1997!Ville
On Saturday the Globe published a piece under Kathy Tomlinson's byline about all that pay-to-play/evils-of-insider-access going on in Clarkland that we, the idiots in the Bloggodome (and anyone else who has actually been paying attention, including those nutbars from the NYTimes) have been saying for sometime now.
And that thing we have been saying has nothing to with this 'Wild West' in the land of the 'Iron Snowbird' nonsense.
No.
Instead, we're talking about all pervasive straight-up, out-front, corporate-backed influence peddling on a grand Potemkin scale:
...Lobbyists and other power brokers are routinely buying their way into British Columbia’s political inner circles by donating generously to the party in power several times a year, a practice industry insiders consider the cost of doing business in a province with an entrenched pay-to-play culture.
A Globe and Mail review of public records found dozens of people who get paid to promote special interests also give tens of thousands of dollars every year – under their own names, not those of the interests they represent – to help B.C.’s governing politicians pay for their campaigns.
Many are registered lobbyists, whose job is trying to influence those politicians to make decisions that will benefit their clients...
****
So.
After dangling a toe over Christy's Grand Griftyness Canyon on Saturday what did the Globe do on Sunday?
Why it published a scramble-back piece by Justine Hunter that started like this:
It was more than 20 years ago that the B.C. Liberal Party, then in opposition, attacked the NDP government of the day for bestowing special favour upon its “friends and insiders.” After 16 years in power, however, the Liberals are entrenched in defending a political fundraising system that sells access and influence to its own friends and insiders...
And it goes downhill from there.
Because, according to Ms. Hunter's piece the story of import now is all about legislative and campaign jousting that will soon come our way courtesy Ms. Clark and her minions that will be designed to win the battle for PR-flagged hearts and proMedia minds.
And as for what all that systemic and longterm BC Liberalized graft has done and is doing to this province and its citizenry that Ms. Tomlinson briefly brought to light on Saturday?
Well...
All gone!
_____
One thing that did bug me about Ms. Tomlinson's piece was this 'both sides do it' mantra without once mentioning the Dippers' repeated efforts to try and get the BC Liberals to legislate an end to this...
Bizarrely, as Norm Farrell has pointed out, the good Ms. Hunter was apparently flabbergasted to learn that, thanks in large part to the silence of proMedia lambs like her, the people of British Columbia 'suddenly' owe $100 billion in contract obligations to the cronies who have been paid handsome returns on their pay-to-play 'investments' over the last decade-and-a-half....Seriously.
Update, Late Sunday...Ms. Tomlinson's follow-up says Elections BC is 'investigating', but don't hold your breath for charges anytime soon because, in the words of deputy chief Nola Western...'We've got a lot of work to do'.....Gosh, you think?
.
14 comments:
EBC only responds to media exposure?
they do act independently?
complain of video poli recording going on and they reply ..check with police?
red tape reduction, BCL style, include weaker elections BC?
4 more years and noting will be left?
https://twitter.com/TrackieJimber/status/838613093320044544
Another home run by an out of province paper.!
Sadly, for a few years, Elections BC has been a political arm of the Liberal Government. Craig James, before moving into BC's plumiest plum job as Clerk of the Legislature, did a little remodeling of Elections BC. That included removal of the deputy chief electoral officer, a career officer who, unlike her boss, was qualified but loyal to the Legislature instead of Liberals.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2010/09/10/AxeFallsOnOfficer/
http://www.integritybc.ca/?page_id=5396
And then there is this....finally someone has stepped up to the plate; http://www.cknw.com/2017/03/05/bc-greens-calling-on-elections-bc-and-rcmp-to-investigate-bc-liberal-party/
While we all sit flabbergasted at the slow motion trainwreck south of the border: let's not forget that CC4BC and Trump are both guilty of foreign influence. If only Tomlinson had broken out the foreign component we could have seen how nefarious the BC Liberals really are.
Good memory Norm! I had actually forgotten how the BC Liberals had corrupted BC Elections. There has been soooo much corruption.
High time for us British Columbians to turf this government.
---otr
http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/190764/BC-Liberals-investigated
-Christmas came early?
BCL donations after the fact?
https://twitter.com/CreeksideAlison/status/838338331775676416
When will the legal system in this province, or who ever can, charge the BC Liberal party, its operatives and insiders with political corruption, graft and influence peddling. The solicitor generals office is in an obvious conflict of interest along with the RCMP, with regards with their inability to investigate these crimes. One would think the crown, acting out of Ottawa, would be closely observing the illegality or potential thereof in any province. Who oversees the political nonsense in this province? Who has the authority to prosecute the malfeasance occurring here? Our so called "justice" system is either I'll equipped or totally inadequate to deal with this level of corruption.
This is no longer comical, it is a serious affront to democracy in this country, western democracies and other so called "regimes" simply find this ridiculous.
In any other country, this would not be tolerated, and the military or other force be called in.
this game has been played in this province since I was a child. Nothing has changed with the Socred/B.C. Lieberal team.
If any one is waiting for an investigation don't hold your breathe. B. C. is one of those provinces which is a little light when it comes to game rules,
Now if some enterprising newspaper just checked Norm Farrell's columns on this subject and got his permission to print his columns they wouldn't even have to do any real work.
a couple of years ago Farrell's blog listed names of donors, the amount donated and what position they were appointed to in provincial government organizations and how much they were paid. it was really, really interesting to note that what they donated and what they received wasn't that much apart.
One very wealthy individual it just boggled the mind why they would even want to be paid.
All these billions Christy and club owe, well we owe, they ran up the bills, its going to come home to roost. The U.S.A. is planning to raise interest rates. A couple of points up and this province will be in the same trouble as all those home owners. Detroit North any one?????
Then all those MSP premiums will come back, teachers will be laid off along with nurses, etc. back to the good old days of the usual B.C. Lieberal's b.s. and people will die, die, die.
Globe and Mail: “That’s an indirect political contribution and that’s not okay,” said Ms. Western. “You can only make a political contribution with your own money – and you can’t be reimbursed.”
Back in November 2013 .... Bob Mackin at the Tyee:
https://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/11/29/Liberal-Liquor-Loot/
According to a Tyee comparison with Elections BC records, the lobbyists and executives directly or indirectly represented more than $2.26 million in combined donations since 2005 to the province's ruling party.
snip same article
Barinder Sall was Kash Heed's Vancouver-Fraserview campaign manager in 2009. Heed became solicitor general and Sall was fined $15,000 for Elections BC spending violations.
So, given the previous comment, of $2.26 million, in combined donations, why are we investigating this now. My impression is that the powers at be have been "shamed" by out of province reporters and news coverage into doing "something" about the obvious system of "graft" at work in this province.
That the BC Elections, has been "corrupted by the BC Liberals comes as no surprise here. An "orchestrated" and organized effort by "certain groups of individuals" has "enabled" any form of oversight to be purposely overlooked. Even the MSM have been co-opted to go along with the "charade". The question becomes, how to stop this and prosecute those responsible for the illigalities involved. This is organize criminal behavior, and fits the definition of organized crime in the criminal code.
Which companies Are The Biggest BC taxpayer"Moochers"?
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