further concerns about the possibility of, at the very least, a perception that a conflict of interest could arise during his investigation into the propriety of the BC Liberal Premier of British Columbia holding of secret meetings with large donors, corporate or otherwise, to her political party.


_____
And, if anyone thinks I am being unreasonable here, please recall that the Commissioner previously recused himself from investigating an allegation of conflict involving the current Premier of British Columbia once already.
I haven't been able to find an actual copy of the Commissioner's 'response' that Mr. Leyne says was made public. Thus, I have relied on the excerpts that Mr. Leyne and the VTC have published...However, if anyone can point me towards the response in its entirety (NVG?) I would be most grateful...



.

He said he was a partner with the law firm at the time the donations were made, but not the named partner in the title.
The 400-lawyer firm was the result of a series of mergers and was a national firm with offices across Canada.
“I was never active in the management of the firm,” Fraser wrote. “I was not the guiding force in administrative decisions made by FMC in Vancouver or nationally during my tenure as partner.”
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/les-leyne-commissioner-says-he-s-not-in-conflict-1.2233880#sthash.SZ6ZrK28.dpuf

The Keef Report...Shadow Boxing The BC Liberal Government On Hydro.

FauxPunditry
MeansNothingVille


Given the header above, and the pre-amble to, his latest print piece in Glacier Media print organs you might think that the Keef has seen the light and is ready to go toe-to-toe with Clarkandia when it comes to the malfeasance going down at BC Hydro.

But then he pivots by first doing a little bit of historical both-siderism before he throws the ultimate pillow-fight punch down at the fiscal gun-fight corral:

...The government has locked-in contractual obligations to independent power producers to the tune of nearly $60 billion, which means that in some years, BC Hydro will likely be paying over-market prices for electricity it doesn’t need...

So what is it about the qualifying 'most likely' in 'some years' that makes that punch so pillowy?

Well, as well known 'idiot blogger' Norm Farrell has demonstrated unequivocally...

This:

Gosh.

Would-a-thunk it.


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Previous Keef reports can be found...Here.


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The Selling Of Site C...Laila Injects A Few Critical Facts Into A Shillophant's Pitch.

AlwaysBeClosing
HiddenPAB-BotVille


Former BC Liberal government member and current CEO of the Vancouver Board of Boring Folks, Mr. Iain Black, has written a shillophantic OpEd on Site C that was recently published in the Vancouver Sun.

To make his (and/or his patrons') case, Mr. Black mixed in a wee bit of grease-laden reality into his lumpy bucket of codswallop in an effort to smooth things out for the big bamboozle.

To wit:


....Despite the advanced state of construction on Site C, and the decades of study and due diligence, there continues to be some who call for a delay or an outright cancellation of the project. The rationale for such a delay is that B.C. Hydro has an energy surplus and should therefore not be planning to bring on any new supply. Others suggest that in a slow economic environment, B.C. Hydro should take a wait-and-see approach before embarking on one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects. Others believe the project warrants even more review.

In reality, this is the ideal time to undertake a project of this significance. Building Site C in this landscape of low interest rates, depressed material costs, and a ready workforce will help keep the project on budget, and amplify its benefits. Furthermore, the timing of Site C construction offers opportunities for B.C.’s workers, businesses and communities hurt by the mining, and oil and gas slowdown...


Do you see what the good Mr. Black (and/or the ghostly writers behind his words) did there?

If not, Laila steps in to make things clear with actual facts about what has actually been done (or not done) with respect that 'decades of study and due diligence' bit that was used by Mr. Black in an attempt to wave away the naysayers while he simultaneously waved the pom-poms:

Fact: The government exempted this project from the only review that looks at the financial aspects of the project and balances them with the benefit or not, to BC Hydro ratepayers.

Fact: The 2014 joint provincial and federal review panel could not see a need for the project and advised that it be sent to the BC Utilities Commission for review.

