"Mr. Hahn attracted controversy for his $1-million compensation package, but the B.C. Ferries board of directors said Mr. Corrigan's total compensation will be about 60 per cent of that, about $564,000.Scribd BCFS 4 Year Exec Comp Report Recommend this post
"Mr. Lekstrom said Mr. Corrigan's salary package meets government compensation guidelines introduced last year after Mr. Hahn's salary, including bonuses and pension, raised widespread concerns and earned him the million-dollar-man nickname.
"...BC Ferries' services board chair Donald Hayes said Mr. Corrigan's appointment as ferries boss saves the company $600,000 through his salary and the elimination of Mr. Corrigan's old position as chief operating officer.
"Mr. Hayes said the company previously announced it's phasing out long-term bonus programs for senior executives, saving another $700,000 a year..."
CKNW's Bill Good and producer Jessica Hyatt want you critics of Christy Clark and BC Liberals to be quiet. You are all greedy beggars, demanding services from government while you are unwilling to pay for them. You just go on and on and on and on, don't you. Please, stop complaining so the Liberals can continue rewarding the people that really deserve rewards.A Manifesto for Economic Sense"More than four years after the financial crisis began, the world’s major advanced economies remain deeply depressed, in a scene all too reminiscent of the 1930s. And the reason is simple: we are relying on the same ideas that governed policy in the 1930s. These ideas, long since disproved, involve profound errors both about the causes of the crisis, its nature, and the appropriate response.
"These errors have taken deep root in public consciousness and provide the public support for the excessive austerity of current fiscal policies in many countries..."
"...Indeed, we understood that monetarist cures were likely to prove insufficient; that sovereigns need to guarantee each others’ solvency; and that withdrawing support too soon implied enormous dangers. We knew that premature attempts to achieve long-term fiscal balance would worsen the short-term crisis – and thus be counterproductive in the long-run. And we understood that we faced the threat of a jobless recovery, owing to cyclical factors, rather than to structural changes.Recommend this post
"On all of these issues, historically-minded economists were right. Those who said that there would be no downturn, or that recovery would be rapid, or that the economy’s real problems were structural, or that supporting the economy would produce inflation (or high short-term interest rates), or that immediate fiscal austerity would be expansionary were wrong. Not just a little wrong. Completely wrong.
"Of course, we historically-minded economists are not surprised that they were wrong. We are, however, surprised at how few of them have marked their beliefs to market in any sense. On the contrary, many of them, their reputations under water, have doubled down on those beliefs, apparently in the hope that events will, for once, break their way, and that people might thus be induced to forget their abysmal forecasting track record..."
"Bitumen extracted from tar sands has the consistency of peanut butter and must be diluted to flow through pipelines. And that's just the beginning.CONTINUE READING
"When emergency responders rushed to Marshall, Mich. on July 26, 2010, they found that the Kalamazoo River had been blackened by more than one million gallons of oil. They didn't discover until more than a week later that the ruptured pipeline had been carrying diluted bitumen, also known as dilbit, from Canada's tar sands region. Cleaning it up would challenge them in ways they had never imagined. Instead of taking a couple of months, as they originally expected, nearly two years later the job still isn't complete.
"Dilbit is harder to remove from waterways than the typical light crude oil—often called conventional crude—that has historically been used as an energy source.
"While most conventional oils float on water, much of the dilbit sank beneath the surface. Submerged oil is significantly harder to clean up than floating oil: A large amount of oil remains in the riverbed near Marshall, and the cleanup is expected to continue through the end of 2012.
"InsideClimate News spent seven months investigating what made the Marshall spill different from conventional oil spills. Part of the challenge was that there has been little scientific research on dilbit; most of the studies that have been done were conducted by industry and considered proprietary information..."
"Nearly two-thirds of penalties levied by provincial securities regulators across Canada in the past five years have not been paid, a CBC News investigation has found.Recommend this post
"...Quebec had the best rate of collection, at 77 per cent, while British Columbia had the lowest rate, at 2.9 per cent.
