Rotten to the core

BC premier Christy Clark is not known for honest dealing. She and Harper work out of the same playbook and regularly employ the same people to work the sewers of a political system rife with cronyism and putrefied by secret back-room deals and political corruption.

This time, a judge has just handed Clark her ass. She violated the constitution when she was education minister and then did it again, on the same education issue, as premier. The stench emanating from her overly-expensive waterfront Vancouver office is palpable. Clark is as dishonest as the liar she replaced. Families first? Not yours. (Bold mine)

... a tale of a government secretly wanting to provoke a strike that year for political reasons. There are always cynics who read political motives into big public labour disputes. But it’s startling to see a judge blame months of disruption in schools firmly on the crass political motivations of a government.
Justice Susan Griffin, who has been dealing with the differences between the government and the BCTF for a number of years, concluded “the government did not negotiate in good faith .... Government representatives were preoccupied by another strategy. Their strategy was to put such pressure on the union that it would provoke a strike .... The government representatives thought this would give government the opportunity to gain political support for imposing legislation on the union.”

Summary:

... she was the premier of a government that, according to the B.C. Supreme Court, ran a lengthy con on parents and children to engineer some dim political advantage...

Grifter.

The sellout of British Columbia's sovereignty

 #NorthernGateway #BCpoli #Cdnpoli -

On 21 June, 2010, soon-to-be-ousted-premier Gordon Campbell allowed the signing away of the sovereignty of British Columbia and any right to intervene on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project to Stephen Harper and his petro-masters in an unannounced back-room deal.

This past Thursday, Robyn Allan, an economist and former CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, wrote a letter to Campbell's successor. I post it in its entirety:

April 19, 2012

Dear Premier Clark,

Your government has not spoken out for or against the Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Enbridge Inc., rather preferring to wait until the National Energy Review Board process is complete.  I am writing to you today to explain that, unfortunately the current Northern Gateway environmental and public interest process is flawed and as a result the public interest of BC is not protected.

The Federal government, as I am sure you are aware, has publicly endorsed the project, stated it is in the national interest of Canada, and has systematically demonized individuals and groups who oppose the project.  This behaviour has made a travesty of the necessary arms length relationship between government and an independent regulatory body.

As long as there was some sense that the Joint Review Panel (JRP) was independent and had the authority to reject the proposal regardless of the political pressure imposed by the Prime Minister’s Office, a semblance of due process was maintained. That necessary condition was violated when Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver unveiled proposed legislation on April 17, 2012.

The Federal Government now intends to further weaken environmental protection and favour large oil companies operating, primarily, in Alberta.  This has betrayed any remaining trust in federal energy decisions as they relate to the province of British Columbia.

With the overhaul of the environmental assessment rules and process, and making final decision on oil pipelines—such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway and proposed Kinder Morgan projects—a Federal cabinet prerogative, there is no confidence that the Government of Canada will make decisions that will be in the best public interest of the residents of this province.

A major change in policy in the midst of nation breaking events such as Northern Gateway or Kinder Morgan requires deliberate action on the part of your Office to protect the public interest trust and rights of BC residents and First Nations.

Certainly when the NEB process for Northern Gateway commenced in June 2010, the BC government thought the JRP would be objective and have the power to recommend a binding decision which would reflect the public interest of British Colombians and Canadians.  I can imagine that the safety and efficiency inherent in one independent review body—which the NEB was believed to be at the time—and the belief that our public interest would be protected were reasons why the Liberal government of BC under the leadership of Gordon Campbell, felt it acceptable to sign away our right to conduct an environmental assessment under B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Act.

During my review of the Enbridge economic documents as part of their Application to the NEB, I wondered why there was no real or meaningful review of their case by various ministries of the BC government.  The deliberate intent in the Enbridge documents to increase the price of oil for Canadian consumers and businesses, and the lack of concern over the impact our petro-currency has on forestry, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, appeared to be glaring examples of an economic case intent on presenting only the benefits to the oil industry without due consideration to the economic costs for the rest of us.  The development of a strategy to export raw crude to Asia at the cost of value added jobs and control over environmental standards also seemed worthy of provincial comment.

I felt surely, there should be professional economists, paid by taxpayers, that would stand up and present a fair picture of the macroeconomic impact rapid resource expansion and export has on the economy of British Columbia, not to mention the threat to the environment and First Nations rights.   That is when I discovered that BC had signed away the right to actively assess the project.    I then understood that not only have you, as Premier, elected to remain silent on the issue, but our provincial departments have effectively been muzzled as well.

