Premier Christy Clark shrinks The World Accorded to Bloy - Harry Bloy out as Social Development Minister

"And he's back to selling Christy for leader yellow T-shirts"

Premier Christy Clark has taken The World Accorded to Bloy and shrunk it considerably.

Harry Bloy's reign as the hapless Minister of Social Development is mercifully over after Clark did the obvious - demoted Bloy after a series of errors and failure to learn on the job.

It went on longer than it should have because, after all, membership has its privileges and Harry Bloy was the only BC Liberal MLA to be in the "I Support Christy Clark for Leader" club during the party leadership battle.

And he stays on as Minister of State for Multiculturalism, a junior job that still leaves Bloy room for creating and international incident or two.

It's a reminder that politics is a tough game and even the premier's patronage has its limits.

Bloy is replaced by Stephanie Cadieux, who is replaced as Labour Minister by Margaret MacDiarmid - the BC Teachers Federation will be thrilled at that appointment!  MacDiarmid as Education Minister was at loggerheads repeatedly with the BCTF, as well as the Vancouver Board of Education.

A BCTF news release in January 2010 gives the flavour of that relationship:

“As news comes in from around the province about potential teacher layoffs, school closures, and dramatic budget shortfalls, Minister of Education Margaret MacDiarmid is in denial about her government’s role in these devastating cuts, BCTF President Irene Lanzinger said today.

'From the Lower Mainland and the Island to the North and Interior, school districts are speaking out about devastating cuts they will have to make because of government cutbacks and underfunding,' said Lanzinger. 'Instead of taking the warnings seriously, the minister has been busy denying the problem, making up excuses, and blaming school districts.'"

Now Lanzinger is the BC Federation of Labour Secretary-Treasurer.  Should be a swell meeting next time - say, during a BCTF job action?

Some parliamentary secretaries were switched around as well but there was really only one move - Bloy out the door.

Clark seemed a little testy in speaking to reporters today about the, err, non-demotion.

“It’s a refocusing of Harry Bloy’s responsibilities,”  Clark said. “You’ll interpret it how you like.”

It's no longer a Bloy's World.


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Memorial Facebook page set up for Zoe Miller - a life far too short, a loss far too painful

Zoe Miller 1989-2011

A memorial Facebook page has now been set up to celebrate the life of Zoe Miller, daughter of my close friend Kris Klaasen - who many of you know as a friend or as owner of Working Design.

This is a devastating time for Kris, Zoe's mom Joni Miller and sister Maia Klaasen, and all their many family and friends, as all of us can only imagine.  

UPDATE - The memorial will be held on Sunday October 2 at 2 p.m. at the Aboriginal Friendship Centre, 1611 East Hastings Street in Vancouver.

Your support is greatly appreciated by all.

My wife Shirley, daughter Erin and I are all stunned and saddened - we have known Zoe almost her entire life.

Our deepest condolences to family and other friends - you are in our thoughts at this difficult time and anything we can do to help, we will.


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A Tale of Two Attack Ads – how BC Liberals, Non-Partisan Association negative ads blew up like Wile E. Coyote

BC Liberal attack ad website targeting BC Conservative leader John Cummins

Wile E. Coyote - BC Liberal & NPA chief strategist at work

Why BC Liberals, NPA efforts blow up in their faces – but negative advertising can work

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

“Bad advertising can unsell a product.”

           

- David Ogilvy, advertising guru

Call it A Tale of Two Attack Ads – the story of two separate political parties both shooting themselves in the foot rather that their intended targets.

As a political strategist, I love negative advertising, even though voters say they hate it. 

When done right, it can change the course of elections, demolish opponents and actually inform.

But when done wrong – as two current examples amply demonstrate – it is like giving yourself an exploding cigar and lighting it up in front of a huge crowd.  Ka-pow!

The B.C. Liberals and Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association both have more black powder all over their faces than Wile E. Coyote failing to blow up that pesky Roadrunner in the cartoons.

The B.C. Liberals launched a pair of nasty radio ads and a website targeting B.C. Conservative Party leader John Cummins as an “unprincipled” politician that “you just can’t trust”.