Fact: That same bit of legislation that exempted Site C from review, also exempted IPP’s, or Independent Power Projects, which we know now BC Hydro is often paying to sit idle and NOT produce energy

Fact: BC Hydro mislead the BC Utilities Commission once already,which resulted in an apology from the BC Hydro president,clearly demonstrating why this independent oversight is so critical.

Fact: BC Hydro borrows money to pay the BC government annual dividends, a foolhardy practice that is irresponsible and unsustainable – something we talked about here last year.


I'm sure we'll be seeing such a countervailing listing of such facts on the VSun OpEd page any day now...


________
As she is always exceedingly careful to do, Laila fully shows her work in her post, which is well worth reading in its entirety.


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This Day In Clarkland...More Potential For Perceived Conflictyness In Commissioner Land.

Money
TalksVille


Previously, we noted that there appeared to be an element of, at the very least, the potential for perceived conflictyness for the provincial Conflict Commissioner, Mr. Paul Fraser, particularly when it came to his ability to investigate anything (and everything) to do with the goings on of British Columbia's current Premier, Ms. Christy Clark.

Why?

Because the Commissioner, Mr. Fraser, has an extremely close relative who has extremely close ties to Ms. Clark.

So close, in fact, that the Commissioner previously recused himself from an investigation that was centered around the previous actions said Premier, Ms. Clark.

But now, Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch has unearthed more.

Bob Mackin has the story in The Tyee:

...(P)ast donations to the BC Liberals linked to Fraser are raising concerns about his role in investigating allegations that Clark's fundraising activities violate provincial conflict rules...

{snip}

....Fraser was a partner in the Vancouver law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain. The Elections BC database shows the firm donated $25,383 to the BC Liberals from 2005 to 2007, including $10,000 to the successful Vancouver South campaign of Wally Oppal, the former B.C. Supreme Court judge. The firm donated to no other party...



So...

Just in case you have forgotten, Mr. Fraser was appointed Commissioner by then BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell in November of 2007 (i.e. just after his law firm gave big donations to the BC Liberals).

And, currently, Mr. Fraser is getting ready to launch a conflict of interest investigation into whether big money donors to the BC Liberals, now headed by Ms. Christy Clark, received favours for said big donations.

So (again)...

How is this there not, at the very least, the potential for a perception of conflictyness (in extremis) here that is so obvious that Mr. Fraser has not already recused himself from the matter at hand?

And, perhaps more to the point, how has the irony of all this been lost on the puffed-up members of the local proMedia pundit gentry, including one member who has stenoed-up the fact that Mr. Fraser has waved away the matter because the law firm is really, really big, or some such thing?


.

Your Monday Morning Read...Mr. Farrell On BC Hydro.

DoingTheJobTheProMedia
Won'tVille


Stop hanging 'round here this fine morning looking for warmed over snark and, instead, get over to Norm's place right now.

Instead of the usual lede, here's his kicker:

...In FY 2015, BC Hydro facilities generated 41,443 GWh of electricity. In FY 2001, those very same sites produced 49,940 GWh, which is 20% more.

However, here's a vital point. In 2001, BC Hydro had assets of $12.6 billion. In 2015, assets had grown to $27.8 billion. The company has been spending heavily, allegedly to make the system more efficient. In fact, what is continuing is misappropriation of public wealth for the benefit of suppliers, contractors and other BC Liberal friends.

Some people believe the government intention is to privatize BC Hydro. However, I believe the present situation, with another $10 billion of public funds being thrown at Site C, is working just fine for Christy Clark, her cabinet colleagues and their sponsors.

Citizens should be asking for explanations, from politicians and the pro-media journalists who choose to ignore these facts.


Now get on over there and read the entire thing.

There are more of Norm's patented charts, based on publicly available material, and everything.


_______
Why does that 'publicly available material' tag matter?...Because it means that anyone in the puffed-up punditry could be writing about this stuff, right now....No censored FOIR and/or super-secret leakrative insider access required.



