Van Dongen’s request of the Commissioner was done in the form of a 24 page letter.You can peruse it here.
Seems Like MLA Van Dongen has done his homework.
So has Blogger Alex Tsakumis.
He has written a number of outstanding articles on the subject, the most recent of which is here.
The evidence is clearly pointing to Clark having involvement in BC Rail where she ought not to have.
Clark says she will cooperate with the commissioner during any inquiry yet she knows full well that any inquiry by the commissioner must come before the house to be voted on.
First and foremost the problem there is the Premier conveniently prorogued the house so unless she recalls it there would be no vote until the spring.
Secondly, the premier holds a majority in the house and her party would most likely vote down any potential inquiry the commissioner requests.
What she needs to do is to take leadership of the issue,recall the house and call an inquiry herself.
Failing that she should come clean and explain her involvement in BC Rail and what the conflict that she suggested was.
Of course coming clean would no doubt lead to her stepping down.
For BC and the families she allegedly cares about its time to do the right thing.
I could not believe what I was reading this morning in a piece written by Jonathan Fowlie regarding the dismissal of Ken Boessenkool.
Tonight Vaughn Palmer follows that up with an excellent column of hos own describing the premier as amateurish and sneaky.
These are not exactly the qualities the voting public wants in a premier especially with the upcoming debate over the Enbridge pipeline.
It’s not exactly the confidence builder the folks who just left the BC Liberal get pumped from the election convention want to read about either.
It is basic human resources cover your ass stuff to have documented files from everybody that saw,knows and talked about the type of complaint lodged against Mr. Boessenkool.
In fact most companies I have worked for document files on 3 month junior employees just in case.
The type of complaint leveled against Boessenkool, senior employee, is not only documented but referred to legal counsel before anybody gets disciplined let alone canned.
In a ruling that probably shocked no one( especially readers of this blog), except maybe for Borys Wrzesnewskyj, the Supreme Court ruled that Conservative MP Ted Opitz can keep his seat and that the election results of May 2011 will stand.
The shocking thing was that the ruling was close. It was 4-3.
The court made the right call for the right reasons. They said that it would have been wrong for them to over turn an election result like this as it would have paved the way for more challenges.
It also is a rebuke of Elections Canada who will now have a little over two years to clean up its act as they prepare for the Canadian election or 2015.
The big loser in all this? Borys. He spent over $300,000 of his own money fighting this case.
Did the supreme court do the right thing? Did the Ontario court make a mistake in the first place throwing out the election results?
I have been listening to discussions a lot lately about what issue or issues the BC 2013 election will be fought over.
One pundit says the economy ( I guess that’s fashionable since James Carville coined the phrase ‘it’s the Economy Stupid!”),another says the election will be fought over BC Rail,another says it will be all about getting rid of the BC Liberals.
Some people even say that this election will revolve around the environment or post secondary education.
What about fracking?
One thing they all seem to agree on is that the government should be framing the ballot box issue.
In truth and in fact they are all wrong.
These are not issues they are files within a mandate.
Elections are about Leadership!
You don’t vote on the economy you vote on who best to lead you through a rough patch or who to lead and manage a good economy.
BC Rail? You are not voting on that, you are voting on who best to lead the legislature to make sure that never happens again?
The environment? Post secondary education? Those are not issues; the issue is who best to lead the province in the right direction and manage those two files.
The pipeline? Just another file. You vote on who best to handle the file.
The Government frames the issue right?
They should be. Gordon Campbell ( no matter what you think of him) was very good at framing the leadership issue. He won three elections. He also left when he realised he could no longer frame this as his issue.
Today the government is no longer setting the pace on the main issue for the upcoming general election.
If you believe the polls the BCNDP are framing the issue of leadership for the government.
Adrian Dix is waging a very calculated and to this point successful campaign showing himself to be the best leader.
He is including everybody in the discussion and is not afraid to release bits of his platform.
A case in point: His recent speech at the Vancouver Board of Trade. he told a largely pro business audience that if successful in the election he would raise corporate taxes back to levels of 2008.
He is showing extreme confidence and speaks with out emotion.
He lays claim to wanting to do politics differently and backs it up with statements like” If the Federal government changes their mind and does not close the Vancouver Coast Guard I will be the first one to issue a press release applauding the government and that decision.