The NPA have a radio ad attacking Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Vision Vancouver councillors for supporting “backyard chickens” and “front yard wheat fields” and lacking the NPA’s “common sense”.

Political commentators are nearly unanimous in saying both parties’ ads are enormous mistakes.

Vancouver Island University political science professor Allan Warnke – himself a former B.C. Liberal MLA – told Victoria’s CFAX radio host Sean Holman  on Sunday that the Cummins’ ads are: “One of the dumbest things I’ve seen in a long time.”

And former federal Liberal Party activist Bob Russell added: “I’m almost speechless at how stupid this is – it’s the worst act of political judgement I’ve seen.”

When to go negative

 But as important as pundits are, the real test is simple – do they work?

The answer in both cases is no, because the attack ads fail a basic checklist about when to go negative.

Seattle Democrat political consultant Cathy Allen developed a handy test to help any party or candidate determine if attack ads are warranted.

Allen says negative campaigning could be – but not necessarily is – the “proper course' during political contests in the following situations:

▪    When you are taking on an incumbent;

▪    When you are being significantly outspent;

▪    When there is irrefutable information that your opponent has done something wrong;

▪    When your candidate has little name recognition.

There are other obvious circumstances – such as when the other side goes negative first and a response is needed – but this is a good summation.

Unclear on the concept

Unfortunately for B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark, her party’s ads fail on all four counts. And the NPA ad doesn’t do much better.

First, John Cummins is not an incumbent, not even close.  Cummins recently became leader of the B.C. Conservatives after a long career as a federal Conservative Member of Parliament but he has no seat in the B.C. Legislature, let alone being the incumbent in government.

The incumbents would be the people running the attack ads.

Second, the B.C. Liberal Party is not being outspent in the least – they have an enormous financial advantage over both Cummins and the New Democratic Party led by Adrian Dix.

In the 2009 provincial election the B.C. Liberals ran a full slate of 85 candidates and spent $12 million.  Last year they raised $9.5 million.

In that same election, before Cummins was leader, the B.C. Conservatives ran 24 candidates and spent $18,000.  Last year they had donations of $61,000.

So in the 2009 election they were outspent by the B.C. Liberals by a ratio of 667 to 1 and last year were out fundraised by a ratio of 156 to 1. 

Strike two against using attack ads because your opponent is outspending you.

Third, what has Cummins done that is “irrefutable” and “wrong”?  Well, he did something that 42 per cent of other British Columbians did in the 2009 election – he voted for the NDP candidate!  Sinful! Wicked!  Unforgiveable!

Cummins is also – shudder – actually collecting his pension as a federal MP after serving in Parliament for 18 years.

More infamy!  Who does he think he is – ex-B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, now serving as the highly-paid High Commissioner to London? 

And he opposed Clark’s increase in the minimum wage!  What is he – some kind of conservative? 

Oh, but he’s an “unprincipled” politician who says one thing and does another – unlike say, Christy Clark’s flip-flops on the fixed election date, the Harmonized Sales Tax, Senate seats for B.C., the gas tax and more.

Or the B.C. Liberals, who promised not to introduce the HST or sell B.C. Rail or rip up hospital workers’ contracts and then did it post-election, for example.

While some voters may not like that Cummins voted for NDP MLA Guy Gentner in North Delta, others will say that shows a politician who isn’t rigidly ideological and will vote for the best candidate regardless of party.

Or that the B.C. Liberals were so bad under Campbell that even a Conservative MP couldn’t stomach voting for them.

Free publicity for Cummins

Fourth, does Christy Clark lack “name recognition”?  Err, no.  A final strike against the attack ads.

In fact, it’s Cummins who may be a stranger to many – but he soon will be well known, thanks to B.C. Liberal ads.

What’s worse, the ads give Cummins serious street credibility with voters.  After all, the B.C. Liberals aren’t running ads criticizing their main opponent, NDP leader Adrian Dix. 

No, the B.C. Liberals clearly see Cummins as a huge threat to their political existence.

And that may be correct.  A split in the right wing vote alleged allowed the NDP to win elections in 1972, 1991 and 1996.