.

This Weekend In Clarkland...Fighting Gangsters Yesterday And Today.

ProblemCreated
ProblemSolvedVille


Today (i.e. April 2016)...

 
Yesterday (i.e. August 2014)...

The RCMP in B.C. is facing millions of dollars in provincial funding cuts for the coming year, creating a budget squeeze that the Mounties say will lead to staffing reductions in its organized crime and homicide units...


Gosh.


I think I see a pattern here.



______
And as for root causes?....Who needs to deal with those silly little trivial things!...After all they are nowhere remotely close to becoming a brand new "#1 Priority"...


.

This Afternoon In Clarkland...How Many '#1 Priorities' Can One Premier Have?

FoamFingers
ForEveryoneVille



Well.

According to the sleuthwork of the sharp-eyed folks over at the PoMoPoCo Election Blog there have been at least five #1 Priorities for our fine Premier over the last couple of years.

These include, but are certainly not limited to:

- The Forest Industry
- BC/Alberta Hydro Grid
- Class Composition
- Families and All The Firstyness That Fits
- Sparkle Ponies....errrrr...LNG


All of which leaves one wondering what Ms. Clark's real/actual  #1 priority is.

Any guesses?



______
No word, at least not yet, as to whether gangs 'n guns and/or unlimited cash for Crimestoppers tips are Ms. Clark's new #1 priority...I suppose we will have to wait to see how the focus groups, the polling and the media play goes before we find out about that. 
Tip 'O The Toque to Laila on the Twittmachine for the link to the PoMoPoCoEBlog.


.

This Day In Clarkland...Parents And Students Are Hopping Mad.

Can'tYouJustSendThemAllToThe
PrivatesVille


Folks are pretty upset with what's going down in Lotusland Central when it comes to budget cuts to public schools.

Tracey Sherlock has the story in the VSun. Here is her lede:

Parents and students spoke out Thursday night — for the third evening in a row — in an attempt to save programs that could be lost because of Vancouver School Board’s planned $24-million budget reduction.

More than 40 people spoke about the importance of programs like the band and strings program, a Mandarin immersion program, librarians, literacy supports, gifted programs and other special programs that could be lost if the planned reductions necessary to balance the board’s $477-million annual budget go through. Poverty was mentioned many times by the presenters, as were special needs students and the supports they require...


Gosh.

Does this mean the Keef will go after these folks for their 'confusing' and 'wrong' information just like he did with another group of folks involved with the public schools awhile back?

But, you may be asking yourself...Why doesn't the VSB just refuse to pass a budget that will cut programs to shreds?

Well...

You know...

...By law, the board must pass a balanced budget by June 30, and if it doesn’t the government could fire the board and appoint a trustee, as happened to the Cowichan Valley School Board in 2012 and to the VSB in 1985...


.

This Morning In Clarkland...Who Should Be Assisting Those That Need Help At Translink Fare Gates, 24/7?

NevermindTheBollocksHereComeThe
ClosedFareGatesVille


The latest in the travesty that is costing we, the people, $200 million and counting, as reported by CTV:

A university student who relies on the wheelchair-accessible gates to be open to get into transit stations says he’s frequently locked out under the new Compass system.

When TransLink started closing all the fare gates last week to clamp down on fare evaders, officials said they had a fix for people with disabilities unable to tap their Compass card in or out.

Spokesperson Jennifer Morland told CTV Vancouver it would continue to have staff at most of its stations along the SkyTrain and SeaBus...


So.

Who should be manning those unmanned  (i.e. not 'most of') gates 24/7.

Well...

My vote goes to the F'in Fare Gate Glimmer Twins, Mr. Kenneth Dobell and Mr. Kevin Falcon.

To start, at the very least.