"The B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) says collecting fines is difficult because violators often skip town, run out of money or end up in jail..."
Article Six – Conflict of InterestIn media, standards of conduct and transparency are more boasted about than actually observed. Additionally, if one person is in conflict, there is a quiet expectation that colleagues will not report the conflict.
Electronic journalists will govern themselves on and off the job in such a way as to avoid conflict of interest, real or apparent.
Alex Tsakumis' release of Dave Basi's 2003 memo to file was an interesting test for British Columbia's corporate media. The results were mixed.“The evil hate the light – the light of goodness that shows them up, the light of scrutiny that exposes them, the light of truth that penetrates their deception. Rather than blissfully lacking a sense of morality, like the sociopath, they are continually engaged in sweeping the evidence of their evil under the rug of their own consciousness."The quote is from People of the Lie
by M. Scott Peck. Good sweeping Liberals.
Ian Reid at The Real Story has proposed a new name for 'Concerned Citizens for B.C.', a group organized by aging Liberal toady Jim Shepard.From BC Rail shill to straight out BC Liberal shill. Maybe his group should be called "Concerned Liberals for Saving Our Scandal Ridden Ass."
"an extreme form of antisocial personality disorder that is manifest in a person who is pathologically grandiose, lacking in conscience and behavioral regulation, and with characteristic demonstrations of joyful cruelty and sadism".What he missed doing was including a photograph of Canada's prime minister. Maybe there were none available.
"Citizens who really want a national portrait gallery in Ottawa can rest easy. The government already has one.
"All you need to get in is a Commons security pass, a Conservative party membership and a keen desire to view exclusive pictures of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, exclusively.
"...Photographs of Mr. Harper in various poses, at various sites, are hung throughout the private and cosy government lobby of the House of Commons.
"Ms. May and Ms. O'Malley were surprised and a bit speechless when they saw the exhibit recently as guest Commons Speakers during a youth Parliament.
""When you walk in the door, all you see are pictures of Stephen Harper," said Ms. May
"I'd say between every window, in every available space of the wall, at eye level, every available space has a photo of Stephen Harper..."
The British Columbia government should lift the gag orders imposed on Dave Basis and Bob Virk, part of inducements paid the defendants to end the BC Rail trial immediately before former Liberal finance minister Collins was to testify.The public is not served by those gag orders nor is the cause of good government.
"Corporations have a legal body but no conscience or soul. They look out for themselves alone and don't give a rat's posterior for anything else...
"...Enbridge is embarking on a huge ad campaign to convince British Columbia that pipelines are good for them. Public relations flacks are there to avoid the truth and paint a wonderful image of their client. In Enbridge's case they will not be telling you that they have an appalling safety record with well over 400 ruptures since 1998, or that ruptures are not risks but realities waiting to happen.
"...What astonishes me, but I suppose shouldn't, is the shallowness of attitudes by government MLAs and MPs. My MP, a Conservative backbencher, with an eye no doubt on a Cabinet seat, told me that not only should Enbridge get its pipelines, but the more the merrier!
"We the long suffering public have no protection from the agendas of corporations because our governments, federal and provincial, are bought and paid for by industry. There are 3,500 industry lobbyists in Ottawa, all of which are handsomely paid, meaning, of course, that they're getting the job done.
"Will we neatly fall into cynicism that prompted Oscar Wilde to say "they know the cost of everything but the value of nothing"? ..."
Charles Dickens has been identified as the author of a previously unattributed article which attacks the middle classes for patronising the "working man".Another resource from the BBC: Book of the Week - Charles Dickens - A Life Recommend this post
"Who has not been outraged by observing that cheerfully patronising mode of dealing with poor people which is in vogue at our soup-kitchens and other depôts of alms?," runs the article, which was published anonymously on 18 April 1863 in the weekly magazine All the Year Round, under Charles Dickens's editorship. "There is a particular manner of looking at the soup through a gold double eye-glass, or of tasting it, and saying, 'Monstrous good – monstrous good indeed; why, I should like to dine off it myself!' which is more than flesh and blood can bear..."