But it’s also true that B.C. voters on the centre-right weren’t happy with the choices of an aging W.A.C. Bennett versus a populist Dave Barrett in 1972, a disintegrating Social Credit led by Rita Johnston in 1991 [ironically Johnston is now a B.C. Conservative advisor] or an underwhelming and slightly scary Gordon Campbell in 1996 versus an energetic Glen Clark.

Perhaps more problematic is that most British Columbians are finding out about Cummins and the B.C. Conservatives from the B.C. Liberal ads – but they don’t necessarily trust the source on what they hear.

That will backfire with many, who will remember the name and try to find out about Cummins, just not from the B.C. Liberals.

Vancouver's NPA plays chicken

The Vancouver Non-Partisan Association ad can be put to the same four-point test.

First, it is true that they are taking on an incumbent, although NPA mayoralty challenger Suzanne Anton is also an incumbent long-time councillor.  We’ll charitably give a modest passing grade.

Second, is the NPA being “significantly outspent” in the upcoming November election?  No.  At this point, the NPA ads are the only ones being run. 

Vision spent $1.9 million in the 2008 election while the NPA spent $1 million.   Not quite the ratio of B.C. Liberal spending compared to B.C. Conservatives.

Third, what has Robertson done that is irrefutable and wrong?  Egads – he’s promoting urban farming! 

Imagine growing edible wheat instead of neatly manicured green grass on your lawn!  Think of having chickens in a coop in your back yard!  Just like you can in New York, Chicago, Seattle and other major centres.  Cluck, cluck.

Unfortunately for Anton’s attack dogs, their own former 2008 mayoralty candidate Peter Ladner agrees with Vision,  not the NPA, on this one.

"Politicians and candidates be warned: Ridiculing urban farming is a no-win strategy," wrote Ladner in his Business In Vancouver newspaper column last week, just a day after the NPA negative ads hit radio airwaves. "Food security is marching up the priority list in cities around the world, and Vancouver should be leading, not resisting, this movement.”

Ladner wouldn’t say his column was a counterattack on the NPA negative ads – he didn’t need to.

The NPA fails the test badly when even your own side says what you claim is dead wrong is actually absolutely right.

Fourth, does Suzanne Anton lack “name recognition” as a reason to go negative?  No.

As the only opposition councillor at city hall, Anton has received the lion’s share of publicity compared to anyone but Robertson.  She has been an NPA councillor since 2005 and a park board commissioner before that.

That means the NPA fails on at least three of the four criteria for attack ads.

But even though both the B.C. Liberals and NPA made a huge mistake in hiring Wile E. Coyote as their chief campaign strategist, blowing themselves up instead of the Roadrunner, don’t expect the attack ads to end.

Because can you trust the B.C. Liberals and NPA to do the wrong thing?  Oh, don’t be so negative!

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BC Liberals "Chicken Little" act falls flat on claims that killing HST costs causing sky to fall

Sky's Not Falling Just Because the HST Fell

Ex-Premier Gordon Campbell and
Finance Minister Kevin Falcon

Time for the BC Liberal government to stop its Chicken Little squawking

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday September 13, 2011 

By Bill Tieleman

"Oh go and tell the king that the sky is falling in/But it's not." 

- Radiohead, "2 + 2 = 5"

The B.C. government is playing Chicken Little with the Harmonized Sales Tax -- but the sky is not falling, just their credibility.

Where to start when there's so much misinformation?

First, if the HST was "revenue neutral" as the BC Liberals constantly claimed for 22 months, then the $1.6 billion one-time grant from the federal Conservative government would be the only major debt incurred.

Of course, we now know that the HST is not revenue neutral -- that was proven a complete falsehood by its own government-appointed "independent panel" when they discovered that B.C. would gain $820 million more a year in taxes from the HST.

To get up to Premier Christy Clark's claimed financial deficit of $2.8 billion you have to include the lost extra revenue that came from gouging taxpayers with the HST. Oops.

Remember, Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't give the $1.6 billion because he loves B.C. -- it was a massive bribe that would have paid off in spades with increased federal revenues forevermore.