_______
Again, this stupid system (which still won't take bus transfers bought with cash) was conjured up, pretty much out of thin air, to deal with a fare evasion problem that did not exist before it was manufactured by forces aligned with the two former public servants mentioned above, and then wurlitzered by a compliant Lotuslandian proMedia herd...The real solution?...If these bloody things can't be made to work for absolutely everyone they should be yanked out immediately before they cost us even more money and grief...Or, at the very least, open them all up and let people keep using the cards as they were up until last week. And for those that can't let validated their cards at the gate, let them get them validated by staff, security or otherwise, anywhere within the system (and if those staff, security or otherwise, aren't encountered by folks that need them, tough)...Alternatively, we could all be given information on how to do the bloody Compass Hack given the embedded stupidity within the stupidness of the ridiculously stupid system that, again, we are paying $200 million for thanks to the Glimmer Twins mentioned above.


.

At The End Of The Day...

...It can be a really good thing to stop reading the theses that piled up while I finished grants and shipped another and just eat a big huge plate of Bigger E's vegetarian spaghetti and (not)meatballs.

'Twas very spicy and very good.

I will now waddle around block with the waiting Whackadoodle and beach guitar slung over back so as to practice latest entry in my own private Idahoan 'Even Better Than Wagonwheel!' contest.





(hint: Think pre-Southeastern Isbell and ol' fashioned cough syrup with the whallop)


.

This Evening In Clarkland...Tomorrow's Stenography Tonight!

BromancingThe
StoneVille


From the hallowed halls of Clarklandian PAB-Bottery...

Todd Stone, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, and Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development and Minister Responsible for TransLink, today issued the following statement regarding recent meetings with the federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities:

“Last week, we had the opportunity to meet with the federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Amarjeet Sohi.

“We are pleased to say that the meeting was productive and echoed the substantial commitment the federal government has made to infrastructure spending in the recent budget.

“During the meeting we learned that the federal government is making good progress on defining the framework and criteria for various federal infrastructure programs and our focus now is to continue to work with our federal colleagues to align our priorities for funding. This means we will work to ensure British Columbia gets its fair share of the $11 billion that is available over the next three years...



So.

Which local proMedia Club member will hew closest to the press release in their piece tomorrow?

And which quotes attached to the official  PAB-Bottery do you think they will pull?

Regarding the latter, something tells me it won't have anything to do with the following:

______
What's that last bit all about, Alfie?....Well...This.


.

This Day In Clarkland...Is The Chief Sparkle Pony Purveyor Playing Chicken With The Trudeau Government?

The
AuraVille


Or...

Is it up to something else?

****

What's all about this time, Alfie?

Well, this, from Yadullah Hussain in the Financial Post:

Progress Energy Ltd., a unit of Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas Bhd., is drastically slashing its capital expenditure as it awaits a final approval from the Canadian environmental agency on a proposed liquefied natural gas export project on the West Coast...


So.

If not a game of chicken what could this other thing be?

Well, remember how suddenly, out of nowhere, the Keef started babbling on about how he was 'hearing' that the approval from the Feds is pretty much a done deal recently?

Which looks to me like somebody is trying to cloak all the Sparkly things with an aura of inevitability or some such thing.

Gosh.

Who would do a thing like that?



.

Compass Card Hacktacular...The Hatman's Final Revenge.

HowDoYouCreateAProblem
WhereThereIsNoneVille


Well, well, well, whadd'ya know.

Cubic's 'Compass' system, which is holding folks up at Skytrain/CLine stations everywhere throughout Lotusland, is easily hacked.

CTV's John Woodward broke the story and Charlie Smith of the G'Straight followed up, but the rest of the local proMedia herd appears to be cowed on this one.

Gosh, I wonder why.

Luckily for us, ''Zweisystem' writing in the transit blog 'Rail for the Valley' has a trenchant analysis:

Not well reported in the mainstream media is the fact that the $200 million Compass Card/Fare gate system is now next to useless because not so honest people can hack through the system.