I draw to your attention the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement signed between the NEB and BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) on June 21^st, 2010.  I have attached a link to the agreement for your ease of recall.

Essentially the agreement states that the EAO will accept the NEB’s environmental assessment for four proposed projects, including the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, which would otherwise have to be reviewed under BC’s Environmental Assessment Act.  The NEB’s review would be treated as an equivalent assessment.

If the province of BC had not signed away its right to the NEB, under the terms of the legislation the EAO would have had to undertake a review.  According to the EAO, it is a “neutral agency that manages the review of proposed major projects in British Columbia, as required by the Environmental Assessment Act.  The environmental assessment process provides for the thorough, timely and integrated assessment of the potential environmental, economic, social, heritage, and health effects that may occur during the lifecycle of these projects, and provides for meaningful participation by First Nations, proponents, the public, local governments, and provincial agencies.”

We have the power within BC to undertake meaningful environmental assessment within provincial jurisdiction, but signed it away.   However, not all is lost.   Clause 6 of the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement states:  ”Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon giving 30 days written notice to terminate the other Party”. 

May I recommend that the Government of British Columbia inform the Government of Canada that the province is now exercising its right with 30 days notice in order that it may undertake a proper environmental assessment under the terms of the provincial Environmental Assessment Act, for the Enbridge project, and it will not entertain signing such an agreement for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline.

This action will ensure that the public interest of the people of BC will be protected and will not be severely curtailed by the actions of the Government of Canada favouring primarily Alberta’s oil producers.

Sincerely,

Original Signed by Robyn Allan

Robyn Allan

cc.  Dr. Terry Lake, Minister of the Environment
Mr. Adrian Dix, Leader of the Opposition
Mr. Rob Fleming, Environment Critic
Mr. John Cummins, Conservative Leader
Mr. John van Dongen, Conservative MLA
Mr. Bob Simpson, Independent MLA
Ms. Vicki Huntington, Independent MLA

Since the signing away of the rights of the citizens of the Province of British Columbia, Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver have labeled First Nations and activists opposed to the project(s) as terrorists, unpatriotic and only stopped short of declaring them treasonous.


They have also moved the goalposts.


Where we might have been able to view the surface activities of the Independent Joint Review Panel as being able to provide a reasoned assessment of the Northern Gateway proposal, Harper has now gutted that process and placed the final decision in the hands of the federal cabinet.


If you have any doubt as to the shape of the final decision now, you've been living under a rock.


As Laila points out, we have less than a month to exercise the withdrawal option provided in Clause 6 of the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement.


Christy Clark has been telling us that she won't have a BC government position on the Northern Gateway project until the JRP completes its work. Even she knows that by then it will be far too late.


All of this provides an even better explanation as to the sudden influx of Harper operatives into the inner circle of the office of the BC Premier, and why Christy Clark's chief-of-staff is a former Enbridge lobbyist. 


People of the Province of British Columbia, you've been fed a massive bill of goods. And we've all been had.

Following the crumbs

Back here I told the story of a frustrating bit of research where I ended up finding a small bouquet of strange connections between the Harper Conservatives and the BC Liberal party of Christy Clark. The problem was, I felt there had to be something more or, at the very least, something substantive. 


The other problem is that connections like this don't exist in a vacuum. There had to be some form of political courtship and there had to be an event when it all came together.


I was pretty much knackered at that point but thought that rather than just leave it dangling I should offer up the connections I had and see if the finest people in the world, our readers, could see something significant. Cookies were offered. 


Now, rather than give the entire synopsis, I'll link to the connections that were found in the order they were gathered. You go to each one because they each have extensive research for you to gather in.

First to jump into the swamp was RossK, our inimitable Gazetteer. Assisted by one of the only people who can dig a cockroach out of a database full of rats, North Van Grumps, he came up with a new name: Nina Chiarelli.

Next to wade into the illustrious pond of castor canadensis was the most excellent Alison, who, being something of a beach watcher in her own right, gave us a newer arrival: Dimitri Pantazopoulos. She also makes the point that Ken Boessenkool was a lobbyist for Enbridge ... our Northern Gateway crowd.

Once again NVG pulls some files from his wicked archive and RossK  finds another angle that cannot be ignored.  


Beijing York, in the comments section waved an idea around. Were the Harperites infiltrating beyond their precincts? 


