Trouble in BC Liberal-Land on eve of budget - Rick Peterson, ex-BC Liberal candidate, Kevin Falcon leadership backer - joins BC Conservatives!

Just what Finance Minister Kevin Falcon and Premier Christy Clark didn't want to hear the day before the BC Budget - Rick Peterson - a prominent BC Liberal and backer of Falcon's leadership campaign has joined the BC Conservative Party.

Rick Peterson

And not just joined - investment advisor and former Edmonton Journal editorial writer Peterson will be Deputy Chair of their Finance Committee.

Peterson was a BC Liberal candidate for nomination in the Vancouver-Fairview riding in 2008 - but lost the vote to Margaret MacDiarmid, who became the candidate and then MLA in the 2009 election.

And Peterson was a volunteer in Falcon's leadership efforts in 2011.

This news will hurt in BC Liberal-Land and is another sign of the imploding party.

The next question is whether Peterson will run in the 2013 provincial election - and where?

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Facebook wipes out NO BC HST's 125,000 members on BC's largest Facebook protest page - second largest overall

This is a warning to anyone who fails to realize that Facebook is a big, profitable and powerful multi-national corporation that does whatever it wants, not what you want.

The original logo from July 2009 

Facebook has "archived" NO BC HST - which means wiping out the 125,000 plus members from what was BC's biggest Facebook protest group and second largest BC Facebook page overall - behind the Vancouver Canucks.

I created this group in July 2009 - before I helped form Fight HST with former Premier Bill Vander Zalm, ex-Unity Party leader Chris Delaney and other good folks, before the successful Citizens Initiative petition in 2010, before the winning binding provincial referendum in 2011.

At it's peak, it went viral - growing by 6,000 members every day, peaking at over 136,000!

And now, despite every effort to convince Facebook otherwise, the membership has been all but eliminated.  As of writing there are 114 members.

I encourage you to re-join NO BC HST - if only to spite Facebook's corporate malevolence.

And beware - Facebook does not belong to you or us - it belongs to them.

Below is Fight HST's news release today about this:

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News Release                                                                     Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Facebook “archives” NO BC HST – BC’s largest Facebook protest group, wiping out 125,000 membership despite strong requests not to do so

NO BC HST Facebook page founder Bill Tieleman started group in July 2009, went viral – adding 6,000 members a day – now has just 80 members due to Facebook archiving

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s largest Facebook protest group – NO BC HST – has seen its membership wiped out by Facebook management, dropping from over 125,000 members to just 80.

Facebook has “archived” the group formed in July 2009 by Fight HST Strategist and political commentator Bill Tieleman to oppose the Harmonized Sales Tax – meaning almost all members have been removed from the group without any notice to them.

NO BC HST was also one of British Columbia’s largest Facebook groups overall, bigger than the BC Lions Facebook fan page [50,7380] or the Vancouver Giants [4,737], but behind the Vancouver Canucks [692,123].

“It’s ironic that the Harmonized Sales Tax will last longer than the NO BC HST Facebook group formed to fight it,” says Tieleman.  “Unfortunately this is another example of how Facebook management disrespects the members who made it into a multi-billion dollar corporation.”

Tieleman noted that Facebook also “archived” the national protest group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, which had over 210,000 members who joined to oppose the federal Conservative government move to suspend Parliament in 2010 to avoid a non-confidence vote. 

Facebook gave some groups an opportunity to transfer their membership to its new Page format but that option was never given to NO BC HST, Tieleman said, despite contacting Facebook and requesting it.

“While I still believe Facebook is a useful and powerful social media tool, the way Facebook management can arbitrarily and unfairly wipe out groups with hundreds of thousands of members without anyone’s permission is a strong warning to all,” Tieleman said.

“Facebook says it’s mission is about connecting people but the archiving of many other groups like these shows it is also about disconnecting people,” Tieleman said.

NO BC HST still exists on Facebook and Tieleman said he is encouraging people to re-join to send Facebook a message about its bad behaviour, as well as to push the BC Liberal government to extinguish the HST as required by the binding referendum passed in August 2011.

