Lew Edwardson makes a valid point. When a big financial donor to Liberals wanted to acquire publicly owned BC Rail, Liberals pretended the railway was a money loser with little value and sold it, despite an election promise not to do so. Then, they quietly distributed the railway’s extensive land assets in sweetheart deals with friendly developers. After that, government spent millions of taxpayer dollars to induce guilty pleas and end the infamous BC Rail scapegoat trial.
When tax cuts for wealthy citizens were desired, Liberals eliminated thousands of public servants, especially in dirt ministries that supervised agricultural and environmental issues. Disrupting the lives and interests of ordinary citizens mattered naught.
When researchers interfered with commercial interests of pharmaceutical contributors to the Liberal Party, the Campbell/Clark/Coleman enterprise dismissed the researchers and followed plans to defame these innocent people.
Indeed, Liberals have a method of operation. But, ethics play no part.
These summary firings with no chance for employees to defend their actions or face accusers have parallels to the firings in the health ministry. Same minister responsible. Same guy that also oversaw illegal BC Rail secret deal. @Dave_Eby please call an inquiry!!#bcpoli #corrupt
— Lew Edwardson (@valtamtech) July 4, 2018
Suzanne Anton explains. #bcpoli #vanpoli #moneylaundering #cdnpoli #bclp #bcndp #bcgreens #dirtymoney #riverrock #casinogate pic.twitter.com/FrsjAHEzZd
— andyJH (@ajhtweeting) July 4, 2018
Certain BC LIberal politicians have long experience in claiming that 2+2=3, while they pocket the leftover 1. Don't expect remorse or shame from sociopaths.#bcpoli #DirtyMoneyhttps://t.co/L4Eannxa3Z
— Norm Farrell – In-Sights.ca (@Norm_Farrell) July 5, 2018
in-sights.ca 
I’VE CHANGED MY MIND, on the enquiry. Just saw the noon news and the former head of the unit, we need an inquiry. Now on to newer posts.
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No more Greyhound, except Vancouver-Seattle. But doesn’t BC still own a rail line connecting North Van – Pemberton – Lillooet – Clinton – Williams Lake – Quesnel – PG and north?
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Diapers and wheelchairs for all the politicians that have done us wrong! What comes around, goes around! Enjoy our money in the way of pensions, won’t last long.
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After reading “15 Things All Sociopaths Have In Common” (at the end of Norm’s posting) I’m convinced Chrispy and Rich, among numerous others are perfect examples of that aberrant behaviour and would be given ‘a stay of execution when (not if) found guilty. However, they would be deemed ‘not guilty’ by reason of mental instability. Meanwhile, their ill gotten gains would be reaping untold benefits in some Caribbean backwater until they’ve been ‘miraculously cured’.
I too am vengeful and wasted a good part of my life roiling over the misappropriation of justice in the BC Rail case. I won’t live long enough to see these felons receive justice.
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John, a social conscience is never wasted. Hang in there.
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@e.a.f. Democracy and justice don’t come cheap.
Your penultimate paragraph effectively describes the problem. But we are looking for a solution, not a reiteration of the problem.
When you say the A.G. can investigate and “render reports” you are overlooking the fact that the NDP kept the same ministry officials in there that are responsible for the current situation and who were responsible for crafting the illegal BC Rail deal to end the trial and protect the people you say have a protective infrastructure around them. Please recognize that the very people you expect to “render reports” HAVE BEEN that infrastructure, and then think about how likely they’ll be to implicate themselves or their masters under your plan to do it on the cheap. We need an independent and public inquiry.
I fail to appreciate how it is easier to convict criminals in Quebec than in BC and how any corruption inquiry here would be “very different” when we haven’t even got agreement from government for an inquiry let alone a terms of reference to compare.
“Remember, we are dealing with crooks here and they are slippery and evasive.”
– Andrew Wilkinson, BC Liberal leader and former Attorney General.
Inspector Clouseau and Captain Obvious would be impressed by him. I’m not.
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Lew, don’t get me wrong. I am not willing to let by gones be by gones. I am a very vengeful person. I believe in getting even. However, the cost of doing this, is going to be very, very high and we won’t get a conviction. The inquiry in Quebec was much different and it was easier to convict these people. Here, it will be as B.C. Rail was, don’t remember, taking the “5th”, There is only a slim chance of conviction. As to ruining careers, the people involved in the B.C. mess, have enough of a “infrastructure” around them that they will be protected from the unpleasantness.
I am not ready to make nice. I don’t forgive and I don’t forget. In B.C. an inquiry isn’t going to do much of anything, so why waste the money. The A.G. can investigate and render reports, just as it did with the money laundering.
