Federal Liberal Party to Christy Clark's rescue! Premier-Designate applies LP-osuction to BC government

Paul Martin approves Christy Clark's federal Liberalization of Victoria!  - Photo by Remy Steinegger

Former federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion in the old days - like when he used to visit Christy & Mark's house - meaduva photo

Well that didn't take long!

Premier-Designate Christy Clark has begun the process of Federal Liberalizing her new government at all levels.

Notwithstanding the use of arch-Conservative Gwyn Morgan on her Transition Team to premier for at least optics, Clark is already stacking the deck with federal Liberal operatives.

Her campaign featured a host of Paul Martin-ite and Stephane Dion-ite operatives, including  FD Element's Don Millar, federal Liberal Party spokesman Brad Zubyk, an ex-Harcourt NDP government aide, and of course Campaign Manager and now Chief of Staff Mike McDonald, who backed ex-NDP Ontario Premier Bob Rae in the 2006 federal Liberal leadership race.

And of course hidden in the backroom was her brother Bruce Clark - a longtime federal Liberal bagman and LPC BC executive member best known for the December 2003 police search of his home to find confidential BC government documents on BC Rail given to him by convicted fraudsters David Basi and Bob Virk.  That would be the BC Legislature Raid case of course.

But now the more serious work begins - transforming government into a more palatable federal Liberal look - call it LP-osuction - removing the undesirable BC Liberal & federal Conservative love handles and replacing them with more attractive Grits.

First step - make the Premier's Deputy Minister non-Seckelular - by whacking Allan Seckel, who clearly did not want to go willingly - and replacing him with Kevin Falcon's ex-DM John Dyble.  [Dyble and Seckel are, of course, public servants and not partisan, but the deck must be cleared.]

However, another public servant with a decidedly past partisan Liberal bent is involved.

Now we learn exclusively from Public Eye's Sean Holman that John Bethel, a former federal Liberal candidate and ex-Alberta LPC VP who backed the Paul Martin takeover from Jean Chretien that Clark's ex-husband and recent leadership campaign strategist Mark Marissen was engineering in BC, is also on the Transition Team.

Bethel is BC's health services assistant deputy minister and backed Liberal MP Scott Brison's failed 2006 leadership bid against Dion.

Today also we discover that Ron Norman has been fired by Clark as head of the Public Affairs Bureau - and rumours abound that federal Liberal Michele Cardario - now at Canuck Place Children's Hospice but formerly Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Paul Martin - will take over that job.  Cadario also was involved in BC for the LPC in 2006 doing contract work.

Could a Paul Martin Liberal be in charge of the vaunted PAB propaganda machine?  And I wonder if federal Conservatives are starting to get the message!

UPDATE - Michele Cardario will NOT be taking over PAB, the Suns TV/24 hour's Jehnifer Benoit reports.  Will Cardario show up somewhere else?

UPDATE 2 - The Vancouver Sun's Vaughn Palmer says rumours have a third senior Gordon Campbell bureaucrat - Deputy Minister of Finance Graham Whitmarsh - headed for the plank.

Whitmarsh could take the fall for the bad news - for Clark - that the alleged $1 billion "wiggle room" Finance Minister Colin Hansen claimed the new premier would have last month in the budget has actually disappeared, as The Globe and Mail's Justine Hunter reports.

Ron Norman's firing is being met with widespread disbelief amongst Victoria press gallery members, with both Palmer calling it a "bad decision" and Global TV's Keith Baldrey calling it a "big mistake" on Twitter Thursday.

Was Norman held responsible for the most disastrous public relations campaign in BC history?  That would be for the hated Harmonized Sales Tax - but the only person who was really to blame was Premier Gordon Campbell.

Monday's cabinet appointment day is shaping up to look more like regime change than a shuffle!

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Premier-Designate Christy Clark's hard right advisor Gwyn Morgan bashes enviros, unions, even Cancer Society!