The Compass Card is old tech, sold to TransLink after an orchestrated campaign by the mainstream media that fare evasion was rampant and that fare gates were needed; and yes former premier Gordon Campbell’s best buddy, and senior bureaucrat at the City of Vancouver, Ken Dobell, just by coincidence was the lobbyist for Cubic Industries, trying to flog their dated wares.

This debacle is not TransLink’s fault, rather it is the BC Liberal’s fault forcing yesterday’s tech on today’s transit system.

Sometimes the old way to collect fares is the best way and really, $200 million would have been better spent improving transit, rather than financing another boondoggle...


Ah, yes, the self-described man of many hats, the good Mr. Ken Dobell.

And, when the going got tough the original fare evasion dodge from days of yore reared it's terrible, scary ugly head again recently, guess who did the rearing?

I think you are going to be surprised.

Or.

Maybe not...

______
And the flying surrender monkeys working the digital refs sure must be happy that the herd is keeping quiet on this one...After all, just think how hard they would have to work to come up with a way to blame the 1990's for this.


.

When Ron Obvious Tweets...

...Mr. Spector listens.

Link

Mr. S's bizarre logic notwithstanding, Mr. O's original point, I think, seems to be that the lack of heat on the Clarklandian 'Graftyness 'R Us' initiative is all the Opposition's fault.

Or some such thing.


.

This Afternoon In Clarkland...ProMedia Pipeline Plants Of Inevitability.

DoNotForgetThatOilPeopleInventedTheUltimate
CutOutVille


Well, well, well, whadd'ya know...

'One person involved' in the Clarklandian/TrudeauTheYounger negotiations has apparently just told John Ivison of the NaPo pretty much the same thing, allegedly:

...(P)rovincial government sources in Alberta and B.C. say Premier Christy Clark is looking for ways to support the pipeline ahead of next year’s election, particularly if she can win material benefits for British Columbians in the process.

“I think she would dearly love to say she got certain conditions met and she is the ‘premier of yes’ when it comes to resource development,” said one person involved in the delicate negotiations between federal and provincial governments...


Gosh.

You think someone (not, of course, named Sparky Spark) is working the refs here, particularly given the 'premier of yes' verbiage from the 'one person involved'?

And do you think those refs even know they are being worked?


______
Interestingly, pretty much the same ref working strate(r)gy was used to get the Keef to push the apparent inevitability of PNWG recently.


.

This Day In Clarkland...Of Headers And Stenography.

DoYouReallyWantToKnowWhyBCIsGoingTo
HeckInAHandbasketVille


proMedia stenoing of BC Liberal government press releases and media-managed announcements is one thing.

But when the Header shoots the propaganda into the stratosphere that is quite another.

To wit, the following is the header above the latest 'piece' by Mr. Tom Fletcher in the Black Press:

Single parent employment growing


As for the stenography in the piece itself, the lede (and a bit more) is illustrative:

"The B.C. government's new training and employment program for single parents on income assistance has grown to 2,500 applicants in its first five months.

Social Development Minister Michelle Stilwell said she is encouraged by the continued growth of applicants, with 60 to 100 people per week applying at WorkBC employment centres. The majority are women, and most are required to seek employment as a condition of assistance once their children are three years or older.

"One of the good things that I see is that about two thirds of those clients who have come forward have employment obligations, but one third are not actually obligated to look for work, and they are looking for work," Stilwell said.

The program covers tuition, daycare and transportation costs for up to a year of on-the-job training or education towards in-demand jobs for single parents on social assistance or disability payments. The benefits can continue for up to the first year of employment, including extension of government-paid dental and other health benefits...

You see anything about 'growth' in employment (vs. number of trainees/applicants) there whatsoever?


________
Of course, reporters, columnists and, one can only assume, stenographers don't write headlines to their pieces...However, the good Mr. Fletcher was happy to wurlitzer the piece, not with a descriptor about the growth of trainees but rather with the employment growth promoting header on the Twittmachine.
Wondering about the sub-header to this particular post?....Well...This.
On the Twittmachine, Curious George has much better, more accurate suggestion for a header, which is..."More Single Parents on Income Assistance in BC"... 