‘EXCLUSIVE’ BREAKING NEWS: DAVE BASI CONFIRMS CHRISTY CLARK COMMITTED A BREACH OF TRUST WHILE SHE WAS DEPUTY PREMIER AND THUS LIED TO THE MEDIA IN 2011 WHEN SHE CLAIMED TO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SALE OF BC RAILNote: I don't normally consider The Tyee as part of the corporate media but anyone who offers them financial support should withhold that until The Tyee demonstrates they are not ignoring the evidence Tsakumis is presenting.
Numerous times in past decades, politicians studied media ownership in Canada. Despite expressions of concern, concentration has increased and, with Conservatives determined to end CBC's meaningful role, the situation will be worse."a cloistered, incestuous bunch, whose obligations to courtiers too often outweigh the supposed demands of democracy."Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger focuses on the Rupert Murdoch empire:
"...The combination – of market dominance, power, fear, political influence, inadequate policing and feeble regulation – became self-reinforcing. The more people believed these things of News Corp, the more they became real.Much of the above, particularly the last paragraph, applies equally well in Canada. Unfortunately, the considered objective of Stephen Harper's Conservative Party is to impoverish the land and the people of this nation.
"This created an apparent reciprocity of interests. News Corp had its own ambitions and regulatory needs that politicians and public officials were in a position to assist or satisfy. The reciprocity could be implicit or explicit; spoken or unspoken. But it undeniably existed and was well-understood on both sides...
"It is dangerous in any sector to allow a single player to become dominant. It is doubly dangerous with the media sector because of the combination of factors described above. The press, rightly, argues that it exists to be a check on power. But when society's watchdog shies away from holding itself to account it thereby creates a very potent form of unaccountable power.
"Anything that concentrates power in the hands of fewer and fewer multibillionaire proprietors – whether corporations or individuals – will impoverish our society..."
"More than half of Canadian provinces have now sued big tobacco companies in an attempt to recoup health costs, with the Quebec government announcing a $60 billion lawsuit Friday.But, on the other hand, the BC Liberal government's investment agency has a more positive view of the tobacco business.
"Six provinces have filed similar lawsuits -- British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Manitoba and now Quebec -- while the others have announced plans to do the same..."
"Are you among those baffled and alarmed by what’s going on with the Harper government — wild slashes to public services, every-thing connected to democratic process trashed, a bully-boy attitude that is soiling Canada’s international reputation, the attack on everything environmental, even the destruction of public records, all delivered in a dictatorial and malicious spirit?Recommend this post
"You have company. Among the growing numbers of your friends are conservatives — real ones — realizing that Stephen Harper is not one of them, but rather a right-wing radical, maybe worse, out to conserve nothing. As some ex-Tory politicians, federal and provincial, stood up to oppose the manipulative omnibus budget bill, the PC Party of Canada declared the Harper party “corporatist” — essentially rule by and for corporations...
Keep in mind that one of the dirty words for “corporatist” is “fascist.” Is that over the top? When I watch a guy like Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who acts as though he’d be comfortable as minister of Internal Security for most dictatorships on Earth, I wonder..."
"Is the $6 million in legal fees that taxpayers paid for the defence of provincial ministerial assistants David Basi and Bob Virk — who pleaded guilty to political corruption in the BC Rail case — a taxable benefit?Perhaps this issue explains why the BC Government is in court fighting the Auditor General's effort to gain full access to documents in the Basi Virk files.
"Due to confidentiality rules, Canada Revenue Agency isn’t saying, but case law strongly suggests that it is.
"If it is, then Basi and Virk owe $2.6 million in taxes (assuming the benefit is taxable at the top marginal rate of 43.7 per cent). Of this amount, $880,000 would accrue to the province and the rest to the federal government...
"CRA interpretation bulletin (IT-99R5) states: “Where personal legal expenses of an employee (or of his or her family) are paid or reimbursed by the employer, the amount paid is a taxable benefit to the employee...”
