Premier Photo Op’s deputy chief of staff resigned over her role in the Liberals’ ethnic outreach artifice. The Liberals and their faithful media partners emphasized that Kim Haakstad took no cash on her way out the door. Clark said:
She… didn’t take a penny of severance…
Of course, this is Whac-A-Mole and, shortly after, Haakstad was working on Clark’s campaign in Vancouver Point-Grey. Soon, she’ll pop up in a new sinecure, lobbying for a government dependent industry group, headquartered on Easy Street.
Anyone paying attention to election coverage repeatedly heard the “no-severance, no-rewards for Haakstad” claim. However, I was cynical, expecting the Premier’s fidus Achates could and would gain rewards in numerous other ways.
My cynicism seems justified by what Bob Mackin called an alleged bribery attempt uncovered in nearly 8,000 pages of not-entirely redacted documents. The person who Liberals wanted to keep silent was a taxpayer paid staffer with a role in multicultural outreach:
Assess her response and advise… If need be, offer x dollars per month to do non public work up to election…
Her knowledge was so dangerous that one of Christy Clark’s underlings was trying to determine the amount of cash that might keep her mute. At the same time, John Dyble, Clark’s deputy minister, was “investigating” the outreach affair but never contacted the woman.
Dyble’s paper on the multicultural strategy was already suspect. Hardly objective, given his position at the apex of the BC Liberal government, he restricted what he would review and report. A great many of the 8,000 documents released by Dyble were heavily censored, which of course raises suspicions about embarrassments that would be revealed if complete records were available.
Dyble will be rewarded for his loyalty but those will come at the cost of his reputation. Given past activities, particularly regarding BC Rail, at least Haakstad didn’t have to worry about her reputation being degraded by ethnogate.
Categories: BC Liberals, Ethics
in-sights.ca 
Norm, the Liberals greatly minimized the numbers of people opposed to Smart Meters. Guess that was more Liberal fiction to add to their oevre.
They must have had a legal opinion that said they would not win the class action suit launched by opponents…
Stephen Smart:
BC Gov backs down on Smart Meters. Not only allowing ppl to turn off wireless function, but also to keep old meter for a fee. #cbc #bcpoli
July Morning
by Stephen Smart via twitter on Thursday, July 18, 2013 at 12:40:14 PM
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Wow, Mike Smyth called Ethnogate a “malodorous affair!
http://www.theprovince.com/life/Liberals+call+independent+probe+into+ethnic+outreach+scandal/8675193/story.html
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Nothing changes with the BC libs..it is becoming very apparent that democracy in this province and indeed in this country, is an illusion. Bought and paid for “influence” by the corporate world and the wealthy, our current system is nothing more than a “sham”.
Ethics, transparency and accountability, have been relegated to the dust bin of history. Deceit, obfiscation, manipulation and obscuring of issues are the “new” normal.
This is not the Canada I grew up in……
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Just to go through 8K pages. the guy deserves an award. Too bad nothing will happen. On the upside, everything is back to business as usual with the lieberals and we can look forward to another 4 yrs. of activity which is less than ethical.
No wonder there isn't any money to build new schools in Surrey.
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Hmm… I see that Teresa Wat says there were 10,000 pages. Even worse!
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Norm, you and I — and people who write regularly — know the effort it takes to compose just ONE page. 8,000 pages would take a TON of time, at taxpayer expense to create. It wasn't just a silly mistake.
I also know how tough it is to get rid of a mole (and hopefully Christy will be having lots of 'moles' inside the legislative buildings) — but Bob Mackin is one of the best diggers, so I hope he comes up with some goods.
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