Arch-Conservative Gwyn Morgan is Christy Clark's transition team advisor

Raid - kills bugs dead - and causes cancer? Naah, says Morgan,
don't believe the Canadian Cancer Society

Meet Christy Clark's Hard Right Advisor

Basher of enviros and unions, Gwyn Morgan blamed immigrants for crime. What does he like? US health care.

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday March 8,  2011

By Bill Tieleman

"It is my earnest submission that signing the Kyoto Protocol would go down in history as one of the most damaging international agreements ever signed by a Canadian prime minister."

- Gwyn Morgan, Christy Clark transition team advisor, whacking Jean Chretien

Premier-designate Christy Clark says she is an "outsider" bringing "change" to the BC Liberal Party as its new leader.

And Clark claims the BC Liberal government "has been a leader in climate action" while under her new leadership it will promote "a cleaner environment for everyone."

But watch out if Clark's "change" is strongly influenced by her top transition team advisor Gwyn Morgan!

Because Morgan is a right-wing ideologue who bashes environmentalists, unions, federal Liberals and immigrants in a way that makes outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell seem like a pinko.

Morgan's controversial views even include ripping the Canadian Cancer Society for supporting a ban on carcinogenic insecticides and weed killers, saying the society was supporting "junk science," as were any "scientifically illiterate municipal councilors" who agreed with it.

After all, says Morgan: "The medical evidence is scant."

Why trust the Canadian Cancer Society when we can put our faith in Raid and Roundup? Spray on, Gwyn!

Morgan is also a defender of "Frankenfoods" -- genetically modified (GM) foods that some European countries have banned, despite Morgan saying there are "no credible studies showing negative impacts."

The green shiv

The former CEO of natural gas giant EnCana, Morgan helped fund a nasty third party advertising campaign eviscerating former Liberal leader Stephane Dion's "Green Shift" carbon tax plan in the 2008 federal election with a $20,000 donation to the right-wing National Citizens Coalition.

Ironically, the BC Liberal Party under Campbell brought in North America's only carbon tax -- which Clark supports. And Dion's leadership campaign was masterminded by Mark Marissen, Clark's now ex-husband, who helped guide her own BC Liberal Party win.

Morgan and his wife Pat Trottier also personally gave $1 million to the right-wing Fraser Institute's Foundation and he sits on the institute's board of directors.

That may explain his ardent opposition to anything mildly left of the libertarian right. For example, Morgan's views on the NDP:

"The New Democratic Party offers a typical socialist agenda. Tax and spend, subsidize unionized industry and make big business 'pay' -- the kind of policies that drove Ontario and British Columbia to the brink of economic ruin," Morgan wrote in a 2008 Globe and Mail column.

Never mind that the average economic growth during the 1990s when B.C. was under the "socialist" rule of NDP governments was three per cent compared to the two per cent growth achieved by the Gordon Campbell BC Liberals. Or that ex-NDP premier Glen Clark is now a senior vice-president to Jim Pattison, B.C.'s top business owner.

Ardent fan of Harper

Unsurprisingly, Morgan is a huge supporter of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- a former National Citizens Coalition president.

Harper attempted in 2006 to appoint Morgan as chair of a federal commission to oversee public appointments.

That move was blocked by opposition parties after details of a Fraser Institute speech he gave in Dec. 2005 came out, in which Morgan blamed immigrants who "come from countries where the culture is dominated by violence and lawlessness" for rising Canadian crime rates, praised the private U.S. health care model and attacked unions for negatively affecting businesses.

Morgan and Trottier are also involved in former Reform Party leader Preston Manning's right-wing Manning Centre for Building Democracy, Morgan on the board of directors, Trottier the council of advisors. The Manning Centre patrons include Mike Harris, Gary Filmon and Ralph Klein -- the former Conservative Party premiers of Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta respectively, as well as ex-Reform strategists Tom Flanagan and Rick Anderson.

Cold shoulder for Grits?

All of this is well and good -- but Clark's federal Liberal friends must be appalled at her taking advice from this most fundamentalist capital "C" Conservative.