Tieleman wrote a column about Facebook threatening to “archive” NO BC HST last year – it can be found here: http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-would-facebook-want-to-kill-no-bc.html

"But you're the Premier!" Who knew BC Premier Christy Clark was powerless in office?

Premier Christy Clark on CKNW February 13, 2012

'But You're the Premier!'

Christy Clark returns to radio to reveal you're not very powerful when premier of BC.

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday February 14, 2012

By Bill Tieleman

"When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable." 

- former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley

To hear Christy Clark tell it Monday, being premier of British Columbia surprisingly isn't a very powerful job.

Clark appeared for 90 minutes on radio station CKNW to give a "preview" of the BC Liberal government's agenda as the B.C. legislature resumes sitting Tuesday.

That decision alone caused Clark considerable grief when her deputy press secretary issued an inaccurate media advisory stating that: "In place of a formal throne speech, the premier will be appearing on CKNW's Bill Good Show to outline the government's agenda for the spring session."

In fact, the B.C. legislature was continuing the previous fall session, not starting a new one, so no throne speech was ever planned.

But perhaps a throne speech would have been a better idea, because Clark repeatedly had to make excuses for her lack of action in response to questions from host Bill Good and callers, while dishing out a wide collection of cliches.

After Clark claimed she was opening up government, Good pointed out that a recently released freedom-of-information request by Vancouver Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie -- on the $780,000 Harmonized Sales Tax brochure that was printed and then shredded by the government -- took 19 months to get.

"How is that open?" asked Good.

"It's not," Clark admitted. "I agree."

"But you're the premier!" an exasperated Good replied.

More of the same came when Good asked about problems at Community Living B.C., where adults with developmental disabilities and their families have complained bitterly about cuts to services and wait lists.

Good: "I mean, how is it possible that you do an internal review and you don't even know how many clients are waiting for your help?"

Clark: "Exactly!"

The premier then went on to a meandering explanation about releasing documents and having an inaccurate waiting list.

That darn HST won't go away

Clark's lack of power apparently also extends to getting rid of the HST, which continues to be charged six months after B.C. voted in a binding referendum to end it, providing hundreds of millions in additional revenue. [I helped create Fight HST to oppose the tax.]

"If I could snap my fingers and get rid of the HST tomorrow -- I'd do it," Clark said before blaming the federal government and the complexity of changing back to the Provincial Sales Tax for the delay.

Toss another cliché on the fire

When not claiming being premier doesn't come with many powers, Clark was also spinning an endless series of familiar clichés.

Ever heard these?

"There's only one taxpayer."

"You have to say no sometimes."

"You can't make promises you can't pay for."

"It's about getting government out of the way of job creation."

And this classic, complete with Clark's irritating habit of dropping the letter "g":

"You can just keep throwin' money at stuff if you don't fix the problem."

But on other issues, Clark may have actually given a more direct answer than she intended.

When Good asked Clark how B.C. could supply the massive amount of electricity necessary to run her proposed three new liquid natural gas plants near Kitimat for tanker export to Asia.

"We know that we can power the first two," Clark replied. "We've figured out how to do that with existing power sources."

"On future ones though, we are going to have to have more power in British Columbia. Site C is coming on line and so are a whole host of renewables."

Actually, the huge Site C hydroelectric dam project is not "coming on line" anytime soon.

The controversial project that would add a third dam on the Peace River is part of a federal-provincial environmental assessment process that won't be finished until 2014.

'Way ahead of Dix'

Clark also claimed that she was "way ahead of Adrian Dix" in some polls, adding that: "I think that was the Ipsos poll maybe."

Maybe not. Ipsos-Reid released a poll last week showing the BC New Democrats at 44 per cent, the BC Liberals at 32 per cent and the BC Conservatives at 16 per cent.

Clark did narrowly lead Dix on the question of who would be best premier, with 31 per cent to Dix's 25 per cent, but that margin has dropped six points since the last Ipsos poll.

Otherwise, it was old hat material. 

The B.C. Teachers' Federation is demanding too much money in contract negotiations, B.C. Hydro can lose 1,000 jobs without a problem, no B.C. Liberal caucus members will quit to join John Cummins' BC Conservatives, B.C. can't afford to go back to the 1990s, etc.

