Friday, August 23, 2024

The Soccer Party's Concern Troll Conductor-In-Chief.


AllOurNineHundredNinetyYearLeases
'RHimAndHisVille


From Kevin Falcon's fingertips straight to Elon Musk's bot-infested pixel factory:



But, as the CorpMedia story that Mr. Falcon himself links to above makes clear, this is/was more than a 'strike'.

It is/was, at least in part, a lockout:

An end to a countrywide rail stoppage may be in sight, but riders of British Columbia's West Coast Express are facing at least one more day without the service.

The federal government on Thursday asked for binding arbitration in the dispute involving the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union, Canadian National Railway Co., and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd.

CN said soon after that it had ended its lockout of workers and CPKC said it was preparing to resume operations after the two railways' first-ever simultaneous stoppage...


Which means that, in the case of CN Rail, it was the employer who drove the stoppage on, presumably, former BC Rail rails using, again presumably, former BC Rail rolling stock.

And as for that long ago BC Rail sale/not sale deal to CN Rail... 

The following is from a December 2004 report by the intrepid Mr. (now Professor) Sean Holman quizzing the then pre-Soccer Party Attorney General (and future 'there was no prior inducement' proponent), Geoff Plant, about what the charging of then pre-Soccer Party aide Mr. David Basi was really all about:

Attorney General Plant: I don't know a whole lot really about what's happened today other than the information that I received a copy of an hour or so ago..... And the question of how this relates to various aspects of B.C. Rail and the CN Rail partnership is a question that is more appropriately directed to (Transportation Minister) Kevin Falcon.

Media: Will Kevin Falcon be made available today?

Attorney General Plant: I'm not responsible for Kevin's whereabouts.
And, yes, as I seem to be saying more and more often these days...I do have archives...And I'm going use them!


.

10 comments:

Norm Farrell said...

The estimable Lew Edwardson closely followed the disposal of publicly owned (and profitable) BC Rail to a BC Liberal supporter. Voters in 2024 should not forget the lies and the coverup that followed.
Lew provided a recap in THE TRACKS OF OUR TRACKS.
https://in-sights.ca/2018/03/25/unsolved-crimes-a-cold-case-file/

RossK said...

Thanks Norm - Lew's re-cap is, indeed, invaluable.

Anonymous said...

good old Falcon. Sometimes I think the bird is much smarter than him. birds do have memories as do bloggers and voters. Falcon, not so much. Never blames the corporations for anything, just the voters, workers, etc. Its not my fault-falcon. During the B.C. Rail mess there were a number of blogs which covered it. Couldn't rely on the MSM to do a decent job. Some of those bloggers have died, some have found other interests, some are still blogging. We all ought to be thankful to them for the work they did and that some have good memories and some have archives and some will simply have notes. Falcon and his railroad friends most likely thought the voters would swallow their story line, hook line and sinker. They were so dumb they forgot bloggers write and some have readers in the thousands.

Evil Eye said...

The BC Rail sale was one of the biggest grifts by Campbell and Co., selling a railway to politcal freinds at a rather cheap price. About $1 million a year over the 999 year lease.

Chump change in today's world.

What is not so well known is that the sale of BC Rail also gave the Rocky Mountaineer less competition.

Why? Well the Rocky Mountaineer is a hotel train and to 'gricers' like myself, hotel Trains are not passenger trains, rather a land cruise. BC Rail's North Vancouver to Prince George regularly scheduled passenger service was rated as one of the top 10 rail trips in the world and tourists around the world came and rode. which certainly helped tourism in the now "Hurtlands".

The Rocky Mountaineer does diddly squat for local economies and despite the hoopla, is just a tourist train for the wealthy.

So the end tale is simple; Campbell and Falcon destroyed a viable and well recognized international tourist attraction, which in turn help create the "Hurtlands".

Up North Falcon's name is held in contempt and is one of the reasons they are tied with the Greens in the polling.

nvg said...

For a man who is deeply concerned ... why is Falcon grinning, always, no matter what the topic is, not a pinch of sincerity

Anonymous said...

Mr f the 6 mil man or Christie the 6 mil dollar woman?

RossK said...

Post coming Anon-Directly-Above--

My guess is that this latest 'initiative' is a Marky Mark Klout(ish) Klub production...

Trailblazer said...

I have to wonder if Falcon or Rustad would sell/ lease/rent BC Ferries to Black Ball Ferries for 999 years at a million per year?
It would rid them of those pesky unions and they could then blame 'private enterprise' for price increase's or they would just subsidise them!
RIP BC Mary.
TB

RossK said...

TB--

RIP, and only the best memories of the truly inspirational BC Mary, indeed.

.

Graham said...

I remember the BC Rail Budd cars that I took to Whistler for hiking and to Pemberton to visit friends. They didn’t need an engine as they were self propelled, each having its own diesel engine. I recall coming back from Whistler after a three day backpack the conductor, porter, ? asked if we wanted any beverages. “Oh, what do you have?”, “Pop, juice, water, beer.” “ Beer you say, yes please.”.
When taking this train up to Squamish I would ride over to the station in North Vancouver on my bicycle and get on and hang up my bike in the bike closet. I can’t remember how much it was but maybe around $10-12. one way.
You can see a Budd car and even go for a short ride at the BC Rail museum at Squamish.