May I recommend BBC Radio for its many worthwhile podcasts and online listening opportunities."The economic historian Professor Niall Ferguson presents the 2012 BBC Reith Lectures, titled The Rule of Law and Its Enemies. Across four programmes he explores the role of man-made institutions on global economic growth and democracy, referencing the global economic crisis and financial regulation, as well as the Arab Spring."BBC gives us the Reith Lectures archives, dating back to 1948. It is an extraordinary collection of quality material that provides information and inspiration to anyone interested in the pursuit of knowledge.
Western Europe has identified major new gas fields and North America has vast reserves of natural gas. So has Russia and, using technology developed in the last decade, China is beginning to exploit vast stores of gas.BC Ferries looks to ditch diesel, convert fleet to liquefied natural gas, Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun, January 2012"Fjord1 has been considered a leader in the gas powered ferry market since the first LNG-powered ferry, Glutra, which is operated by Fjord1, was put into service in 2000. In 2006 and 2007, Fjord1 added five LNG powered car and passenger ferries to its fleet and the addition of the MF Boknafjord marks the sixth such ferry for the company. By the end of 2011, Fjord1 will operate a total of 12 LNG-powered car and passenger ferries along the Norwegian Coast.
"...the MF Boknafjord measures 129.9 m long by 19.2m wide and has the capacity for 242 passenger cars and 600 passengers including staff. The vessel features four azimuth thrusters that are run by a gas-electric system consisting of three large LNG gas motors and alternators, giving the vessel a service speed of approx. 20 knots.
"Aside from being LNG-powered, the ferry’s hull design and efficient engine technology help reduce fuel consumption and methane emissions by as much as 25%..."
"[BC Ferries] is doing a feasibility study on converting the Queen of Capilano, an 85-vehicle ferry that links Horseshoe Bay and Bowen Island, into the fleet’s first test LNG-powered vessel..."
"...Last fall, as reports of CLBC's mismanagement and cover-ups mounted, the bonus program became controversial.
"Cadieux ordered the agency's board to end it.
"And the CLBC board did just that - by increasing executive salaries by virtually the same amount as the maximum possible bonus. The 61 executives who shared the chance to earn about $300,000 in performance bonuses were quietly given raises worth the same amount.
"That highlights several issues. Most obviously, it suggests the bonus plan was a sham, that managers' goals were easily attained. Otherwise, there was no legitimate reason to raise the salaries by the full amount. (emphasis added)
"That in turn raises questions about the legitimacy of bonus plans across government and Crown corporations. The auditor general, for example, reported last year that B.C. Hydro executives were paid large bonuses based on inaccurate reports of its financial performance..."
"...damning U.S. regulatory reports portraying Calgary-based Enbridge as a company that ignored safety protocols and warning alarms as well as the recommendations of previous safety audits in what amounted to a botched response to one of the continent's largest freshwater pipeline spills..."
"To the minister, to the Premier, to this government on the other side: if they wanted to look at affordability, they'd end those executive bonuses today and put that money into services. Half a billion dollars in bonuses paid at B.C. Hydro for running what is actually a deficit. More than $1 million in bonuses to just the top four executives at B.C. Ferries.Mr. Speaker:
"Worst of all, this Liberal government actually paid bonuses to executives at Community Living to cut back on services for the most vulnerable. Now, as we've heard, the minister said that bonuses were wrong at Community Living, but there's still no guarantee that that money won't be rolled into salaries.
'My question is to the Premier. Isn't it time today to stand up, say no to bonuses and put those dollars into services and supports for people in British Columbia? "
"Members. Members. "Hon. S. Cadieux:
CLBC execs could still get bonuses, Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist, June 22, 2012"I'm pleased to give the answer that I gave before, relating to the situation of variable pay or incentive plans at CLBC. When it came to my attention that that was the practice at CLBC, I thought that was the wrong policy for that organization, given that it was serving people with disabilities and providing for their supports.
"I had a conversation with the board chair, who indeed agreed with me and has agreed to end that system..."