Contrast that with the premier who, when asked on a radio show ( Bill Good to give credit where it’s due),to comment on the polls showing the women’s vote is going to the NDP said after a few callers phoned in, it’s early,people are not paying attention and I plan to run on my record.
What the premier should have said was’ those polls are on me, I am the leader and I have seven months to work hard and prove that I am the right person for the job.
So as of right now the she is right, she will be running on her record.It is a record of not taking simple leadership of a simple question.
Likewise the optics from the recent BC Conservative AGM and dissident fiasco were not good for the party and when contrasted against the backdrop of Adrian Dix’s handling of George’s Heyman’s position on fracking ( George is entitled to his opinion we welcome discussion here) once again gave the voting public something to compare them to.
There are seven months to go until the election.
To be successful the BCNDP needs to continue what they are doing, the other parties have to catch up.
Christy Clark: Sorry Justin but nobody takes center stage from me!
Not wanting to be one-upped on the news high-lites by the likes of Justin Trudeau, Knucklehead Premier Christy Clark used the occasion of the opening of Trudeau’s coronation to tell the world she will withhold electricity if the pipeline goes ahead without her okay.
One problem with what Clark said is that if and when it gets to that point she will either have been ousted by her own party or sent packing by an angry electorate.
Justin Trudeau on the other hand, well, his world, is about to get a whole lot more exciting after announcing tonight that his hat is in the ring to lead the Liberal Marijuana Party of Canada to oblivion.
I am sure The Prime Minister is sitting back thinking this is the best thing that could have happened to him and the Conservative party.
Trudeau, if as expected, waltzes to the LMPofC leadership more or less uncontested, he will have more than Prime Minister to contend with.
Tommy Mulcair is no dummy and wants to hold onto the title of Patron Saint of Quebec. Trudeau will not get seats in his home province without a fight.
A fight that bodes well for Conservative Party fortunes across Canada as both the NDP and the LMPofC clash and prepare to split whatever vote is out there allowing Harper’s team to come up through the middle and win seats they don’t currently have.
It’s also possible, although I never take the electorate for granted, that the CPC will pick up additional seats with the new riding redistribution under way and expected to be in place before the 2015 campaign.
This should make for a larger majority in 2015 than they have now.
Speaking of elections,Liberals in BC complained during the 2011 federal campaign that they were tarred and feathered with the Gordon Campbell Liberal brush. Just wait until they get painted with the Christy Clark ” I am a federal Liberal in my heart brush”
They will also have the Ghost of Justin’s old man to contend with.For years the west has wanted in and now that we are ” aint no man named Trudeau going take that away from us”
The next LMPof C leader has his work cut out for him. ( it will be no cakewalk for Mulcair either, as by the time 2015 rolls around, Adrian Dix and the BCNDP will have had two years to screw up enough things to have their share of doors slammed in their faces too)
For Justin Trudeau to succeed and show the country he will do politics different and more exciting, he will have to be just like his dad.
He will have to be like his dad in that he will have to stand at the ready with his middle finger, the only difference being he will have to wave it at his own party establishment rather than the electorate in Salmon Arm,BC.
The folks in the LMPofC establishment will no doubt try and refine Justin’s image,something that he cannot allow to happen.( Look for fallout here too!)
The only MSM in town that bothered to report to this point on Inept Premier Clark’s visit with Alberta Premier Redford in Calgary today had the line for the ages.
When asked by reporters about her meeting Clark ,apart from saying it was frosty, advised anybody who would listen ( and by extension anybody who would read the Globe and Mail) that it was not her responsibility to brainstorm for answers regarding the dilemma with Enbridge and the pipeline.
The operative word of course in the quote was ‘Brain’ and we have all learned by now anything to do with that area of the human body is not a Christy Clark strong point.
So Premier Clark, if not your responsibility,whose?
Essentially today’s meeting was a great big waste of Premier Redford’s time.
Why on earth would Clark drop in without any new solutions to restate her position on the project?
Why hasn’t the brainstorming been done?
Could Clark have been hiding in Alberta to avoid bad press over the 12% increase in BC Ferries rates?
