DieVille
Super busy with all this online teaching stuff, but...
Just wanted to mention that Sean Holman wrote 34 stories about issues surrounding gaming enforcement back in the darkest days of GordCo, Inc. (i.e. 2009).
Now he has written a thirty-fifth.
If you haven't already, go read Sean's latest over at The Tyee.
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I'll be back with more in a few days once this frenzy subsides a little...
Super busy with all this online teaching stuff, but...
Just wanted to mention that Sean Holman wrote 34 stories about issues surrounding gaming enforcement back in the darkest days of GordCo, Inc. (i.e. 2009).
Now he has written a thirty-fifth.
If you haven't already, go read Sean's latest over at The Tyee.
_____
I'll be back with more in a few days once this frenzy subsides a little...
And, ya, just for Sean, the sub-header earworm is...This.
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5 comments:
Good article, worth the read. What I found very interesting was the small side article regarding the "disappearing" articles. My money bets, some political party and their friends and or supporters made that all disappear. of course I've been known to loose a bet or two, but just the same, its just my humble opinion. Like whose interests are being served to have articles disappear.
Unfortunately even with this inquiry, the problem will continue. At some point the B.C. Lieberals or a reasonable reproduction will appear and the problem will be back, if it ever goes away.
the cops were just too lazy to get the work done or too hampered by politicians. the excuse regarding people from only specific ethnic groups were involved and there weren't enough police of that ethnic group, omg racism at its finest. We can't solve the problem because they're mandarin speakers. Yikes. My take on it is more like we're making money and the adverse effects are only being felt by people who speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Not a good thing.
e.a.f.--
The other issue was how, as was the case with BC Rail (which was playing out at the very same time), the local proMedia Press Club Gang assiduously avoided the guts of the story.
Mr. Holman is very diplomatic about this in that he points out the few who did briefly pursue the story (i.e Rob Shaw, then at the Times Colonist, and Sean Leslie, then at CKNW) but the flip side is the massive cohort, including the usual suspects, who most decidely did not.
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Operation-every which way -i believe it was called.
@ RossK Will Cullen be available to follow up the other BC Liberal Boondoggle by the BC Liberals? Same players involved, always the same players
A search of BC Mary's The Legislature Raids .......
https://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/search?q=rossk
By RossK
Pacific Gazetteer - June 1, 2010
Reprinted here by kind permission.
After Will McMartin's latest in The Tyee, which demonstrated that BC Rail was not a financial albatross around our necks, a lot of folks started asking just how much we, the people of British Columbia actually got for BC Rail.
The answer, as best I can figure it is.....
Nobody knows, yet.
Why?
Well, according to Vaughn Palmer, writing this time last year, in addition to offering $750 million for the assets, CN Rail originally bid 'aggressively' on the tax credits they would receive for 'buying' BC Rail's so-called 'debts'.
Unfortunately, in the final days before the deal went down Premier Gordon Campbell started making noises about how it wasn't a 'sale', but instead was a 'lease'.
Which could have, potentially, nullified the tax credit given that if CN wasn't 'buying' the railway's assets it also wasn't buying its 'debts'.
Thus, at the very last minute we made CN Rail an indemnification offer they couldn't refuse.
Which, in Wall Street parlance might, be called a:
"Tax Credit Default Swap"
Because, essentially we agreed to insure the tax credits, year-over-year.....At nine percent interest.
Yes, you read that right.
Nine freaking percent.
Compounded annually.
Thus, by 2009 the thing had ballooned so enormously that we 'potentially' owed CN, according to our own provincial government record of public accounts...Hold onto your hat......
$550 million dollars!
(large pdf file here; small google cache listing here)
And I am not making this stuff up (just click on the google cache link above and you will get both the 2008 and the 2009 numbers straight-up; alternatively, go to pg 71 of the massive pdf file).
Now, to the best of my knowledge this issue has not yet been resolved in 2010 (please someone, correct me if I'm wrong, but I have heard/read/seen nothing, and I pay pretty good attention).
Thus, we currently, by my calculations, [are] on the hook for almost $600 million.
I'll leave it the accountants amongst us to figure out when, if this is not resolved, we will actually start paying CN Rail for them making money off our Railbeds.
OK?
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And who, we can only wonder, might have helped grease the wheels to get that indemnity deal rolling on down the tracks at the last minute?......Hmmmmmm......Let's see....Who, precisely, was 'working' for BC Rail in the spring of 2004?.....
*****************
2020 Editor Note:
Rich Coleman??
(v) The British Columbia Railway Corporation (BCRC) and BCR Properties Ltd. completed a transaction with Canadian National Railway Company (CN) on July 14, 2004. As a result of the transaction, the province and BCRC have provided commercial indemnities to CN with respect to the transaction and indemnities related to income tax attributes of BC Rail at closing. As at March 31, 2009, the maximum present value (calculated at 9%) of amounts payable under the tax indemnities related to income tax attributes(excluding any reimbursement of professional fees, tax arrears, interest on taxes payable, if any, on indemnity payments) is approximately $550 million (2008: $505 million). These indemnities remain in effect until 90 days after the last date on which a tax assessment or reassessment can be issued in respect of the income tax attributes. Management believes it is unlikely that the province or BCRC will ultimately be held liable for any amounts under the commercial and tax indemnities.
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