"Senior staff at Community Living B.C. could still receive bonuses for work they did last year despite a government promise to end the program, the Times Colonist has learned.
"Social Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux called for an end to the bonus system last October when the Crown agency was under fire for closing group homes and cutting services to people with developmental disabilities.
"But her ministry confirmed Thursday that the government and the board of Community Living B.C. decided to keep the system in place until the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012..."
Are BC Liberals about to drag taxpayers into another economic calamity? Something akin to BC Hydro's private power initiative, where government has taken near $50 billion of financial risk and guaranteed abundant profits to private energy promoters."...The U.S. no longer needs Russia’s gas, leaving President Vladimir Putin fighting to salvage Gazprom’s $20 billion Shtokman project in the Arctic. China, the biggest energy consumer, is exploring its own shale reserves and hesitating to accept a pipeline from Russia. Gazprom’s shipments fell about 14 percent so far in 2012...China shale gas boom could surpass U.S., Reuters, Dec. 7, 2011
"Russia, with about $13 trillion of gas deposits, has the most at stake in the energy revolution that’s blasting shale from Pennsylvania to China in rocks impossible to drill just a decade ago..."
"China is set for a shale gas revolution which will surpass that seen in the United States, the chairman of Sinopec, the country's second-largest oil company, said a day after Reuters revealed Royal Dutch Shell Plc had begun shale gas production in China.Site C and the Kitimat LNG Export Terminal: Christy Clark’s Program for Income Redistribution, Jim Quail's Blog, February 8, 2012
"Fu Chengyu, chairman of state-controlled China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) , said it could take five to 10 years but that China's output would exceed that of the United States.
" 'I think the total reserves are even more than the U.S. so production is not less than the U.S., but it is a matter of timing,' he told reporters at the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress.
"U.S. energy markets were fundamentally changed by the development of shale gas. In the space of several years, the country went from natural gas shortages to a point where companies are planning to export gas to Asia, ..."
"...[Producers] are in a mad rush to suck the gas out of the ground and get it to China before the Chinese start exploiting their own huge shale gas reserves on a major scale: once that happens, there will be no Asian market for tankers full of LNG. That gives the Canadian developers maybe a bit over a decade to make their money and run.H/T Bob Makin, by Twitter, for the Bloomberg Businessweek article
"It takes a lot of energy to liquefy natural gas. Almost universally, around the world, LNG plants use a portion of their own natural gas supply to provide that energy. It appears, however, that BC Hydro is prepared to supply electricity, at BC’s below-cost industrial bulk energy rates, to the Kitimat LNG consortium, for their liquefaction operations.
"So what’s the big deal, you ask?
"The initial phase of the Encana plant would require about 250 MW of electrical generation capacity to provide it with sufficient energy. The three projected Kitimat LNG plants would require about 1,600 Megawatts of power to liquefy its billions of cubic feet of gas for export.
"How much power is 1,600 MW?
"About one-and-a-half Site C dams is how much power.
"Hydro would sell that much power to one corporate mega-project, at industrial tariff rates of around $35 per megawatt hour. That same power would cost Hydro at least $80 per MWh, assuming they built one-and-a-half Site C dams for that purpose, or around $129 per MWh if they bought it from Independent Power Producers. So we’d pay for Site C, through our Hydro bills, to sell the electricity it produces for less than half what it cost us..."
"She's going to amend the Clean Energy Act by regulation," said Horgan. "These are detailed and generational changes we are making and we should do that with a thoughtful eye, not with an expedient political eye and that's what she did," he said."Recommend this post
"Social Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux has ordered an end to bonuses for managers at the Crown agency Community Living BC, which provide services to the disabled.Embattled Community Living BC pays out big wage hikes to management, Brian Coxworth, Global News, June 19, 2012
"...Cadieux says bonuses are not appropriate for an organization that's supposed to help people with developmental disabilities, and they're also wrong in a time of tight budgets.
"...NDP critic Nicholas Simons is suspicious about the Liberals' promise to reign in bonuses, saying they may try to hide them instead.