After all, Clark is a former aide to federal cabinet minister Doug Young and someone whose potential leadership prompted top Conservatives like John Reynolds to speak out against publicly before the BC Liberal vote Feb. 26.

And it's not like Morgan is soft on federal Liberals.

After the sponsorship scandal, Morgan claimed that the federal Liberal Party was "embroiled in behaviour that is comparable to that of countries at the bottom of the world corruption index."

But on the other hand he praised Stephen Harper, who Morgan said was the victim of "an orchestrated attempt to impugn a Canadian political leader [Harper] whose integrity is beyond reproach and a person who openly honours Christian values, but respects all religions."

Trottier also was involved in an interesting 2008 third-party advertising effort to support Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn win re-election against environmentalist-supported Liberal Briony Penn in Saanich-South Island.

As The Tyee's Andrew MacLeod reported, five different groups registered as third-party advertisers in the election -- but all of them used the office of Conservative lawyer Bruce Hallsor as their address.

Trottier's previously unknown Economic Advisory Council of Saanich was one of them.

"They all wanted to register groups as third party advertisers, so I did that for them," Hallsor said then. "It's the right of every citizen who wants to express their opinion in an election to do so up to the spending limit."

That spending limit of $3,666 for each group allowed them to buy ads supporting Lunn outside his Conservative Party spending limit of $92,000.

Nothing green in sight

Morgan's advisory role to Clark also must be frightening for a coalition of prominent environmental groups who encouraged their supporters to join the BC Liberal Party to influence the leadership vote in favour of the most ecologically minded candidate.

Morgan's hard-edged opposition to the Kyoto Accord, aversion to climate change initiatives and support for pretty much the whole big oil agenda isn't what they were hoping for.

And Clark had already blown away their dreams before the leadership vote when she promised to make reversing the rejection of the Prosperity Mine in northern B.C. over environmental concerns even the Harper Conservatives couldn't ignore the priority for her federal-provincial relations agenda.

Now with Morgan advising her -- and donating $10,000 to her leadership campaign -- don't expect Clark to pay any mind to environmental concerns. He's not only originally a Calgary energy industry boss but also someone who says "we applaud the government for trying to open up the offshore" of B.C. for oil and gas drilling.

Want to keep using cancer-causing insecticides? Hate the Kyoto Accord? Support oil and gas exploration and tanker travel on B.C.'s ecologically sensitive coastline?

Love those federal Conservatives, but only so long as they stay on the Fraser Institute's narrow agenda?

Then Gwyn Morgan is your man. And he's advising B.C.'s new "outsider" Premier Christy Clark on how to run a government.

Change is in the air. Or is that just Raid?


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Christy Clark's Cabinet - handicapping the horses before the race!



Premier-Designate Christy Clark with Speaker-Designate or Minister of Whatever-Designate Harry Bloy, her only BC Liberal MLA supporter in the leadership contest, interviewed by Global TV's Ted Field 

UPDATED MARCH 8

By next week everyone will know who is in and out of Premier-designate Christy Clark's new cabinet - but there's no fun in waiting when we can bet on the ponies now!

And like going to Hastings Race Course on a sunny afternoon, their are favourites, possibles, dark horses and long shots that pay off with big odds if you win..

Here's a first look at the field - place your bets!  And watch for more entries in the next little while, since the last race - the Gordon Campbell cabinet - is long over and those nags are headed for the paddocks.

And Christy Clark is already saying expect a smaller cabinet with new faces - watch out veteran racehorses!  Long-time cabinet handicapper Vaughn Palmer does the math today at his Vancouver Sun blog and sees dead people - Campbell had 23 ministers and Clark will have less - incoming casualties expected. 

"I think there's a lot of talent in the backbench and when I say we're going to change government we're going to certainly make sure that we draw on some of the folks perhaps that haven't been as busy in the past as they could be," Clark told media in Victoria Monday.

Clark also announced that her leadership Campaign Manager Mike McDonald will be her new Chief of Staff.  McDonald - husband to Gordon Campbell's ex-Deputy Minister Jessica McDonald - is a former Caucus Communciations Director.  And Mike McDonald's name came up numerous times in the BC Legislature Raid/Basi-Virk pre-trial hearings.