But soon enough it was back to yet more puzzlement for the premier.

When Good pointed out that the judicial system was short of judges, with more than 100 cases thrown out because of time delays, Clark was at a loss.

Her government has added new judges and money, Clark said, and there are fewer cases going to court as well as a lower crime rate in B.C., yet there are longer delays in the justice system.

"So why do you think that is?" Good asked.

"I don't know the answer to that but we're going to get to the bottom of it," Clark replied.

The powerless premier. Who knew?

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Premier Christy Clark appoints Geoffrey Cowper, past defender of former BC Liberal Attorney General Geoff Plant - to review judicial system

Premier Christy Clark

What a surprise.  Premier Christy Clark - taking heat for the abysmal delays in the judicial system created by systemic underfunding by the BC Liberals - appoints a veteran lawyer to do a review.

And Geoffrey Cowper, QC, just happens to be the lawyer who spearheaded the 2002 defence for then-BC Liberal Attorney General Geoff Plant - who was facing a motion of non-confidence by members of the Law Society of BC over - wait for it - Plant's failure to properly fund the judicial system!

The motion of non-confidence in Plant passed overwhelming by a vote of 717 to 83.

UPDATE #1:  Thanks to Ron1 commenting below for pointing out that Cowper's firm Fasken Martineau gave $10,000 to - guess - Christy Clark's BC Liberal leadership campaign.  


That wouldn't necessarily mean too much in a big law firm but Geoff Cowper's name is one of two listed in brackets after Fasken Martineau, indicating he is a Director - a requirement of Elections BC for "an unincorporated organization" - which strangely is how the donation is also coded. 


Elections BC financial donation records show that Fasken Martineau has given over $175,000 to the BC Liberal Party since 2005.  It also gave $885 to the BC NDP in 2010.

The motion at the Special General Meeting was introduced by Victoria lawyer Michael Mulligan, who spoke at the May 22, 2002 gathering, and was reported by the Law Society as saying:

"Mr. Plant's failure to meet his moral and ministerial duty will leave thousands of persons without legal representation in family law, poverty law and human rights matters," he said. "Let there be no misunderstanding: the rights and freedoms of those persons will go unprotected."

Mr. Mulligan noted that BC is the only province to collect a tax on lawyers' accounts, which generated $91.6 million in the past year, in addition to the $9 million received from the federal government for criminal legal aid. He said that Mr. Plant has proposed a plan to reduce legal aid funding to $54 million, while at the same time the government is increasing the tax rate from 7 to 7.5%.

"I expect today you will hear words to the effect that there should not be a personal attack on the Attorney General. Please recall that my resolutions are not with respect to Mr. Plant in his personal capacity, but rather in his performance as minister of justice," Mr. Mulligan said. "However, to the extent that he is made to feel uncomfortable, that pales in comparison to the effect of his plan on the powerless who will be denied access to justice."

Responding in oppostion to Mulligan's motion, Cowper stated: 

Mr. Cowper said that, while Mr. Plant had considered it his responsibility to call on the former government to fulfil its promises with respect to the tax, the Attorney also made it clear that he did not wish people to misunderstand the position of a new government, which was that the tax, if it could not be abolished, would go to general revenue.

He urged lawyers that this was not a motion to be passed at a Law Society meeting. "It allies us with the worst of our political culture; it allies us with personal attacks; it allies us with incomplete statements that are political in nature," Mr. Cowper said. "And finally, we don't elect the Attorney General; he doesn't have the office at our confidence. We elect a government, the Premier selects his Attorney and the Attorney fulfils his functions. It is only when his past as a lawyer is in question that we have any purchase over him, and we ought to defeat this resolution."

There's no question that Cowper is a veteran lawyer with considerable skills.

But his appointment, given his past connection with defending the same BC Liberal government - the one where Christy Clark was then Deputy Premier - from similar charges of underfunding the legal system - should be seen for what it is.

