Personal commentary on political and social issues in western Canada.
Sunday, May 28th, 2023
Anabel Hernández:
"If we remain silent, we kill freedom, justice and the possibility that a society armed with information may have power to change the situation that has brought us to this point."
VANCOUVER – Encana and the British Columbia government’s Pacific Carbon Trust have a new deal by which the Trust is purchasing 84,000 tonnes of carbon offsets from Encana. The agreement commits the trust to buy an additional 30,000 tonnes of carbon offsets through 2012.
The Trust will not disclose full details of the arrangement or the per-tonne price it pays Encana or any other private company.
…the deal represents a massive transfer of public money from British Columbian schools, hospitals and taxpayers to an already profitable private gas company.
…the price PCT paid for the offsets is confidential. But with PCT charging $25 per tonne when it sells offsets, the value of the deal would likely be in the range of $2 million.
“It essentially takes offset payments from schools and hospitals and gives them to industrial emitters,” said New Democratic Party environment critic Rob Fleming. “To think we’re going to drive private sector innovation by transferring money from schools, hospitals and public sector organizations is absurd.”
Gwyn Morgan, C.M. is a director of several large corporations in Canada, including EnCana Corporation and SNC-Lavalin. He is also on the board of trustees of the Fraser Institute, a Director for The Manning Centre for Building Democracy and a non-executive Director of HSBC. He is most noted for being the former President and CEO of EnCana Corporation.
Morgan is a right-wing ideologue who bashes environmentalists, unions, federal Liberals and immigrants in a way that makes outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell seem like a pinko.
Morgan’s controversial views even include ripping the Canadian Cancer Society for supporting a ban on carcinogenic insecticides and weed killers…
Morgan is also a defender of “Frankenfoods” — genetically modified (GM) foods that some European countries have banned, despite Morgan saying there are “no credible studies showing negative impacts.
VANCOUVER— New Democrat leader Adrian Dix is calling on the Liberals to immediately fix the Pacific Carbon Trust and end the Liberal practice of taking money from schools and hospitals and using it to subsidize big polluters like Encana…
…Last year the Liberals forced the public sector to send more than $18.2 million to the Pacific Carbon Trust, which then used those resources to fund private sector projects. New Democrats have repeatedly pointed out that it is ludicrous to force the public sector, which is responsible for less than one per cent of greenhouse gases emitted in the province, to subsidize big polluters who pay no penalty for the majority of their greenhouse gas emissions.
New Democrats note the Liberal policy cost the Surrey school district $497,000, the Vancouver school district $406,000, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority $1.15 million, and UBC $1.52 million last year. Meanwhile the Liberals sent an estimated $2 million, which was collected from schools and hospitals, to Encana, an oil and gas company with deep ties to Premier Christy Clark’s transition advisor, Gywn Morgan.
CALGARY – Encana Corp., known for its vast natural gas holdings in North America, isn’t ruling out a return to the international scene if the right opportunity presents itself, the company’s chief executive said Thursday.
We have been looking at opportunities internationally. We haven’t signed any agreements yet, but we are pursuing the possibility,” Randy Eresman told a conference call with analysts after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results.
There are certain places on the planet that look like they would be great places to both do business and where shale gas opportunities exist, where we could put our expertise to play and potentially benefit from that.”
…Encana wouldn’t rule out any part of of the world…”
…Earlier Thursday, Encana said its hedging program helped it deliver second-quarter profits of $176 million…
…The company also announced it has amassed nearly 148,000 net hectares in the Duvernay shale region of Alberta, and more than 101,000 net hectares in the Tuscaloosa shale lands in Mississippi and Louisiana…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Canadian authorities are investigating employees of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc for possible corruption involving a $1.2 billion World Bank bridge project in Bangladesh, a bank spokesman said on Friday.
Gwyn Morgan, Chairman of the Board of SNC-Lavalin, had no public comment. Nor did he comment on the company’s situation in war torn Libya. In March, investigative reporter Will McMartin wrote:
…And halfway around the world, in British Columbia, the man whose company now is building a $275-million, state-of-the-art prison for Gaddafi in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, huddled with premier-designate Christy Clark, helping her prepare to take the reins of government.
Yes, as bizarre as it sounds, Gwyn Morgan, the $300,000 a year chair of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin, a firm that for decades has worked with Gaddafi and his sons, is now serving as a “transition advisor” for Clark while she prepares to implement her “Families First” agenda in Victoria.
And above and beyond that weird fact, is another: Morgan’s company does business worth millions of dollars annually with B.C.’s public sector…
By the way, the school pictured here is Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary.
Sixty years ago, I started kindergarten at the Begbie Annex, now Thunderbird Elementary. At 5 years of age, in those innocent times, most days I walked the 2km between school and home unaccompanied.
Fifty-nine years ago, I began grade one at Begbie. Miss Watchorn's class, I think. The school doesn't appear to have changed much, or so it appears from a drive-by.
The elite have squeezed the taxpayer dry, now and in the future. Then they will state that the economy and jobs is the most important issue right now and you must re-elect us. Please voters take notice that we are in trouble exactly because of their policy. Do not vote these crooks back into government. Falcon is already on message, blaming their incompetence with the budget and overspending on the demise of the HST. We are still paying HST for the next 18 months and you cannot use this as blame. Spending has doubled since they took office in 2001.
These Liberals don't care about BC and the people who live and work here, they only want to pad their own pockets with outrageous salaries, pensions and contracts to devoted insiders. What a nightmare we are living through.
IN-SIGHTS 
Strange people hovering in the background of the BC Liberal Government.
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By the way, the school pictured here is Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary.
Sixty years ago, I started kindergarten at the Begbie Annex, now Thunderbird Elementary. At 5 years of age, in those innocent times, most days I walked the 2km between school and home unaccompanied.
Fifty-nine years ago, I began grade one at Begbie. Miss Watchorn's class, I think. The school doesn't appear to have changed much, or so it appears from a drive-by.
LikeLike
Another one entitled to his entitlements.
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The elite have squeezed the taxpayer dry, now and in the future. Then they will state that the economy and jobs is the most important issue right now and you must re-elect us.
Please voters take notice that we are in trouble exactly because of their policy. Do not vote these crooks back into government. Falcon is already on message, blaming their incompetence with the budget and overspending on the demise of the HST. We are still paying HST for the next 18 months and you cannot use this as blame. Spending has doubled since they took office in 2001.
These Liberals don't care about BC and the people who live and work here, they only want to pad their own pockets with outrageous salaries, pensions and contracts to devoted insiders. What a nightmare we are living through.
LikeLike