Watch the Calgary Herald Video where you will hear Clark’s first words’ Well um it was Frosty”
We have,ladies and gentleman, what sounds like a 12-year-old girl as Premier.
Next she’ll be singing ” The good ship lollipop”!
What an embarrassment!
Need I say more?
What are your thoughts?
UPDATE Some 6 hours after the meeting,NONE of the BC Electronic News Sources( Sun,province,Times Colonist) have a line about the meeting. They are still saying she will meet with Redford later today; Geesh!
Adrian Dix has been doing a lot of talking in public lately and if the latest polls are to be believed at this point not many of the voting public are paying much attention.
It may be that it is not close enough to an election and nobody cares but it is time to listen because this is platform stuff that the electorate will be voting on.
This should be of concern to the average voter because an increase in corporate taxes will either result in a loss of jobs or at the very least result in frozen or decreased wages in the private sector.
It has to, there will be less money for companies to allocate for raises or benefits.
On the heels of that we see reports today that Dix told reporters after a speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities that he would repeal balanced budget law if elected premier .
Dix claimed the law as is was a joke.
While I agree that the Liberals have made a mockery of the law, the nice thing about forcing a government to go before the house with hat in hand to ask to run a deficit is at-least it goes on Hansard .
This forces both a record ,a vote and yes the house to be in session.
To allow any government in this day and age to run a deficit and tell you later is heresy.
With Dix ( he has a history of forging memos and fare-beating) and the BCNDP’s propensity to raise taxes without warning why would you want to give them this license.
Pretty Soon these people will be running into each other!
Once again the hot corner in Politics proves to be working in the Premier’s office.
Today after nine months of employment Ken Boessenkool resigned after an incident he deemed ” an incident he acted inappropriately”
I am not going to speculate what may have happened,there are enough different versions on different mainstream and non mainstream media websites.
What I will do is question why it took two weeks to complete the resignation if he apologized immediately and ask why the premier is not coming clean once again.
I understand Mr.Boessenkool’s family reads but what’s worse: Knowing the truth or reading all the rampant speculation.
The best thing of course would be for Ken to make a statement and clear the air so to speak unless of course there is more to this than meets the eye.
This of course is yet another black eye on the Clark Government, a black eye that will get worse until the cause is released.
Of course Clark’s new replacement also has some explaining to do.
If this just all happened this Last night/this morning why would you give up a stable career job as board chair at BC Hydro for a job that will probably die out by May 2013 at the latest?
Today was a good day for the BC Conservative Party up-to and including the incident where John Van Dongen left the party.
The party elected Voice of Reason Al Seibring as president, Christine Clark as Vice President,Linda Bellamy as Secretary and re-elected Treasurer Lambert Leung .
Also elected were a whole host of new directors including Dan Denis,Dennis Beliveau,Daniel Brooks and Douglas Machan.
All the instigators of the last week were not elected and lots of new blood was elected to the board.
John Van Dongen left the party ( I told you that might happen in my post yesterday) and so the party has a chance to get some work done and elect some MLAs next May.
Van Dongen worked hard on the BC Rail file but he also worked hard at disrupting board meetings with his monthly ” I am getting elected with or without your help threats”.
During his goodbye speech John Van Dongen mentioned that the BC Conservatives did not work as a team. This is a concept that Van Dongen himself doesn’t understand as his demands on the board above illustrate.
Could we have done more to pacify him? Probably but he could have done more during the by-elections to help us too.
Sure losing an MLA is a blow but in this case the party is better for it!
1115 BC Conservatives cast ballots. This is a huge number of people who got involved.
788 BC Conservatives ( 71%) said John Cummins should not be subject to a leadership review!
Conservatives in the hall united in applause,as the party pledges to move forward and capture seats in the upcoming May election.
On the heels of this historic win Cummins and team proposed via a news release major changes to the rules governing sittings in the Victoria legislature.
Most notably the fall sitting, under a BC Conservative Government,will be used as a means to scrutinize expenditures relating to taxpayers dollars.
Deputy Ministers, Crown Corporation executives and the like will be called to face committees not only to account for expenditures for the previous years but also to answer for projections for the upcoming year.
A novel concept, the house being used for serious government business.
The May 2013 election just got interesting. The electorate now has a chance to vote for real change !
.jpg)
