Additionally, director Mike Watson appears to have a conflict of interest since he is principal of a public relations firm hired by PCT to deride the work and reputation of Auditor General John Doyle.
John Doyle, British Columbia's Auditor General
"Of all the reports I have issued, never has one been targeted in such an overt manner by vested interests, nor has an audited organization ever broken my confidence, as did the senior managers at PCT by disclosing confidential information to carbon market developers and brokers. The orchestrated letter-writing campaign from domestic and foreign entities which followed this disclosure demanded considerable staff time, and resulted in the delay of this report. I cannot sufficiently express my surprise and disappointment that a public sector entity, with a fiduciary duty to the people of British Columbia, chose to expend its time and energy in this manner, rather than addressing the concerns raised in the audit – and that they did so with the knowledge of their governing board."
Pacific Carbon Trust Board of Directors:
Chris Trumpy, accountant, former BC deputy minister, Chair of PCT, Director of Puget Sound Energy, credit union director
Heather Holden, investment adviser with Swiss financial company UBS, a BC Liberal donor
H Anne Lippert, former banker
Margaret Mason, lawyer with Bull, Housser & Tupper, a BC Liberal donor
James Mutter, venture capitalist, lawyer, formerly partner with Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, a BC Liberal donor
Steven Hnatiuk, venture capitalist, a BC Liberal donor
Mike Watson, BC Liberal donor and principal of Wazuku Advisory Group, instrumental in pro-Liberal anti-Dix advertising attributed to CC4BC and its frontman Jim Shepard.
Scott MacDonald, CEO, former teacher and Education ADM.
David Moffat, responsible for business development, development consultant.
David Muter, responsible for contracting offsets, forest based product analyst, studying to become a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Raymond Chan, partnerships and client relations, former ADM, BC Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation.
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You might remind your readers that Mr. Trumpy was the point on BC Rail sale.
ReplyDeleteThe Liebs hiring WAZUKU gives a whole new meaning to the expression,'getting it up the old wazzoo', as well as redefining 'backfire'.
ReplyDeleteSmear tactics is what liberals do. My take on all this, with the letters and leaks is that the liberals are trying to save some of the public trough that they have been feeding big business. Our school system is a mess and now it turns out that monies that were supposed to be used for education have been siphoned off to support the corporate welfare.
ReplyDeleteCarbon credit trading is one of the biggest scams of the 21st century. Open to manipulation and outright fraud, it was the governments way of pretending to do something, while doing nothing. Follow the money, Carbon credit trading has nearly co-opted everyone as everybody got a piece of the taxpayer's pie without doing anything.
ReplyDeleteChris Trumpy entered public service in October of 1979 - so he's eligible for his full pension in 18 months. Anybody know what he's making now as Chair of PCT?
ReplyDeleteMight be more important to know what he's making outside the PCT.
DeleteMr. Doyle's criticism was that the offset purchases were not credible.
ReplyDeleteI say the whole idea of the public sector being forced to purchase $millions in offsets, for the benefit of the private sector, is not credible.
And how can the Govt proclaim itself 'carbon neutral' while expanding oil, gas and coal mining in BC?
Government agencies spent $18.2 million on carbon offsets. That money could have been spent on health care and education. It's almost criminal.
ReplyDeleteIt is criminal, they stole from the public. Why aren't they being charged? This was a huge scam to get money to friends of the Liberals at the same time underminining public education and health in order to turn that over to the privateers. If they weren't so stupid and arrogant, they would have succeeded.
ReplyDeleteOh wait, they did succeed.
This entire "enterprise" borders on criminal in the way the BC Liberal version operates. That said, you may have made a Freudian slip with "...a pubic relations firm..."; on the other hand, you just may be right.
ReplyDeleteRobb B.
Must have been using right hand for scratching while I typed. Corrected now. Thanks.
DeleteHowever, maybe it was better the other way.
I agree that they SHOULD resign - but I reckon that would require an conscience to appeal to and integrity of character. So I'm not holding my breath on this one.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, none of us should hold our breath, at least until after May 14. Then the whole agency can be shuttered.
