Charlie Smith of the Georgia Straight identified a root cause of corruption in British Columbia. It is in his February 10 article linked here…
Punishment does not fit the crime
When Justice Kenneth Affleck jailed a senior who was honestly motivated to improve the world, the judge was following a long-established Canadian legal tradition. It dictates: Punishment need not fit the crime when the perpetrator is a white-collar criminal or a senior officer of a wealthy corporation.
We must demand redress
Important people perverted British Columbia’s judicial system so that wrongdoing in the privatization of BC Rail assets was hidden and remains in that state even today. These people included politicians, high ranking civil servants, RCMP officers and senior members of the BC Supreme Court. Their actions were facilitated by journalists employed by corporate media…
Be opinionated, first be informed
We examine a reader’s comment and find the assertions made fail badly when tested for accuracy.
Civilized people pay for civilization
Shocking that almost 23 out of Canada’s 50 most dangerous communities are in British Columbia. Thank you BC Liberals, you may have enriched your friends, but you impoverished the rest of us.
$6.2 million inducement ended BCR corruption trial
With various accusations of BC Liberal corruption being discussed in 2017, it is worth repeating how the first major scandal came to a highly unsatisfactory conclusion for taxpayers and anyone interested in honest administration of justice. This item about BC Rail was first published in 2014.
The misinformation strategy
However, this is a province where government routinely spends billions annually to subsidize multinational resource and power companies and spent 14 years in the courts fighting delivery of educational services to children in need. This government, found by the land’s highest court to be contemptuous of constitutional rights, cannot be counted on to change its priorities.
“Meaningful collective bargaining”
A prominent BC Government supporter wrote last week that, by vote of 6-2, Canada’s high court effectively handed “the Liberals ass on a plate.” Indeed, Justice Beverley McLachlin and colleagues concluded a legal process that should trouble every citizen. Not just that, in setting public education policy, an elected provincial government government behaved like a tin pot dictatorship but that four British Columbia Appeal Court judges believed they could ignore clear precedents established by the nation’s Supreme Court.
Delay, legislate, litigate, repeat
On November 10, Canada’s highest court reinstated Madam Justice Griffin’s 2014 judgement that found BC had bargained with teachers in bad faith and breached the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She awarded BCTF $2 million in damages. This high court action should conclude a dispute that has gone on since 2002 but, as long as British Columbia’s government follows the circular pattern described by this article’s title, it will not. Contempt for teachers is only one aspect of BC Liberal antipathy for public education.
Double standard? Of course!
In British Columbia, where income and disability assistance rates went unchanged from 2007 to 2016, the Campbell and Clark Governments have bent over backward to provide corporate welfare to people who write large cheques to the BC Liberal Party.
Ruining the just man’s cause
New York State officials aimed to limit the extraordinary electoral influence of extraordinary wealth. People who wanted their financial powers unrestricted began legal action and, applying higher court rulings, United States District Judge Paul A. Crotty tossed the limits. He did so with obvious regret, complaining he was forced to apply a definition for corruption “no matter how misguided . . . [the Court] may think it to be.”
The Judge’s five-page opinion is worth considering, particularly now as the British Columbia government repudiates citizens calling for rules against corporate and union political donations. Insights West calculate that 86% support a ban. In today’s neverending cycle of campaigning and lobbying; lobbying and campaigning, elected officials know where their money is coming from and that it must keep coming if they are to stay in office.
…influence bought by money is no different than a bribe, and as the Book of Exodus 23:8 counsels, “a bribe blinds the clearsighted and is the ruin of the just man’s cause.”
"A strong message…"
Canadian bank fined $1.1M for failing to report suspicious dealings, CTV News, April 5, 2016 The federal anti-money laundering agency has levied a $1.1-million penalty against an unnamed Canadian bank for failing […]
Discriminating justice: inequality before the law
Almost eight years after the death of Robert Dziekanski, Taser-toting RCMP constable Kwesi Millington was dealt a card that read, “Go Directly to Jail.” Of course, an appeal may see Millington free […]
Enablers of misconduct, "if it is done here"
The current FIFA scandal illustrates a human behaviour that allows criminal behaviour to succeed. By nature, people tend to ignore the misconduct of others if preventing or revealing it extracts a higher […]
The outrageous special deal for Basi and Virk – REPLAY
First published January 7, 2011: A reader pointed us to a recent BBC News report about a British politician convicted of financial fraud. Please compare this legal action to outrageous conduct witnessed […]
Would 7¢ fines deter improper acts by citizens?
A fine of $100,000 to Enbridge is equivalent to a fine of 7¢ to a Canadian earning median income. Looking at net assets, a fine of $100,000 to Enbridge is equivalent to a fine of 45¢ to a person at the Canadian median. Finland is a nation that believes in both progressive taxation and progressive punishment. A millionaire businessman was fined €54,000 ($73,000 CAN) for speeding. It is part of a tradition of “progressive punishment” that considers ability to pay.
Tax evasion at the heart of global economy
The Globe and Mail reported September 19, 2014, after Elizabeth Thompson’s September 18 story at ipolitics: Internal Canada Revenue Agency documents confirm the agency is cutting some of its most highly-trained staff […]
Justice delayed: time is money
In the USA today, a black youth was jailed for life after a jury trial convicted him of a March 2013 shooting. The time from homicide to related conviction: 5 months and […]
The real change is to Oppal’s wallet
As a companion piece to the preceding article, I republish another from December 2012: It’s not our fault, we’re awesome Wally Oppal’s report on missing and murdered women runs 1,638 pages. It […]
They held World War II in 6 years and a day
In 2001, the BC Liberal platform promised to improve administration of justice in the province through “determined leadership.” In 2005, Premier Gordon Campbell told the Canadian Bar Association, Improving access to justice […]
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