.

Do Members Of The BC Liberal Government Executive Have A Personal Financial Incentive To...

...Force BC Hydro To Borrow Money?

Yesterday, BC Liberal Government Minister Bill Bennett stated, with no equivocation, what everybody who has been paying attention (except, apparently, the local proMedia pundit gentry) already knew about why he and his force BC Hydro to give them millions of dollars every year that it doesn't have (and thus has to borrow, which increases costs for 'ratepayers' sometimes known as 'us'):

“But we couldn’t (decrease the 'dividend' from BC Hydro which is in the hundreds of millions per annum). We’re on a fiscal plan and we want to balance the budget every year and we just couldn’t afford to do it before we did.”...



Which got reader Lew wondering if, perhaps folks like the good Mr. Bennett themselves might have a personal financial incentive for 'wanting' to balance the budget every year.

More specifically Lew pointed us towards the following from a wee hangover from the GordCo Inc. years known as the "Balanced Budget and Ministerial Accountability Act":

Prohibition against deficit budgets
Section 2:  
The main estimates for a fiscal year must not contain a forecast of a deficit for that fiscal year.

Section 3 (salary holdback)
(1) The salary otherwise payable under section 4 of the Members' Remuneration and Pensions Act to each member of the Executive Council must be reduced by 20%.

****

Now.

Of course, in reality, this entire thing is pure, unadulterated codswallop.

How do we know that?

Because, whenever the going got really tough in the past (i.e. before they got better at stealing MSP dollars from healthcare 'clients' sometimes known as 'us') the BC Liberal government would just suspend the act.

Which is exactly what occurred in 2009 (i.e. before they got even better at stealing MSP, ICBC and BC Hydro dollars from 'us'):

The B.C. Liberal government is taking a temporary leave from its championed balanced-budget law to clear the path for two years of deficit spending.

Finance Minister Colin Hansen introduced amended legislation Monday that allows the government to spend in the red, but he promised to return the province to balanced budgets in the near future...


So, if this thing can be suspended at will why even have it at all?

Well, in my opinion it, as is so often the case with this government, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with real policy for 'us' and everything to do with spin, PR and the Cronification of Everything (to wit, see Norm Farrell's series on falling revenues from resource-intensive corporations as MSP, ICBC and BCHydro transfers, and more, rose).

OK?


.

This Day In Clarkland...Bill Bennett Admits That B.C.'s Balanced Budget Is Bullshite.

BullshitIsNot
GroceriesVille


From Rob Shaw's latest in the VSun, in which a proMedia Club member is finally forced to start playing catch-up to Norm Farrell:

...BC Hydro) owes around $852 million to the government over the next three fiscal years in mandatory annual dividend payments. But it doesn’t have the cash, and so it will have to borrow the funds, said Energy Minister Bill Bennett.

The contentious practice sees the monopoly energy company borrow money — which ratepayers will have to pay back in the future — so that it can meet government’s annual demand for a share of its profits.

Bennett has admitted the practice is unsustainable, and will begin to be reduced by $100 million a year in 2018 until it is eliminated.

“If we could have afforded to have started to reduce the dividend by $100 million a year sooner, it would have been great,” Bennett said Monday.

“But we couldn’t. We’re on a fiscal plan and we want to balance the budget every year and we just couldn’t afford to do it before we did.”...


Surprise.


______
Subheader about grocery bills and budgets and all that that ignore the bullshit entirely?...Why, the Dean, of course.


.

This Afternoon In Clarkland...Slot Machine Anti-Stenograpy.

TheNewNewNew
MacauVille


As Laila Yuile and Sandy Garrossino have made clear all day long, this isn't the first time that the BC Liberal government has instituted a super elite team to ensure that large scale money laundering, and worse, is not happening within Lotuslandian gaming emporiums.