Federal governments don't just give away money to provinces for free -- there's always a price.

Tall, tall tales

This isn't a Jack and the Beanstalk deal either. The HST is an enormous tax shift taking $2 billion a year paid primarily by big business and putting it onto ordinary taxpayers.

That's why we're now paying an extra seven per cent more on restaurant food, haircuts, gym membership, domestic airline tickets, etc. Fortunately the deal just got cancelled after Fight HST, the group I helped form, forced a referendum vote through a citizens initiative petition.

Who would give up $2 billion a year forever to get $1.6 billion once? Other than the BC Liberals and big business, which financed a multi-million dollar ad campaign to try and rescue the HST, that is.

We gave governments a cash cow for a few beans that weren't magic.

And remember the old slogan -- "there's only one taxpayer." The federal money came partly from your own pocket.

Second, while $1.6 billion is a large sum, B.C.'s annual budget is $42 billion this year. That means over a five-year budget cycle, the federal HST grant amounts to under one per cent of total expenditures.

And, as the BC Liberals love to boast, the province's capital spending since they took office in 2001 has gone up by $45 billion -- that's $4.5 billion every single year, on average.

If Finance Minister Kevin Falcon can't find $1.6 billion without slashing public services he just doesn't want to. Of course, cutting capital spending would hurt the BC Liberal Party's big financial construction industry donors, like the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association.

Pecking away at $1.6 billion

Third, the repayment of the $1.6 billion should be offset by 40 per cent to account for the two years the HST will have been in place before its extinguished -- that's $640 million off the tab, please.

Fourth, while the BC Liberals have petulantly put the entire $1.6 billion grant back into the debt column for this year's budget, the reality is that they will try to negotiate flexible, longer-term repayments. And Harper doesn't want to be reminded come next federal election of how he stuck it to B.C. after a democratic referendum rejected the HST.

Fifth, threats to cut public services and freeze government workers wages to punish voters for ditching the HST are among the more laughable attempts at intimidation B.C. has yet seen.

Start with B.C.'s spending on health care -- the second lowest per capita in Canada at $5,355, ahead of only Quebec, below the national average of $5,614 and far behind Alberta's $6,266 and Manitoba's $6,249. Is Falcon's threat to make B.C. the lowest spending province on health care? That would go over big.

It's also not like B.C. was planning on giving wage increases to teachers, doctors, nurses, health care or government workers anyway.

And with B.C. unemployment continuing to rise under the HST -- figures from Statistics Canada show the province lost 12,500 full time jobs in August while gaining just 6,500 part time jobs, for a net 6,000 jobs lost -- it means financial pressure on the government was inevitable.

Kind of hard not to blame the HST but it was supposed to -- according to the Jack Mintz report -- create 113,000 new jobs over 10 years, or then just 24,400 according to the "independent panel" study.

What about those promises, Premier?

Most importantly, Clark and Falcon had desperately promised in the HST referendum to cut the tax to 10 per cent by 2014 -- a move that would have cost the government billions in lost revenue. Where was that money going to come from, growing the magic beans?

In fact, they continue to make outlandishly wrong-headed claims still, including a gross exaggeration of B.C.'s financial picture today.

As the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives rightly points out, last week government's scare tactic, estimating the cost to extinguish the HST and return to the GST and PST of $2.3 billion and a loss of $2.8 billion over three years, is ridiculous. The actual cost is $1.5 billion, while B.C.'s own contingency and forecast allowances for budget variations total $2.5 billion during that same time period.

Problem, meet solution.

What really went down

The reality of what happened with the HST is simple.

An absolutely panicked then-premier Gordon Campbell signed a deal with the federal devil in 2009 to help offset a deficit of $2.8 billion -- six times larger than the $495 million he swore it wasthrough the entire election.

Campbell and ex-finance minister Colin Hansen went "blood simple" -- the term used by detectives when even in the most meticulously planned murder, the killer makes mistakes and leaves clues when they actually see the victim's blood all over the floor.

Given that Campbell's BC Liberals had destroyed the then-NDP government over a deficit of only $350 million rather than a claimed $87 million surplus before the 1996 election, he knew the consequences of the books being out by $2.3 billion would be politically fatal.