Wilkinson of course would take the position he has, he was part of the “theft”. Now he is leader of the B.C. Lieberals. In my opinion, he is as much responsible for the criminal activity in this province as the rest of the B.C. Lieberals. They all sat around and let it happen. its not like it was a secret that hockey bags were going into casinos with cash. The B.C. Lieberals must have liked it. They did nothing about it. The police forces must have been good with it, they did nothing about it. Surely the Richmond RCMP must have some responsibility there. But of course the B.C. Lieberals and the RCMP, well just putting the two in the same sentence says volumes in my opinion.
time to run, will continue later, E. A. Foster
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@e.a.f. I suspect you have wide support for your “let bygones be bygones” stance. Within the BC Liberal party. In fact Andrew Wilkinson said the other day that it’s a “sad exercise” blaming past politicians for money laundering failures. So you’re in good company.
I doubt however that the scores of people who were arrested, jailed, and had their political careers ended as a result of the Charbonneau Commission agree with your opinion about the ineffectiveness of public inquiries. Here’s a sample, and there have been many since:
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/charbonneau-commission/former-laval-mayor-charged-with-two-counts-of-gangsterism-37-nabbed-in-anti-corruption-arrests-1.1273711/comments-7.395058/comments-7.395058
Sandy Garossino doesn’t agree with you either. She says she’s not ready to make nice and, “Don’t try to bury this. The grave is too shallow, and it’s already full.”
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/06/30/opinion/stop-whitewashing-bloodstains-bcs-dirty-money-laundromat
You’re ready to make nice, and that’s your prerogative. But if we all had that attitude, wouldn’t the politicians and criminals love it?
Including the ones that illegally ended a criminal trial? And those that killed Lindsay Buziak?
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In case its not obvious, the last comment was in response to e.a.f.’s well thought out posting.
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Unfortunately (for those of us who support retribution) you make perfect sense. Look at how ineffective the BC Rail trials were, for instance. And they appeared to be a slam dunk! I think the guilty would obfuscate, prevaricate and ‘not recall’ to the extent it would be a lawyer windfall and we would all be the poorer for it.
I advocated many years ago that BC replace Quebec as the most corrupt province in the country, and that was long before the most recent failings.
We still don’t know how much CN really paid or BC Rail, we still don’t know what was included in the ‘Fast Ferry’ package to Washington Marine, and until Lew brought it up, I was unaware that there were other nefarious deals regarding BC Rail land holdings.
Yes, an inquiry would open up a whole nest of insidious works which would only further increase our disgust, but the guilty would smile through it all.
You and I can go to sleep with a clear conscience but they enjoy the benefit on not having one!
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The information regarding BC Liberal’s lack of ethics, opioid/Casino/Real Estate connections and triple deleted information suggest that the BC Liberals don’t have the morals of an alley cat. I’d like to stick up for them and say they do!
Now, imagine the former Premier Christy Clark exhibiting these qualifications – becomes a senior advisor on the Board of Directors of Shaw communications.
As you whisper to your TV to change the channel, imagine Christy Clark listening to your private conversations through Bluesky. Could they hear pbusiness discussions on investments or how you would vote?
Would they sell this information to Andrew Wilkinson, Rich Coleman, Gordon Campbell, Mike de Jong?
Why is it that so many BC Liberals are running in municipal elections on October 20th just three after the new federal Recreational Cannabis regulations become law?
Shouldn’t David Eby as Attorney General be checking the “Panama Paradise Papers” in search of the names of BC Liberal donors, companies and individual tax cheats that should have their names submitted to the Canadian Revenue Agency?
Surely, there has to be a record of individuals who have laundered their money and shipped it (by the tanker load) to offshore tax havens. Could there be some NDP supporters, BC Hydro executives, Fish Farms owners, Big Pharma, ICBC Directors or Site C Dam engineering firms among the list?
They jailed Al Capone for income tax evasion, not his street level criminal activity.
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What scared them off?
I think Horgan’s Vision Vancouver minder, Geoff Meggs is scared stiff of the inquiry, especially the real estate aspect of it as Vision Vancouver has close ties to developers and land speculators who made a fortune off of casino laundered money being invested in new build condos.
Condo construction that is being driven by the Broadway SkyTrain subway.
Who knows where the collective ooze of corruption will ensnare?
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Evil eye may have a point there. However, all that would lead to is the firing of Meggs. The actually problems aren’t the fault of the current NDP government. Having Meggs leave certainly won’t break my heart. He, in my opinion, helped create all the problems in Vancouver with Visionless.