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Adrian Dix promises public inquiry into Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid case

BC NDP leader Adrian Dix on the record in favour of public inquiry into BC Railgate case 

David Basi after surprise guilty plea October 2010

I have been asked several times in person, by email and on this blog if the BC New Democratic Party will indeed hold a public inquiry into the Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid/BC Railgate case if it becomes government.

The answer is yes - and it comes directly from NDP leader Adrian Dix.

Concerned British Columbians were shocked at the sudden end to the trial of former BC Liberal government ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk, and government communications staff person Aneal Basi, in October 2010 with surprise guilty pleas by David Basi and Virk and the dropping of charges against Aneal Basi.

Only two of an expected 40 witnesses had testified in the case that finally came to trial over six years after the December 28, 2003 unprecedented police raid on the BC Legislature - and some of BC's top current and former politicians and political operatives were slated to testify.

It was highly likely that BC Premier Christy Clark and former Premier Gordon Campbell would have been among the witnesses.

In the aftermath, there was public outrage that $6 million in legal fees for David Basi and Bob Virk was paid by the government with no attempt made to collect any portion of it back, despite the guilty pleas.  That issue is currently being investigated by independent BC Auditor General John Doyle.

Regular viewers of Voice of BC, hosted by Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer and broadcast by Shaw Cable - and you all should be - may have seen a taped question I posed on air to Dix but others are likely unaware.

Here's the transcript from the show - broadcast October 20, 2011.  You can watch the show on Vimeo, where this segment is at 52:43 into the hour:

Bill Tieleman [taped question]: "Tuesday October 18 was the first anniversary of the end of the Basi-Virk trial - the BC Legislature Raid case, when David Basi and Bob Virk pled guilty to a number of charges.

"Are you still committed to holding a full public inquiry into the Basi-Virk case?"

Vaughn Palmer: "Do you think it will be worth it by 2013?"

Adrian Dix: "Yes, I think so."

"I think there are a couple of things to remember.  First, we lost our railway.  You go to Williams Lake - that's a pretty significant thing - we lost our railway."

"It was a badly bunged decision, a policy decision, and there are all the issues involved in the case, including the corruption involved."

"I think it's reasonable to have an inquiry into that."

Vaughn Palmer: "Even though it'll be 10 years by 2013 and the number of lawyers needed to do that - it's going to cost a lot of money."

Adrian Dix: "There's lessons we need to learn.  I think you have to balance these things out.  I agree - one is concerned about the cost - but some things are important."

Dix then discussed the Missing Women's Inquiry and talked about his wife Renee Saklikar testifying at the Air India Inquiry, because she lost family members in that bombing.  Dix called it a "good inquiry" even though it took place many years later.

And that's for the record.

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How much will BC Premier Christy Clark's Liquid National Gas plants cost BC Hydro customers? And are they safe?

Who Pays Huge Power Bills for Clark's Gas Plants?

LNG Tanker - headed for BC waters?

Turning natural gas into liquid sucks electricity. Ratepayers, guard your wallets.

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday February 7, 2012

By Bill Tieleman

"Fixation on short term corporate profits and short term political gains to the exclusion of longer term planning is a recipe for disaster." 

- David Hughes, geoscientist, on Canada's natural gas exports

There's one big question about the B.C. government's new plan to build three liquid natural gas plants near Kitimat -- how much will this cost BC Hydro customers on their monthly electricity bills?

That's because LNG plants are energy pigs, consuming enormous amounts of power to convert natural gas into a liquefied, transportable form to ship by tankers to Asia.

The electricity needed for just one LNG plant alone is equivalent to that needed by three Catalyst Paper mills -- B.C.'s largest electricity user.

So what BC Hydro consumer should wonder whether LNG will become the Smart Meters of the north -- with expensive BC Hydro costs once again being loaded onto the backs of ratepayers to subsidizeprivate corporate profits.

Safety concerns

And just like the $1 billion Smart Meters program, there are safety questions to investigate further before the province spends untold taxpayer dollars again.

Five past fiery LNG plant accidents have taken hundreds of lives, though industry proponents claims that LNG exports are safe.

Residents of Texada Island banded together to strongly oppose a proposed LNG plant there in 2007 for both safety and environmental reasons.