" 'They're probably going to do what they did for the former CEO and just roll his bonuses into his salary, and if that's the change she's suggesting I'm not sure people are going to be satisfied,' he said..."
"Last year, there was a large public outcry when Global BC reported that the CLBC was closing group homes and cutting services to people with developmental disabilities, even as it paid performance bonuses to senior executives.Hansard, Page 8311, October 24, 2011:
'The social development minister then announced that those bonuses would not be paid after all.
"However, those bonuses have not been eliminated. They've simply been rolled into the executive’s base pay, eight months later after the dust settled.
"Big wage increases have been doled out: almost 10% for top management, and 5% for directors and managers..."
"Every day it seems like some secret emerges from under the curtain of CLBC. Today it was revealed that Community Living officials who administer home-share contracts may in some cases have their own home-share contracts. These are the same people that administer and oversee these arrangements. Does the minister recognize this as a potential conflict of interest, and what does the minister plan to do about it? "Recommend this post
Private prison companies look to Canada as industry faces lawsuits in US, ProPublica Muckreads"US private prison firms are targeting Canada for fresh opportunities as pressure builds at home on the troubled multi-billion dollar industry from human rights groups and legal actions, and as more states look to scale back their reliance on them.
"Two of the biggest operators in an industry once regarded as recession-proof, Geo Group and Management and Training Corporation (MTC), have been lobbying various government departments in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
"With a massive prison overhaul plan already underway – as well as the passage in March of Bill C-10, a suite of crime legislation that most observers agree will see more Canadians face prison time and keep those already locked up behind bars for longer – it seems the American industry's interest in its neighbour to the north could not come at a better time.
"The private industry's lobbying of Canadian lawmakers has some Canadian prison watchers worried. "There is something unethical with having corporations seeking profits from locking people up," wrote a group of former high-ranking Canadian justice officials to the Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper in March..."
Two of the biggest private prison operators in the United States -- GEO Group, Inc. and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) -- have been lobbying officials in Canada to expand their footprint in the region.Judge Convicted in Pennsylvania Kids-for-Cash Scheme, Democracy Now, February 2011
While both companies have been connected to private prison projects in the country before, the recent lobbying efforts come at an opportune time in light of recent crime legislation in the country that will "see more Canadians face prison time and keep those already locked up behind bars for longer."
"A federal jury has found a former Pennsylvania judge guilty of participating in a so-called "kids for cash" scheme, in which he received money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails over the years. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr., was convicted Friday of accepting bribes and kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers operated by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western Pennsylvania Child Care. Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, are said to have received $2.6 million for their efforts..."Prisons, Privatization, Patronage, Paul Krugman, New York Times, June 21, 2012 Recommend this post
Perhaps the largest barrier making re-election of Christy Clark's government unlikely is its lack of credibility. "...Throughout the year, we lost $30 million more in revenue than we expected but we were able to claw back all of that and a bit more through good financial management...Let's test the accuracy of those statements by reference to BC Ferries financial statements.
"We're dealing with what every other major ferry operator is dealing with right now and that's a downturn in traffic... They're seeing something similar."
"...Our gift shops - that part of the business is actually really growing significantly over the last year. We're seeing double digit increases year over year. So we're doing what we can to generate revenues wherever we can and managing costs..."
With the first quarter of British Columbia’s current fiscal year ending, public agencies and crown corporations will soon release annual reports and audited financials for the year ended March 31, 2012.“BC Hydro does not believe that it will encounter difficulty in meeting its obligations associated with financial liabilities.”In British Columbia, it’s easy to be cynical but I see signs the Liberals are headed for rough times as detailed financial matters are revealed. The strongest indicator is delay. When corporations or agencies drag their feet issuing financials, arguments may be raging between external auditors and the spin doctors. When news is awkward, the PR staff must work on excuses and refined presentations. That results in delay. Last year, BC Hydro’s audited financial statements were dated May 18, 2011; the year before, May 10, 2010. Here it is mid-June and we’re still waiting for BC Hydro’s 2012 financials.