DeleteDon't forget to leave out Cameron Stonestreet
ReplyDeletePCT shows him as a business development associate. He was reported in 2011 to be responsible for client relations, market development and sourcing carbon offsets at Pacific Carbon Trust. Others are shown as being responsible for those tasks, on the current PCT website. His former work with BC Hydro involved analysis of rates and regulations and he did work at the Pacific Forestry Centre on "socio-economic analysis" regarding pine beetles. (???) I suppose he was trying to relocate the beetles.
DeleteOdd that PCT claims Auditor General Doyle, a highly educated and experienced person, has too little ability to understand the "complex" carbon trading business. However, the CV's of senior people at PCT show very little background in technical matters. Bankers, lawyers, flacks and deal makers are the folks who hang around PCT.
From the PCT School on Climate Change:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxaxJNs15s
Since David Suzuki was a big fan and came out last election to endorse the Liberal's Carbon Tax one has to wonder why he hasn't waded into commenting on Doyle's report. Come on Mr. Suzuki let's hear what you have to say and yes MSM get off your ass and go ask him.
ReplyDeleteNot only was Suzuki a major mouthpiece for the Liberals carbon tax, so too was Tzeporah Berman and Andrew Weaver. I still lay blame on these three for the Liberals re-election in 2009. What I want to know is were any of these three also advising the Liberals of the set-up of this PCT? The media can also find this out for us as well. Some of us want to know.
DeleteNDP Finance critic Bruce Ralston, likely the next BC Finance Minister and new boss for the people at Pacific Carbon Trust, wrote a letter to PCT. You can find a link HERE and this comment:
ReplyDelete"Following reports that the Pacific Carbon Trust used public funds to hire P.R. firm Wazuku Advisory Group – an organization closely connected to the B.C. Liberals and known to specialize in behind-the-scenes campaigns to discredit individuals - New Democrat finance critic and chair of the Public Accounts Committee Bruce Ralston wrote to the PCT with several questions.
Ralston is asking how much public money was spent on the consultants, whether the contracts were properly tendered, and whether the intent of the contracts was to help the Trust discredit the office of British Columbia’s independent Auditor General.
People at PCT and Wazuku seem to lack principles and think that the ability to write cheques drawn on public funds gives them the right to fill their own pockets.
DeleteNo surprise here: BackBone
ReplyDeleteDomain name: wazuku.ca
Domain status: registered
Creation date: 2011/09/12
Expiry date: 2014/09/12
Updated date: 2011/09/14
Registrar:
Name: Tucows.com Co.
Number: 156
Name servers:
ns2.backbonetechnology.com
ns3.backbonetechnology.com
The PCT should be completely shut down and the government payments repaid to the schools and hospitals that really need the money. Too much to demand an investigation I guess.
ReplyDelete"James Mutter, venture capitalist, lawyer, formerly partner with Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, a BC Liberal donor"
ReplyDeleteCurious. There's that law firm again; it keeps popping up.
Geoff Plant, lawyer at Russell & Dumoulin, now Fasken Martineau.
Plant, associate at Russell & Dumoulin with William Berardino, special prosecutor of Basi Virk Basi trial.
Also associate of Allan Seckel, deputy AG who appointed Berardino.
Seckel replaced Jessica McDonald at BC Public Service.
McDonald went to law firm Heenan Blaikie; Geoff Plant is one of the partners.
Heenan Blaikie - break-in '07; represented Victoria police chief Battershill who worked on the raid of the Legislature buildings in '03
Geoff Plant represented the business group, led by Phil Hochstein, who argued that the HST petition was invalid.
Geoff Plant, who roomed with Gordon Campbell in Victoria when both were novice MLAs.
Things that make you go hmmmm...
Are we seeing the next generation of BC Liberal connections?
I'm glad you're back from holiday Norm!
When the BC Liberals were originally elected, I predicted that BC would be sold off to party donors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good article.
I wonder if Ralston got any answers to his questions
ReplyDeleteThose will start coming after May 14.
DeleteThis has not gone away - $millions of taxpayers money is still purchasing carbon offsets.
ReplyDeleteThis is so the Govt can say it is "carbon-neutral", while increasing coal mining and export from BC.