Premier Christy Clark made another questionable decision last week -- to suddenly reverse the BC Liberal government's 2007 order to make BC Hydro energy self-sufficient by 2016, with power produced in this province.

That policy was ex-premier Gordon Campbell's way to subsidize buying expensive electricity from private Independent Power Producers who built run-of-river plants and other facilities.

The last BC Hydro call for tenders for IPP electricity was priced at $134 per megawatt hour, comparedto between $4 to $52 per megawatt hour for power purchased on the open market, and an average $5.81 per megawatt from BC Hydro's publicly owned dams.

Despite that huge extra cost, BC Hydro is on the hook for obligations of $30 billion in IPP energy purchases over the next 25 years.

Someone -- you the consumer -- has to pay the difference.

Artificially created 'liquid gold' rush

BC Hydro rates are already slated to jump by 16 per cent over three years instead of a planned 32 per cent that drew public outrage.

Campbell's Clean Energy Act forced BC Hydro to plan to have enough power for the province without importing any during any period of worst-case water levels -- both a highly unusual circumstance and an incredibly expensive insurance policy that was unnecessary.

But it created the demand for IPP electricity, since BC Hydro has been prohibited by the BC Liberal government from developing new public power alternatives since 2002, creating what energy author John Calvert called the "liquid gold" rush.

So was that policy simply a temporary way of pumping cash into the IPP sector and always the BC Liberal intention to dump it after massive long-term contracts were signed? Or is it a radical departure from the Campbell doctrine?

Certainly we've seen no public consultation, detailed studies or debate over the issue -- just another flip-flop decision from the premier's office.

Flash forward. Will the government's desperate rush to create only 800 permanent jobs at three LNG plants, and temporarily employ thousands of workers during the eight-year construction phase -- lead it to spend billions subsidizing LNG's big oil companies owners?

Has this government ever wasted money or gone over budget before with its ill-considered plans? 

Smart Meters, Vancouver Convention Centre, 2010 Olympics -- why worry?

China's major stakes

It's also worth noting that the federal Conservative government is crying wolf because some environmental groups opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal to ship heavy crude oil to Kitimat -- also for tanker transport to Asia -- receive minor funding from outside Canada.

Not only is the oil industry overwhelming foreign-owned but corporations outside Canada also control the rapidly developing LNG sector.

PetroChina has major stakes in B.C., partnering with Shell in its global LNG production interests and is part of the consortium hoping to build facilities in Kitimat.

Energy Minister Joe Oliver -- who has led the federal government charge that "foreign radicals" are subverting the Enbridge proposal -- had no problem cozying up to the Chinese Communist government last year in Beijing and offering up Canadian resources.

"We in Canada have the resources that China needs. We are open for business and we are willing to provide their minerals, energy, forestry and mining needs," Oliver told The Globe and Mail after addressing Chinese leaders and business executives.

Left unsaid is that any way you slice it, LNG consumption leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. Burning B.C.'s LNG will only enhance China's status as the world's biggest GHG emitter.

Bad for our energy and economic security?

Lastly, everyone wants more family-supporting jobs in B.C., which would be created in construction and LNG plant operations.

But British Columbians have to ask how much they are personally willing to pay out of their wallets as a subsidy to highly profitable foreign corporations to create those jobs.

As David Hughes, a geoscientist with 32 years service with the Geological Survey of Canada has recently written:

"Canadians, who after all are the owners of Canada's natural gas resources, are served last when it comes to their longer term energy security and environmental interests. The lure of obtaining prices that are double or triple North American prices through LNG exports is impossible to resist for corporations looking at the near-term bottom line."

"The lure of royalty and lease sale revenue, and jobs building infrastructure and producing gas, is impossible to resist for politicians strapped for cash. This does not bode well for Canada's energy future," Hughes concluded.

And at some point, hopefully sooner than later, we also have to ask whether exporting limited non-renewal energy resources like LNG to support the industrialization of foreign countries' economies is a good long-term strategy.

Giving other countries the energy they need to manufacture value-added products that Canada will import, rather than using that power to do it ourselves, will eventually come back to haunt us.

And it likely won't take long.

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