What they couldn't see in their haste was that the HST was a non-starter in B.C. Every government to date that has introduced an HST -- federal and provincial -- has been defeated in the next election when angry voters could seek vengeance. Polls and protests showed how unpopular the HST was, but the government wouldn't admit it.

Campbell and Hansen arrogantly thought British Columbians would grumble and put up with yet another tax shift from corporations to individuals, even after 10 years of increasing the burden on families with moves like higher Medical Services Plan premiums.

They also counted on their broken promise to make B.C.'s unique Recall and Initiatives legislation more effective would render opposition futile. 


And they laughed at the idea of a former Social Credit premier -- Bill Vander Zalm -- leading the charge against them, not even bothering to register the BC Liberal Party or big business as opponents to the first-ever successful initiative petition.

Champagne and hellfire

Now the HST has become history.

So if the sky is truly falling because the HST has been voted out, it can come down on the new B.C. Place Roof -- built at the enormous cost of $563 million -- or the equivalent of 40 per cent of the HST grant.

Of course, all the worried business and BC Liberal worthies who are telling voters they were boneheads for rejecting the HST and that public services are doomed to hellfire and brimstone will still be drinking champagne at the grand opening this month and praising Campbell for building the outrageously expensive umbrella.

In British Columbia the sky isn't falling and we aren't doomed. But the HST is.


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BC voters given the ultimate insult - Order of BC given to Ex-Premier Gordon Campbell, deputy Ken Dobell & turncoat David Emerson - BC is going fundamentally wrong

New Order of BC recipient Gordon Campbell got the gold medal of honours  

How Did Gordon Campbell, Ken Dobell and David Emerson Get BC's Highest Honour?

Given their records, clearly British Columbia is out of order.

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday September 6, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

"It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles."

- Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527

British Columbia is completely out of Order.

By awarding the prestigious Order of B.C.  to former B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell the same year he left office, the provincial government is giving voters the ultimate insult.

But there’s much, much more fundamentally wrong in B.C. than that – this is just the icing on top of a cake of contempt baked by the province’s elites.

Those elites could care less if worthy recipients also getting the Order of B.C.  are ignored because of Campbell’s appointment or that of David Emerson – Canada’s most infamous political traitor – and Ken Dobell – Campbell’s own former deputy minister – or that it tarnishes the honour for others.

Emerson notoriously crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives just days after the 2006 election, to keep his cabinet position, outraging Vancouver-Kingsway voters where he had promised to be Stephen Harper’s “worst nightmare” in Parliament.

Dobell – Campbell’s former deputy, who pled guilty to being an unregistered B.C. lobbyist, also gets a medal. He is now a duly registered B.C. lobbyist for eight different corporate and other interests https://eservice.pssg.gov.bc.ca/LRA/reporting/public/activeterm.do?method=get , including Rogers Communications, the B.C. Lumber Trade Council and Seaspan Ferries.

Campbell resigned as the most unpopular premier not just in recent B.C. history but across Canada, dropping to a pathetic nine per cent approval rating.

But the federal Conservative government rewarded Campbell nonetheless with the cushy job of High Commissioner to London – worth about $190,000 a year plus home, chauffeur and chef - for imposing the Harmonized Sales Tax on B.C. after an election where B.C. Liberals promised not to do so.

Only a citizens revolt reversed the HST but just days after the results of the binding referendum showed the tax was decisively rejected 55 to 45 per cent, Campbell gets an honour not yet bestowed on far more worthy British Columbians.

Why are so many British Columbians angry with this appointment? So angry that they’ve started an online petition page  to have it rescinded? And a Facebook protest page as well?

How about because Campbell is the premier who misled British Columbia voters before the last 2009 election about the size of BC's giant deficit?


Or because as premier, he presided over seven straight years of the worst child poverty rates in Canada while not once raising minimum wages.

Or because after promising to respect hospital workers legal contracts before the 2001 election he legislatively ripped them up afterwards – an action the Supreme Court of Canada ruled illegal.