Michael. Everybody else?"... Are B.C. judges such an elite breed of public servant that they deserve a handsome raise, additional gilding of their already gold-plated pensions and expanded fringe benefits?
Or should these bellyachers of the bench just suck it up, stop their judicial whining and choke down a big fat zero like everybody else?"
"The number of public servants making a six-figure salary has jumped significantly at health authorities, according to The Vancouver Sun's fourth annual public-servant salary database.At the BC Investment Management Corporation in 2011, three executives averaged monthly increases of $3,800 over their 2010 remuneration. Hardly net zero, eh? Recommend this post
"B.C.'s five regional health authorities, and the Provincial Health Services Authority which oversees Children's and Women's Health Centre and the BC Cancer Agency, saw a 13 per cent increase in 2010 in those being paid $100,000 or more over 2009.
"In fact, in the four years The Sun has been tabulating the database, the number of public servants at health authorities making six-figure salaries has almost doubled, from 1,655 in 2007 to 3,221 in 2010.
"The Northern Health Authority led the way with a 34 per cent increase in six-figure salaries in 2010 (217) from 2009 (162).
"The Vancouver Island Health Authority saw a 24 per cent increase year-over-year to 382 from 307, while the Fraser Health Authority saw a 22 per cent increase to 855 from 703..."
"Franke James, a Canadian artist and environmental advocate blacklisted by the Harper government, has obtained internal documents indicating Canadian officials worked behind the scenes to discredit her work.
"An internal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) media monitoring report from July 2011 lists James as "an inconvenient artist" ("une artiste qui dérange"), the headline of an article in La Presse. The document was part of the 1,500 pages of internal documents James obtained through Access to Information requests since August 2011..."
Pipeline spill risks are low, Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines"... with modern pipeline design and mitigation measures, the risks are very low...Enbridge stops cleanup work, The Michigan Messenger, Nov 15, 2011
"What we can say is that at Enbridge, we take our responsibility very seriously. An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure, but we certainly don’t stop at an ounce. We adhere to the best safety practices available, and we pay close attention to pipeline integrity.
"And just so we’re clear, no spill is acceptable at Enbridge. When things go wrong, as they did in Michigan in July 2010, we act immediately and decisively, we don’t stop until we make things right..."
"Enbridge, the company that spilled at least 800,000 gallons of tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River system last year, has announced that it is suspending efforts to scrape the remaining submerged oil from the river bottom..."Crude Secrets, OneEarth.org, April 11, 2012
"On the night of July 25, 2010, a section of the continent’s vast pipeline network spilled more than a million gallons of chemical-laden crude into western Michigan waterways. Though it was one of the largest inland oil spills in the nation’s history, the disaster went largely unnoticed. Most eyes were on the gusher in the Gulf as BP tried to cap the Deepwater Horizon well. But in the debate over our nation’s energy future, the Kalamazoo River spill -- and its aftermath -- may prove even more important than the BP blowout.More reading:
"That’s because the ruptured Michigan pipeline was carrying tar sands-derived oil from Alberta, Canada. At a time when the pipeline’s operator, energy giant Enbridge, Inc., and its competitors are seeking to greatly expand their pipeline network and the quantity of tar sands oil it carries..."
Recommend this post"Since 2006, province’s pipelines have spilled the equivalent of almost 28 million litres of oil...
"But I know from my reporting career, which was ushered in by a series of massive pipeline spills in Alberta more than 40 years ago, that these events occur with depressing regularity.
"The pipeline industry has had almost half a century to work on the problem, yet oil spills, explosions, fires and toxic pollution as a consequence of ruptures are anything but exceptional. They still happen on an almost daily basis.
"So when enthusiasts for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project rush to hype the safety of pipeline technology and denounce doubters as part of some sinister conspiracy while scoffing at questions about risk as public hysteria, take it all with several pounds of salt..."