As to referring to the NDP as B.C. Lieberals light, not so much. I remember what the B.C. Lieberals did and the first thing the NDP did was announce a new hospital for Duncan and Surrey along with more improvements to our health care system. any version of lieberal light would not have included that. Since being elected, from my perspective the NDP is dealing with the most important issues: health care, education, and money laundering. No inquiries, just save the money for affordable housing.
An inquiry into the political corruption which went on in B.C. for 16 years isn’t going to solve anything. The corruption started with el gordo’s firing of the cleaning staff in B.C. Hospitals, the largest mass firing of women in Canadian history kicked it all off. Now who is responsible? The voters of B.C. they kept voting for the B.C. Lieberals, so they are complicit with the illegal actions in this province. It wasn’t like it was a secret. People knew things were going on which weren’t right. But everyone at the early days was making money and they were good with it. Surrey was a disaster zone, yet the people there continued to vote for the B.C. Lieberal farm team, right up to the last election. Vancouver wasn’t any better, different problems, but again the citizens of the city continued to vote for Mayor Moonbeam and Visionless.
An inquiry may uncover more misdeeds by the previous government, but what will it achieve? Will people go to jail over B.C. Rail? Most likely never, even if the truth were told. So why hold an inquiry? Its a waste of money. My line for years was, I want to live long enough to see el gordo in handcuffs. that isn’t going to happen. Hell the federal Liberals put him on a NAFTA committee for the environment.
The laundering of money via the casinos and other countries, which then came back into the country, to buy real estate, an inquiry would be great but would it bring down the price of real estate or make housing more affordable? NO. It would cost several hundred million and no one might even go to jail.
I think Eby has done the right thing with the report and changes will be made. In my opinion this will be the best way to go, at this time. If Eby remains A.G. I expect there will be more things he does which will create changes for the future. Going back isn’t going to do much of anything except make some of us feel better and that isn’t something which will improve the province.
I’d love to see Christy Clark and all her friends behind bars, but they will lie, lie, lie, lie. Cases are determined on the basis of beyond a reasonable doubt. it is doubtful that can be established. so what is the point? it might make some of us feel better, but it won’t make the province run any better.
The people of B.C. did this to themselves. if we were to have an inquiry it is the voters of this province who ought to be called to account
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Art, checking the Pan. papers would take a very long time. Nice idea. Feel free to get started on it. Not even the federal government is interested in doing it, it is such a large job.
Searching for Lieberal donors is not Eby’s job. he has other things to do. Tax cheats are the responsibility of the federal government.
Much of how people hide money in other countries is to hide from the CRA. its up to the feds to do that work, not the provincial government. They have enough work to do as it now stands.
Part of the problem is the drugs came from Communist China and the money being laundered is coming both from Communist China and here. We won’t be getting any cooperation from other countries, so what is the point. We won’t get enough information to obtain convictions. The trials would go on for years and again cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tax evasion is a federal issue, not provincial. The province doesn’t have the staff. Have a look at all the documents in the Pan. papers. I had a look at some and it was way beyond my wanting to continue and I wouldn’t have spit on Christy or el gordo to save them from burning. . If you want at it, go for it//
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I said this on Laila Yuile’s blog.
Here is the problem Eby faces if he calls an inquires into money laundering at BC Casinos as phase 2 of the money laundering “Vancouver Model” is investing laundered money into BC real estate.
Real estate in Vancouver is finite and to increase the supply of housing for money launderers to further cleanse their filthy lucre is to densify. In simple terms, property must be rezoned to allow multi story high rises to create more units for sale per acre of land.
The big driver to densify properties in Vancouver is building more SkyTrain light-metro as “the only reason to build SkyTrain was for land use purposes”. Translation, transit is built not to move people, but to move property.
Now, the big supporters of the Broadway subway is Vision Vancouver and Gregor Robertson, which party and the mayor have intimate connections with land developers and land speculators, as well with some dubious Chinese types.
Premier Horgan’s chief advisor is Geoff Meggs, a big supporter of SkyTrain and the Broadway subway and current plans to densify properties on Broadway, to allow high-rise condos!
Now a memo on the Broadway subway. Current peak hour traffic flows along Broadway are under 4,000 pphpd and the North American standard for a subway is having traffic flows in excess of 15,000 pphpd. Thus, if built, the Broadway subway will be grossly underused compared to the massive investment of the 5.5 km line. Operating costs for the subway will add a further $40 million annually to Translink’s budget.
Former Translink Planner, noted to be the best in his field, Tamin Radd was fired from TransLink at the behest of Vision Vancouver and mayor Robertson because he pointed to these numbers pertaining to the proposed subway and claiming there wasn’t the ridership necessary to build the thing.