Regardless of Campbell’s failings, he has made a long contribution to public service – as a Vancouver councilor, mayor, MLA and premier.

But it’s the undue haste and obvious political nature of giving him this honour that stinks. Last year Campbell was giving out the Order of B.C. – this year he’ll be receiving one.

Amazingly, Campbell is only the second premier to get the Order of B.C. – far too soon and after a controversial career that deeply angers many British Columbians.

Dave Barrett left office as B.C.’s first New Democratic Party premier in 1975 – 36 years ago – and yet still hasn’t been honoured.

Barrett’s achievements were enormous – and some of them strongly opposed at the time – but today his pioneering establishment of the Agricultural Land Reserve, creation of public auto insurance – the Insurance Corporation of B.C., introduction of Hansard into the B.C. Legislature and much more is worthy of respect. The true test of his accomplishments is that they remain intact today.

Barrett also served as an MLA from 1960 to 1983 and as an MP from 1988 to 1993.

While Campbell gets the Order in 2011, other former living B.C. premiers Bill Vander Zalm – who left office in 1991 and also served as mayor of Surrey, Mike Harcourt – who retired in 1996 and also served as mayor of Vancouver, Glen Clark - who left office in 1999, Rita Johnston, Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh have not been recognized for their time in our highest office and other public service.

Nor have other notable B.C. politicians who have made significant contributions to the province through public service, such as former Social Credit environment minister and broadcaster, activist and Tyee columnist Rafe Mair or former Vancouver mayor and Liberal MP Art Phillips.

Other than Campbell, only former Social Credit Premier Bill Bennett has been given an Order of B.C.

They make an ironic pair, as Campbell is the only Canadian premier to have served time in a foreign country’s jail, after his drunk driving arrest in Hawaii in 2003.

And Bennett was found guilty in 1996 of insider trading allegations made by the B.C. Securities Commission involving the sale of Doman Industries stock before a bid to buy the company collapsed.

Bennett, brother Russell and owner Herb Doman agreed to abide by sanctions imposed banning them from trading in securities or from “being a director or officer of a public company” for 10 years.

They also paid $1 million to cover the costs of the investigation. In 1989 all three men had been acquitted of criminal charges in the case.

But the outrageous 2011 Order of B.C. honours don’t stop with Campbell.

There’s also a medal for David Emerson – the ex-federal Member of Parliament for Vancouver-Kingsway who notoriously crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives just days after the 2006 election to keep his cabinet position.


On election night the Liberal Emerson promised to be new Prime Minister "Stephen Harper's worst nightmare" but soon he was being sworn into office as Harper’s Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

Emerson’s furious constituents – many who switched their ballot from NDP to Liberal in strategic voting to block the Conservatives – pursued a “de-elect Emerson” campaign. But the turncoat Tory wouldn’t quit and even co-chaired the Conservatives 2008 national election campaign.

Emerson is another Campbell crony who previously served as a B.C. deputy minister to and was chair of B.C. Ferries when that publicly-owned corporation was transformed into a private company in 2003, albeit still owned by the government.

It was Emerson who appointed current B.C. Ferries CEO David Hahn and began the process that ended with the company building new Super-C class ferries in Germany, shutting out Vancouver Shipyards [now Seaspan] from even making a bid.

In 2008 when Emerson bailed out of federal politics rather than fact Vancouver-Kingsway voters, Campbell appointed him executive chair of the B.C. Transmission Corporation.

While Emerson is better known, he isn’t the only other high-handed honouree.

To make it even more incestuous, the Order of B.C. is simultaneously being awarded to Campbell’s own former Deputy Minister Dobell, who also a key player in the BC Rail/BC Legislature Raid issues – where allegations were raised by the defence in pre-trial hearings of David Basi and Bob Virk but never resolved because of their surprise guilty plea that ended the trial after only two witnesses testified.

Dobell also flagrantly admitted he deleted his emails while service Campbell to avoid them being disclosed by Freedom Of Information requests – a violation of the rules that forced the government to “remind” staff that such emails must be retained.