To wit:

...The 12-member (Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team) IIGET was dissolved on April 1, 2009 by then-Housing Minister (and BCLiberal Minister of Everything) Rich Coleman...


Which, of course, means that a certain segment of the puffed-up proMedia punditry will soon be telling us that hockey bags full of cash on casino floors are actually all the fault of the 1990's NDP.

Because war rooms!

Or some such thing.


.

Our Man In Vegas Appears To Be On The Side Of The...

...Angels....errrr...Adelsons.

Republico has the story:

LAS VEGAS — Dispirited over a Republican Party primary that has devolved into an ugly, damaging fight, some of the GOP’s biggest financiers are reevaluating whether to invest in the 2016 presidential contest at all. 

Among those on the sidelines: Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul who hosted the Republican Jewish Coalition’s spring meeting at his Venetian hotel this weekend. His apparent ambivalence about 2016 was shared by many RJC members here. With grave doubts about the viability of the few remaining Republican contenders, many of these Republican donors have decided to sit out the rest of the primary entirely. And while some are reluctantly getting behind a remaining candidate, others are shifting their attention to congressional contests...

{snip}

....On Thursday evening, Adelson hosted some of the organization’s top officials at his palatial mansion. While former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed how fractured parties can unite, Adelson listened but said little, according to three people who were present...


Gosh.

If Republican rubes with billions want to throw a little cash Mr. Harper's way to hear him pretend that his takeover of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the wake of the bamboozlement of little Petey was an exercise in 'uniting fractured parties' it's their money, I guess.


.

This Day In Clarkland...Slot Machine Stenography.

CasinoIndustrialComplexes
'RUsVille


Black Press' Tom Fletcher has the 'story':

The B.C. government is establishing a 22-member police group dedicated to taking organized crime activity out of B.C. casinos.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong and Public Safety Minister Mike Morris announced the new team in Vancouver Monday. De Jong said the province is making a five-year commitment that will also include dedicated inspectors from the Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch and have a budget of $4.3 million a year.

Morris said he expects the new team to perform better than a previous dedicated police unit that was federally funded and not well integrated with provincial agencies.

The new unit will be administered by B.C.'s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, which focuses on organized crime. Kevin Hackett, chief officer of the anti-gang unit that includes RCMP and city police forces, said it's a complex problem that requires international police co-operation.

"We won't get people walking into casinos with hockey bags full of cash," Hackett said...



Don't know about you but I, for one, feel much better now.

Than I did, say, oh I dunno...

Six years ago.


.

You Want To Know Why This Province Is Going To Hell In A Handbasket?

ThereIsA
ClubVille


You really want to know?

Go and read Merv Adey's latest post (and this is where I convert to my John Lydon impersonation).

Rrrrrrright....

Now!

****

You still here?

OK, I guess I'm going to have to give you a teaser from Merv's post:

...(L)et’s deconstruct the bullshit, otherwise known as talking points, first on party fundraising. Some of these points come from the likes of Ben James. Some from pro “status quo” pundits....

{snip}

...“There is no quid pro quo” in special access fundraisers. This is Norman Spector’s line. It’s a way of saying campaign finance reform is a solution in search of a problem. To quote him again, “The choice in BC is between a pro-industry party and a pro-union party.” There! It’s solved! It’s not an ethics problem at all. Federal rules and the rules in many provinces were changed in the last fifteen years because of Adscam and other high profile issues. Spector is arguing (unbelievably) that industry players donate to the BCLiberals tens of millions in election years and non-election years because they hate the NDP. It’s not because they want lax regulation , non-existent enforcement, inside tracks on contracts etc. The collapse of government revenue from resource extraction (down about $4 billion annually from 2002, despite increased export volume) has nothing to do with a steady stream of industry cash to the party coffers...


Now...

Go read it all immediately, and then come back and tell me that the inability of our local puffed-up punditry to call a spade a spade is not THE biggest problem with the body politic in this province.