It turns out our intrepid BY had something. We found Harperite connections in the Ontario PCs, the Alberta Wild Rose party and, (it should go without saying), spilling over a chair in the Toronto mayor's office. 


So ... what else?


Well, there is just what we've got. Alison's connection is significant. Pantazopoulos appeared to be on the public payroll on 4 April 2011, after working on Christy Clark's leadership bid. And, as RossK points out there was public knowledge of Pantazopoulos' hiring on 17 March 2011, just 3 days after Christy Clark was sworn in as Gordon Campbell's replacement. 


Now.


Add this. Harper's operatives were here during the BC Liberal leadership campaign, as we have already seen. 


Were they here by request? Were they here to secure an HST friendly premier, no matter what he or she looked like? 


Gordon Campbell was squeezed out by his own caucus over the plummeting fortunes of the BC Liberals over the HST. To this day, you would have to root deep into a badger hole to find anybody who doesn't believe that Campbell and his cabal didn't have the whole idea planned before the 2009 provincial election. And an FOI request proved it. 


Campbell was in the Harper boat.


Did Gordon Campbell drop a Harper bomb on BC?

A strange scattering of dots (Updated twice)

Updates at the bottom.

Very strange. It all started with a quick search. I was looking for a link between two ridings for not-so-obvious reasons. For the time being, they'll probably remain that way but I'll toss out the items and perhaps the sharper minds of others can make some further connections. (Click on all images to expand)

1. On doing a google search for "Julian Fantino" + "Randy Kamp", this is what appeared before me on hitting one of the top returns.

It took a minute, but I realized I was looking at Randy Kamp's bio on Julian Fantino's webpage. So I tried a few others and apparently didn't hit them quite right. So, I figured I had a choice of digging further into either Fantino's or Kamp's website. I picked Kamp's for a domain search and got this.

Then a domain search on Fantino's page turns up this.

2. The common thread? Backbonetechnology.com. I also have the IP address which is shared by both Conservative MPs, so I decided to do a reverse look up. Got this.

That is a giant bouquet of Harper MPs, from Ben Lobb to Tony Clement, first names being alphabetically significant. There are a few other outfits, unrelated to the Harper mob, sharing the same IP as the who's who of the Conservative party.

But this doesn't tell us much really. It's no big deal. 150 different websites sharing the same IP is common in a large organization. The commonality, however, is backbonetechnology.com, so it was time to have a look. First thing? Do an IP check on the domain.

Huh?!!! bcliberals.com ? That created a WTF moment. At least until I realized that both the shared IP for all those Harper MPs and the IP for the BC Liberals fell within the same NetRange.

3. Time to go look at Backbone technology. Click on PORTFOLIO and quick as a flash ... samples of lots of developed websites including two for the BC Liberals, several for the BC government, two different provincial health authorities, the 2010 Olympics (BC government), and, (I like to think of this as a find), the BC government campaign to convince everyone that the HST was just the peachiest tax you've ever heard of.

These guys are connected and, not to put too fine a point on it, there is a gray area there. Having both the BC Liberal party and the BC government as clients might be viewed as some as being ... well, you can figure it out.

The problem was that there was nothing to indicate they had done anything for the Conservative Party of Canada. Sifting around the site didn't produce much. Stop for a coffee and stare at the home page. They have production in three languages. Only an idiot would hit Greek if he doesn't speak Greek. So I click on Greek. Why not? Hit PORTFOLIO again.

Oh! Would you look at that? Right at the bottom of the page. Find out more.After reading about the client, the solution and the result, in their own words:

Today, Backbone's relationship with the Conservatives is stronger than ever as Expression continues to adapt to the party's needs. Quite simply, Backbone's experience – combined with its Expression platform – has given the Conservative Party of Canada enterprise-level performance that continues to offer a high return on their investment.

Excellent. Glad to hear it. (And it wasn't even in Greek!) Happier than you know because, (assumption), I'm willing to bet a dollar to a hole in a doughnut that there isn't a political party in this country who doesn't demand exclusivity from a contractor. That can come in many ways, from political donations, to service in kind, to a legally bound document which states in many more words, "you won't so much as have coffee with our enemies". (Enemies is a Harper concept transported from his western firewall days which would be viewed as political opponents almost anywhere else).

Which would mean, you don't do business with political parties which don't pass the Harper smell-test. Which means the BC Liberals ... do.

4. Who runs this politically connected outfit? A quick look at the Industry Canada company directory and we get Marc Charalambous. Hey ... I know that name from somewhere.