“I don’t put stuff on paper that I would have 15 years ago…Civil servants are choosing not to write things down, or at least I am,” Dobell said in 2003. Of his emails, he stated “I delete the stuff all the time as fast as I can.”

This all raises one big question - who is giving out the Order of B.C. and why?

The Advisory Committee includes B.C. Liberal Penticton MLA and Speaker of the Legislature Bill Barisoff, ex-B.C. Liberal Surrey candidate Barbara Steele, the Union of B.C. Municipalities president and Surrey councillor, and John Furlong, picked by Campbell to run the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

Other members include: Chief Justice Lance Finch, chair of the committee, the associate deputy minister of the intergovernmental relations secretariat Pierrette Maranda, Vancouver Island University president Ralph Nilson, and Barbara Ward-Burkitt, an aboriginal friendship centre advocate from Prince George. Furlong and Ward-Burkitt already have the Order of B.C., the reason they are on the committee.

If you notice a common element in this selection committee it would be that most members have political or governmental connections to the former Campbell government.

But honouring Campbell, Emerson and Dobell is merely the latest manifestation of this entire province being out of order.

For example, after six-years of legal wrangling and bombshell pre-trial allegations by defence lawyers for ex-B.C. Liberal government ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk, the actual B.C. Legislature Raid trial suddenly ends with only two witnesses testifying.

A surprise guilty plea means that the next expected witness, former Finance Minister Gary Collins – now senior vice president of the Belkorp Group of Companies – doesn’t testify at all about the $1 billion 2003 privatization of B.C. Rail. Neither does Premier Christy Clark, or Campbell, or a host of current and former elected officials or political staff.

The B.C. Supreme Court never hears the testimony of Erik Bornmann, the provinicial lobbyist who admitted bribing Basi and Virk with over $25,000 cash and other benefits to obtain highly confidential internal government documents on the B.C. Rail bidding.

Bornmann and Pilothouse Public Affairs business partner Brian Kieran got the inside track on the process to aide their client – losing bidder OmniTRAX.

Kieran was in possession of initial bids of the top three bidders – information given to him by Virk, according to the “statement of facts” filed in Court.

Bornmann and Kieran also paid for Basi and Virk to take a free trip worth $3,000 to a Denver Broncos football game in Colorado during the bidding process.

Bornmann and Kieran turned Crown witnesses against Basi and Virk – and were never charged with any offences.

Flash forward to today. Bornmann has now been accepted as having the “good character”  to practice law in Ontario despite his bribery confessions.

Kieran was chosen by Monday Magazine in Victoria to bump out Sean Holman, the Jack Webster award-winning investigative journalist http://www.publiceyeonline.com/ , as its political columnist.

Kieran’s application to become a member of the Legislative Press Gallery was also accepted by its existing members, giving Kieran access to areas restricted to politicians and media only.

Premier Christy Clark’s brother Bruce Clark was the subject of a police search warrant executed on his home office and other confidential documents related to the $70 million potential sale of B.C. Rail’s Roberts Bank Port Subdivision spur line were found there – given to him by Basi and Virk, again according to the court’s “statement of facts”.

Clark, a lobbyist at the time for Washington Marine Group [owner of Seaspan] was not charged with any offences and did not testify in the abbreviated trial. The Port Subdivision sale was cancelled when RCMP informed then-Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon that the process was tainted.

Bruce Clark went on to play a key fundraising role in the federal Liberal Party of Canada, chairing their high-end donor “Laurier Club” and working on the leadership campaigns of both Paul Martin and Stephane Dion.

Asked by Global TV’s Randene Neill on December 8, 2010 about Bruce Clark’s involvement in her leadership campaign, Christy answered: “Um, my brother is, does not have a formal role in my campaign, but he is a supporter you know.”

And so it goes in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, there are some truly worthy individuals who appointed to the Order of B.C. this year, including Vancouver homelessness advocate Karen O'Shannacery, North Vancouver search and rescue leader Tim Jones, Baljit Sethi, of Prince George, an advocate for immigrants and Ellen White, of Nanaimo, a native educator and activist.

The investiture ceremony will be held at Government House in Victoria on October. 4.

