Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Will Railgate Never Die?

990YearsIsALongLongLongTime
TheGoldenEra'sTailIsEvenLongerTailVille


From Justin McElroy via the MoCo:


A legal dispute between West Vancouver and CN Rail over a popular seawall is heading to a tribunal.

The Canadian Transportation Agency will be holding public hearings during an ongoing lawsuit between the two bodies concerning the public's right to access the Centennial Seawalk.

"The fundamental question is whether or not the areas where the seawalk crosses into CN's right-of-way should be what the law calls approved crossings," said Scott Streiner, Canadian Transportation Agency CEO.

"We have many crossing cases, but the specific nature of this case is a little unusual."

CN Rail filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court on Feb. 17. The company terminated its lease with the municipality earlier this year, and is now seeking compensation of $3.7 million per year in rent for public use of the seawalk between 19th Street and 24th Street, which is on railroad land.

The District of West Vancouver had been offering $12,500 a year, indexed for inflation. The seawall was built in the 1960s, but CN Rail leased the right-of-way from the B.C. government after they purchased B.C. Rail...



Yes.

You did, indeed, read that last part correctly. The cronies have come home to roost on a public seawall built in the 1960's (i.e. 40 years before they made their deal GordCo, Inc).

And they want $3.7 million for that roost, now fully 50 years after the fact.

Sheesh.


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I'm pretty sure that NVG will have much more to say about this soon...


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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://blogborgcollective.blogspot.ca/2017/04/trevor-lautens-was-right-about-christy.html

Anonymous said...

I guess the 990 year lease ,of BCRail,from the people of BC just wasnt good enough.Now if only find out how much we pay for commuter train rail use to Port Moody on train tracks.Oh maybe cancel that deal.?

North Van's Grumps said...

West Coast Express too to CPR, when convenient to CPR

Anonymous said...

SH:

Given the shady dealings around Railgate, any lawyers out there know if B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act (proceeds of crime) can be leveraged to reclaim BCRail?

Scotty on Denman said...

Sticking the CFO on CNR for BCR is one honey of a formula: (CFO)2(CNR)4(BCR)= :~)

Anonymous said...

in West Van? Beautiful.

W. Van regularly returns some of the highest percentage of right wing votes in the province.

@ SH: I like to think that because the BC Liberals refused to recognize an 'Official Opposition' in their first term - anything they did then is null & void.

Anonymous said...

the gravy train continues

Cfvua said...

A recent application by CN to Industry Canada for a radio tower on what was called "company owned land" caused me to write to the supplied email in the ad in the local paper, asking where the "company owned land" was as I was unaware of any. After a couple of back and forth sit was conceded that indeed CN does not own the land but "enjoys" the terms of a lease. I was provided a link which I do not have to put in here, to the lease document. There has to be some clauses in there that could be challenged, if indeed the lease is like any other commercial lease and doesn't overly favour the tenant. Another stark irony is a sign at a paved over rail crossing on HWY 2 going through Pouce Coupe that says: Tracks not in service. And isn't that the truth.
Another recent news headline trumpets re-opening of the Tumbler Rudge branch line. No doubt at the cost of the met coal producers that must, as part of their EA certificate, use rail not trucks to ship.
The company resisted doing this, potentially holding producers hostage. Now remember when we gave that to CN. All they had to do was maintain it. Even ran on locally produced electricity. Yes, the Golden Era.

Anonymous said...

ah yas and holding up all the tourisrt rafters over a rail crossing ,in interior of BC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/golden-s-whitewater-rafting-industry-shut-out-by-cp-rail-1.3512273

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/cp-draws-fire-for-using-managers-to-operate-trains-following-collision-in-bc/article34315359/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Anonymous said...

https://blogborgcollective.blogspot.ca/search?q=bc+rail

e.a.f. said...

Its how corporations get rich at the expense of governments and taxpayers. and to think the feds gave el gordo and nice cushie appointment to "steal" even more money from the public trough. He arranged it nicely for his "friends" at the rail road.

Anonymous said...

And how much would BCRail be worth today?

North Van's Grumps said...

Twenty years before El Gordo, Premier Bill Bennett used a larger number than $1 Billion for the sale of BC Rail:

As at December 30, 1983 and giving effect to certain transactions occurring thereafter, the net book value of the fixed and current assets of the Railway would be $1.25 billion as disclosed in the "Pro Forma Balance Sheet of BC Rail Ltd."

North Van's Grumps said...

https://www.davemanuel.com/inflation-calculator.php

Lew said...

North Van's Grumps @10:22:

Maybe it never occurred to Bill Bennett to factor in his cut.

RossK said...

Lew and NVG--

Well, what with all those perfectly timee phone calls and all, how could the good Mr. Bennett possibly have had the time....

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Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGbzYlnz7c