Here is the problem Eby faces: The BC Casino money laundering scandal may well reach into the real estate field and be greatly embarrassing to both Vision Vancouver and Premier Horgan.
In short a criminal inquiry into the Casino Money laundering affair will most likely snare Vision Vancouver and notably Geoff Meggs, the Premier’s advisor and the premier himself.
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One troubling feature of the 16-year BC Liberal reign of plunder is the lack of brown envelopes from public servants who surely have information that should be shared in the public interest.
The message sent by the BC Liberals was clear; speak up or get in the way of our plans and we will crush you. Here’s an example where doing the right thing put a target on a good man’s forehead:
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20111022/303057188879601
In that case we still don’t have an accounting of why $30 million was paid to Boss Power out of court when the government’s own estimate and that of an independent appraiser set the likely damages at less than half that amount.
No public institution, employee, or official appointed or elected was immune. Ask John van Dongen. Or John Doyle. Or the fired health researchers. We can’t ask Rod MacIsaac, but we can ask for him.
Meanwhile on the other side of the coin employees watched protection of the favoured. A two-week public service agency investigation of serious misconduct by the Premier’s Chief of Staff completed without a single written word. Think Bloggins running the forklift down on the loading dock would get that treatment? A criminal trial ended by a $6.4 million illegal secret deal that made the special prosecutor and a Supreme Court judge look like dupes, in order to protect embarrassing or implicating testimony damaging to BC Liberals. Want to play in that arena?
The NDP government has not inspired public servants to come forward either, by a (so far) definite aversion to pinning the tail on any BC Liberal donkeys. Although there is hope in the form of legislation introduced last sitting.
https://www.leg.bc.ca/parliamentary-business/legislation-debates-proceedings/41st-parliament/3rd-session/bills/first-reading/gov28-1
I was disappointed to note however that it removed the chance for thee and me to participate through means of Part 7 of the original version:
https://www.leg.bc.ca/parliamentary-business/legislation-debates-proceedings/40th-parliament/6th-session/bills/first-reading/m216-1
I wonder what scared them off?
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.. this seems to be cutting edge corruption, cronyism.. criminal. Names need to be named with packages of the proof (multiple copies) one dropped off by RCMP to Christy Clark and one to all the other ‘players’ like Rich Coleman et al. Land sales (give aways & sweetheart deals) need to be revealed on CBC (or is that another sellout?) Any dubious political animals involved who were shipped or farmed out by Harper or Trudeau, require public humiliation and possibly house arrest, passports seized. Due process of course.. but this was all strip mining of taxpayer owned assets. When elected or background public servants start making deals not in writing, or using private cel phones as ‘work arounds’ the signs should be obvious.. of fraud and corruption. In the USA, EPA Secretary may end up in prison for having staff ‘scrub’ his official calendar to hide meetings unrelated to his position. That’s felony on two levels. And there must be a similar or parallel legality up here. Site C is a boondoggle from the word GO.. and Christy Clark deserves ridicule, public humiliation and possible prosecution for anything related to taking the project ‘past the point of no return’ .. and anyone associated with her secretive dealing. The wild salmon fishery is likely lost during her watch as well as by Harper, the late Saint Flaherty, Peter Kent, Keith Ashbridges, Joe Oliver on the federal level.. and bye bye boreal caribou too.. wiped out for dilbit & perpetually poisoned water. Legacy ? What legacy ? They’re all multi millionaires now ..
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Its nice to blame everyone and there certainly is enough blame to go around, but the real blame lies with the voters of this province and no one else.
Shaming people is not going work, because many have no shame. If they did, they wouldn’t have done it. You need to understand some of these politicians. They never cared and never will. If you think Christy Clark can be embarrassed you need to have a really good look at that woman.
People kept Harper in office for 9 years while it was all going on.
We, the voters have sent a very strong message to politicians, do what you want, we’re good as long as we have our 3 t.v.s., 2 cars and enough booze and Wal mart shopping.
It was people who were finally concerned about their children’s education in some ridings and some people who worked very hard to change the minds of the voters in other ridings, but its not like the NDP won in a land slide and it won’t take much for the B.C. Lieberals to come back into office. I’ve watched politics in this province since 1956 and its been very interesting to say the least. yes, Norm I’ve been following politics in B.C. since I was 7 years old. Truly I was a very strange child.
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A Liberal government corruption inquiry?! The silence will be deafening – the inactivity regarding an inquiry with consequences blatantly obvious. We’re dealing with Liberal Lite now. Not sure where the hell they sent the NDP, but they’re long gone and buried by the look of it. BC is still the capital of corruption in Canada.
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No that would be Ontario now, in my opinion.
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create the disease –sell the cure?
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