"It is the highest honour we can bestow on individuals in our province," Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point said in a prepared statement about the Order of B.C.

It’s just too bad for all those who deserve full recognition that with the unfortunate appointment of Campbell, Emerson and Dobell, B.C. is so obviously out of order.


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BC is out of Order! Ex-Premier Gordon Campbell gets Order of BC same year he quits! Ex-Campbell Deputy Minister Ken Dobell also gets Order! Liberal MLA on selection committee!

Ex-Premier Gordon Campbell's likely reaction to receiving Order of BC on Friday

British Columbia is clearly out of Order!

When ex-Premier Gordon Campbell can receive the Order of BC the same year he leaves office and while he is serving as the federal government's highly-paid High Commissioner to London, it's obvious that something is very wrong.

The premier who misled British Columbia voters before the last 2009 election about the Harmonized Sales Tax and the size of BC's giant deficit.  The premier who presided over seven straight years of the worst child poverty rates in Canada.  The most unpopular premier in Canada when he quit.  The only premier ever jailed in a foreign country.  I could go further but won't.

And guess who else gets honoured the same day - Campbell's own former Deputy Minister Ken Dobell. 

The Ken Dobell who pled guilty to being an unregistered provincial government lobbyist. And who was at the centre of some BC Rail/BC Legislature Raid issues - allegations raised by the defence in pre-trial hearings of David Basi and Bob Virk.  And who admitted he regularly deleted his emails as DM to avoid them being disclosed by Freedom Of Information requests.

And Campbell's longtime ally and also a former Deputy Minister David Emerson. 

The David Emerson who switched parties from federal Liberal to federal Conservative hours after the election in order to stay in cabinet - this time under Stephen Harper.  Vancouver-Kingsway voter were furious - and rightly so, given how much Emerson denounced Harper and the Conservatives during that election.

And who is on the Order of BC Selection Committee? Among others:

BC Liberal MLA and Speaker of the Legislature Bill Barisoff.

Former Vancouver 2010 Olympics CEO John Furlong.

Barisoff is one of Campbell's political colleagues, while Furlong was Campbell's choice to run the Olympic Games.  Furlong also was appointed by the province to conduct a review of the Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup riot.

Other members include: Chief Justice Lance Finch (chairperson), Union of B.C. Municipalities president and Surrey councillor Barbara Steele, Research Universities' Council of B.C. president Robin Ciceri, the associate  deputy minister of the intergovernmental relations secretariat Pierrette Maranda and Vancouver Island University president Ralph Nilson. Unfortunately, the many worthy appointments to the Order of BC this year and in past years are tarnished by the undue haste and obvious political nature of giving Campbell, Dobell and Emerson this honour.


Let's be clear - politicians and senior public officials have every right to be honoured for their service - but not all are.

For example, Campbell gets the Order of BC but the only other former premier so recognized is former Social Credit Premier Bill Bennett - but not Dave Barrett or Mike Harcourt or Bill Vander Zalm or Glen Clark or Dan Miller or Rita Johnston or Ujjal Dosanjh.  Check the full list here.

I'll have more to say about this and related issues that show BC is out of Order in other ways too in my 24 Hours Vancouver and The Tyee online column on Tuesday - which will also be here of course.

Meanwhile, here is the full list of recipients:

Gordon Campbell, of London, England, High Commissioner & ex premier of BC.

Luigi Aquilini ,of Vancouver, owner of the Vancouver Canucks.



Peter Norman Baird, of Vancouver, public servant.


Ken Dobell, of Vancouver, public servant.


David Emerson, of Vancouver, businessman and former federal cabinet minister.


Yuri Fulmer, of West Vancouver, entrepreneur and volunteer.


Tim Jones, of North Vancouver, search and rescue leader.


Dr. Phil Muir of Hazelton, long-time northern doctor and innovator.


J.C. O'Rourke, of West Vancouver, businessman.


Karen O'Shannacery, of Vancouver, advocate for homeless people.


Baljit Sethi, of Prince George, advocate for immigrants.


Ellen White, of Nanaimo, native educator and activist.


The investiture ceremony will be held at Government House in Victoria on Oct. 4.




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