5. A quick search of the name produces this little gem:

The government office running the province's pro-harmonized sales tax campaign secretly doled out contracts to two Liberal-connected companies and a former aide to the minister who introduced the tax, records show.
...

Internal government guidelines would normally have required those contracts to be awarded via a competitive process because they're valued at $25,000 or more. But the guidelines allow that process to be circumvented - and contracts awarded without public notice - if it would "compromise government confidentiality."
...

$52,746.75 went to Backbone Technology Inc. to develop the province's HST information Website. Backbone has worked for the Liberals since 2001, setting up a private intranet for the party executive, as well as the Liberal Website.

Company president and chief executive officer Marc Charalambous acknowledged those Liberal links, and confirmed that party information director Hoong Neoh provides advice to Backbone on an informal, volunteer basis.

But Mr. Gordon said it was the company's "good reputation" for delivering high-profile government projects on time - including Websites for reviews on health care and postsecondary education - that got it the contract.

"I was called to look at doing this in a short timeline - which is typically the kinds of work we've done for the government. We've done quite a few projects over the last five or six years under such an environment," added Mr. Charalambous.

... (and backtrack)

Campaign Research Inc., which worked on cabinet minister George Abbott's unsuccessful campaign for the Liberal leadership, got the biggest contract - receiving $167,800 for conducting the government's telephone town-hall meetings on the HST.

The company didn't respond Monday to a request for comment. Mr. Gordon said Campaign Research wasn't given that work because of its Liberal connection but rather because it provided the best value out of three quotes privately solicited by the government.

Ummm. First off, what possible "confidentiality" was involved with a referendum on a tax? Secondly, Campaign Research Inc. was not what appeared on the contract. In fact it involved an Ontario numbered company which turned out to be Campaign Research Inc. The BC Government knows which Ontario numbered companies to call for an open street-fight referendum? How very cool.

Have I written down Campaign Research Inc. enough?

This Campaign Research Inc.

Backbone Technologies: Federal Conservative and BC Liberal linked.

Campaign Research Inc.: Federal Conservative and BC Liberal linked.

BC Liberal premier Christy Clark's chief of staff? Posted into Victoria directly from Harper's office: Ken Boessenkool.

BC Liberal premier Christy Clark's director of communications? Posted into Victoria directly from Harper's office: Sara MacIntyre. (Complete with a shitty attitude and 48 cases of chewing gum).

(As an aside, I am fairly confident that there is a Canadian Army general who was probably very relieved to see this pair fly out of Ottawa).

So, I got nuttin'. I went looking for one thing in particular and came up with something completely different. And, yes, it's all been out there in bits and pieces form. I just wonder when the Clark/Campbell crowd will start calling themselves the Harper Government?

Aside from the issue of the BC government under premier "photo op" violating their own tendering rules to accommodate their paranoia, there is nothing to suggest that anyone or anything has committed a legal breach. A bad smell doesn't constitute evidence of anything except ...

That doesn't mean that there isn't more. That's where you come in. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take those points and see if there is a line going somewhere significant. If it does, credit will be provided in a future post. (And I'll make cookies).

UPDATE: The Gazetteer (working with the inimitable North Van Grumps) has started to stride and pegged the Harper infiltration of the Christy Clark enterprise at before the arrival of the two Ottawa spawns mentioned above. Quick summary: Nina Chiarelli, arrived in Victoria from Ottawa, in June 2011. That was just one month after the 2011 federal election. Chiarelli had been acting communications director for the Harper PMO during the campaign. Chiarelli was, according to the information I just read, still the director of communications for federal Transport, Infrastructure and Communities up to July 2011. It looks like Chiarelli held down both jobs for a short time. Go get more cookie-worthy details at The Gazetteer.

UPDATE II:  Alison weighs in with another revealing find. Dimitri Pantazopoulos, with Reform Party and US Republican baggage, drifted into the Christy Clark/BC Liberal fold in April 2011. RossK has sharpened the focus on the arrival of Chiarelli. 

Keep in mind, despite the fact that this may be the most accidental post I've ever done, that the significance of this Harper infiltration is profound. This is an endeavour to Americanize not the just politics, but the way politics is done in this country. This is the Reform movement at work. From the Ontario PCs, to the Toronto mayor's office, to the Alberta Wild Rose Party, to the BC Liberals, this is an attempt at a Reform power grab. 

Oh yes. Those recent off-writ Harper-style attack ads. NVG has the story.