"The B.C. government's ad campaign defending their position in the teachers' dispute has cost more than $1.7 million, leaving the union to wonder why that money couldn't have gone to the education system instead..."Patti Bacchus, Chairperson, Vancouver Board of Education, responded by Twitter:
"We've turned down heat, cut days off year, decreased library time, cut staff, yet BC gov't wastes $1.7m on ads."Recommend this post
"A committee looking for ways to boost B.C.’s dwindling store of timber is looking at logging protected areas such as old-growth forests as one way out of a supply crunch..."
Part of the plan to arrest dwindling BC Liberal support is to announce and re-announce program changes and capital projects, large and small. There is a flurry of proclamations happening now for health care and other projects."B.C.'s clean technology industry represents world-leading innovations and solutions for industries around the globe," Premier Clark said. "For British Columbia that means long-term, high-paying jobs in a sector that continues to grow year over year."Today, Pravda's 'Top Story' is Premier Photo-Op announcing that
"...the redevelopment of St. Paul's Hospital is moving ahead with finalizing the concept plan...It is expected the final concept plan and a more detailed business plan will be complete by 2014."Redevelopment of St. Paul's was also announced by the BC Liberals a decade ago. The concept plan then was to involve expansion and rebuilding of St. Paul’s Hospital where it stands. In 2003, the province changed direction and paid for a concept plan that abandoned the existing hospital in favour of a new P3 structure on Station Street. A firm decision was expected by fall of 2004.
British Columbia's wealthiest citizens will soon be pressured to contribute unprecedented levels of cash for an intensive PR campaign aimed at ensuring reelection of a business friendly government."Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers."Unfortunately, the people financing the effort to block Adrian Dix from the Premier's chair would prefer the concept expressed by Winston Churchill:
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."Recommend this post
"Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the world risks a triple crisis of declining incomes, environmental damage and social unrest unless countries adopt a more sustainable approach to economic growth.Recommend this post
"Ahead of the Rio+20 Earth summit later this month, she said the rich should restrain their demands for higher incomes while there are still 200 million people worldwide looking for a job and poverty is on the rise..."
"I don't think the climate scientists are wrong but let's just say all the paranoid conspiracy theorists are right and climate science is wrong.
"Oops, we accidentally made ourselves more energy secure, we cleaned our air and created jobs for no good reason."
A month after Jim Shepard resigned as CEO of BC's second largest forestry company, the Liberal government appointed him Senior Policy Adviser. After a year, Shepard, 73, is leaving to form The Concerned Citizens for British Columbia, another campaign to reelect government friendly to large developers and industrialists.They were flatly told to forget it.So much for cooperation between the industrial elite and and any government not in their favour. Not surprising though because multi-national corporations act in their own interests, not in the interests of the general public. That leads to philosophical approval of companies residing in tax avoidance clouds while exporting our national wealth, resources and jobs.
"They're not invited at all," said Jim Shepard, the chief executive of Finning International Inc. and chairman of the Business Council of B.C.
"We don't want any of them there."
The head of a company whose British Columbia mill may have to close because it can't get enough wood blames the provincial government for the situation.It seems BC Liberals are not actually supporters of free enterprise. Monopolies are preferred. Recommend this post
...WoodEx owns a medium-sized mill near Edgewater in the Columbia Valley, where it specializes in value-added products and custom-sized lumber.
In November 2011 its largest local competitor, Canfor Corporation, bought Tembec Industries Ltd., the only other major player in the area. The transaction, which closed in March, gave Canfor two more mills and added access to 1.1 million cubic metres of timber a year.
By WoodEx's reckoning, it also gave Canfor control of 99 per cent of the annual allowable cut on Crown land in the valley between Golden and Skookumchuck, making it difficult to bid against when wood comes available through B.C. Timber Sales.
..."By dominating the timber-sale bidding, Canfor could very well control the distribution of timber and WoodEx would be required to shut down or close its operation through lack of consistent wood supply," he said.
...The government, however, has failed to do its duty to keep the industry competitive, Riddell said...
Posts
All Comments
)