OK?


.

What Happened In Edmonton Will Not Stay In Edmonton.

PartiesRunDemocraticallyWillAlwaysHaveACertainLevelOf
DiscordVille


Cliff, the propietor of 'Rusty Idols' has a thoughtful take on what went down at the FedDip convention:

Here is his lede, but go read it all if you're interested:

I'm a proud New Democrat and I've always felt more sympathy for the left wing of the party. I believe the party made a tragic and mindbogglingly stupid decision to run too far to the right during the election.

Mulcair had to go and deserved to lose.

But the vote to study and debate the Leap Manifesto (NOT adopt it, an important distinction you can expect to be roundly ignored in the coming days and weeks.) massively overcompensated and took the party too far left...


_____
Cliff's follow-up post is worth having a look at also.
Mr. Beer 'N Hockey was there as well and he has been blogging this weekend also.....Beer looks at things a little differently than Cliff, but he is no less thoughtful.


.

Sometimes At The End Of The Day...

...It's easy to pick the Bruce tune that fits.

Even when it is the one that is not his own.

_____
And, for every kid stuck in a real or virtual North Carolinian purgatory of a certain kind, there is always....Mr. (and the other Mr.) Sedaris.


. 

This Weekend In Clarkland...Conflicty Business? (Part Deux)

Peddling
InAReallyInfluentialTimeVille


Yesterday, following up on a recent development in the super-secret, big-money BC Liberal donor hook-up story, we asked the following question:

Why, exactly, is the Conflict Commissioner himself now ignoring the perception of bias in a matter pertaining to Ms. Clark (when he did not in 2012) 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?



Today, Bob Mackin, writing in the Tyee, notes that a couple of folks about Lotusland, one of whom  wrote to the Conflict Commisioner in the first place on the big-money hook-up matter, are now thinking similarly:

...Dermod Travis of Integrity BC, which describes itself as a non-partisan political advocacy group, said Fraser should also recuse himself from the review of Clark's fundraising activities.

''He should not be undertaking any investigation that involves the Premier's office because of the appearance of conflict of interest,'' Travis said. ''Nothing has changed that gets around that particular issue for him.''

(Opposition MLA David) Eby said he will be writing Fraser to ask if someone else should be dealing with the complaint.

In an interview, Fraser confirmed he was investigating the complaints but would make no further comment...


But of course.

After all, why should a Conflict Commissioner comment on conflictyness.

I mean, that would be crazy.

Wouldn't it?


.

Site C Environmental Breach...When In Doubt Obfuscate.

RuleBreakingIsTheirWayOfWorkingWithThe
SystemVille


From Mike Carter and Jonny Wakefield of the Alaska Highway News:

Construction crews on the Site C dam failed to adequately control sediment and runoff into the Peace River, potentially hurting fish populations, Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) investigators have found.

In a report issued April 7, the regulator found BC Hydro breached two conditions of its environmental assessment certificate aimed at minimizing the flow of silt and runoff into the Peace River.

The utility has been ordered to work with sediment control specialists to develop a new plan to combat erosion and runoff by April 22...

{snip}


...Site C spokesperson Dave Conway said the EAO order is an example of the system working...


I mean.

Do these spokethingies of the flack-hackerious kind even pay attention to the things that are coming out of their mouths?

****

So.

How long has this 'system working' thing been going on, and what's the problem with a little silt anyway?

...."They've been digging in that river since October, and we've been complaining about silt in the river since October," (Peace Valley Landowner Ass'n President Ken Boon) said. "Our concern was they were creating way too much silt in the river itself with all the digging they did."

Elevated levels of silt and sediment put Peace River fish populations at risk—especially during spawning season, Boon said.

"Silt and eggs don't mix," he said. "That's why they make these conditions on these permits." ...


And if this were happening in, say, that big river out by the farm of the guy who dances, but hates EMail?



_____
And, for the details that matter,  Laila has been all over this for months.


.