Sure bets:

Kevin Falcon - No 2 in the leadership vote, No. 2 in Christy's government - can't say no to a Tory! 

George Abbott - He laid heavy lumber on Christy during the campaign but leaving him out would start a revolt of the caucus outsiders who backed him - George is back in the cabinet winners' circle.

Mike de Jong - there was no open deal with Open Mike - but he didn't endorse Falcon or Abbott and he might have suggested some of his folks vote for Christy in the #2 slot behind closed doors, so he's in.

Rich Coleman - backed Falcon but Coleman is a) totally tight with Patrick Kinsella, who supported Christy with money and strategy and b) is pretty much indispensable as the most dependable cabinet minister and c) would be a very nasty customer if outside the tent. 

Likely to place:

Colin Hansen - Had to desperately Twitter that he wasn't stepping down to help out Christy with his very safe Vancouver-Quilchena seat - an ignominious necessity for the BC finance minister & health minister.  A fellow federal Liberal, Christy likely needs him to balance the red meat members of the cabinet.

NEW: Could Hansen be a late scratch? If he isn't in cabinet, would he give up his safe seat to Clark?

Pat Bell - Didn't support Christy but then again, no one else did either!  Needs some northern members and he is one of the better ministers.

Shirley Bond - See above.

Barry Penner - Being one of the only lawyers in the caucus helps - de Jong or - yikes - Bill Bennett if he returns, being the others and somebody has to be Attorney General. 

Could show:

Harry Bloy - The only MLA to back Christy has to get a serious reward - will it be a decent cabinet job or will it be a rumoured turn as BC Speaker?  Bloy likes to wear uniforms -  see his annual Boy Scout appearance - so the robes and mace may appeal!

NEW: Blair Lekstrom - Could Clark offend all the other caucus members who didn't quit caucus over the HST by promoting him back to cabinet? Sure - at least Lekstrom didn't endorse her opponents!  But it would be aggravating to those who value loyalty to party over loyalty to constituents.

Terry Lake - The so-far accident prone backbencher from Kamloops and chair of the HST Initiative committee might make the cut, especially if Christy fires the sorry carcass of Kevin Krueger out of cabinet.

NEW: John van Dongen - The lead-footed ex-solicitor general proved he can drive faster than a NASCAR pace setter but his good relations with the Ottawa Conservatives just might let him squeak back into cabinet. 

Mary Polak - The former book-banning chair of the Surrey School Board and one of the caucus's most right-wing members might be one of the expendables from the Campbell cabinet - but she could hang on to placate the federal Conservative faction.  Polak hasn't exactly impressed in her Misery of Children and Family's portfolio.

Ida Chong - She survived Fight HST's most serious recall campaign, so it would be hard to turf her - but despite Christy being the first to visit and support her counter-insurgency, Chong didn't return the favour of endorsing Clark.  Might be on the bubble and with her $6,000 a year taxpayer-paid meal allowances, Chong is not exactly a vote-getter.

Moira Stilwell - Briefly the wannabe leadership contender no one knew, a medical doctor and researcher who seems oddly out of place in politics - and may be out of cabinet.  Endorsed George Abbott in the endgame - showing none of the political skills needed by Clark.

Dark horses:

Pamela Martin - The ex-CTV news reader turned Christy Clark membership drive chair lacks a seat in the Legislature - but so what?  There's no rule against it and former NDP Premier Ujjal Dosanjh did it with Chief Ed John in the early 2000s.  Martin would presumably commit to run in the next provincial election and would only get the cabinet pay stipend, not the MLA pay - but it's doubtful she needs the money anyway.

Get ready for the new government propaganda arm - PAB - to be renamed the Pamela Affairs Bureau!

Margaret MacDiarmid - Campbell's Education Minister not only didn't endorse Christy but she is in her way - in the Vancouver-Fairview riding that Clark's home is located in.  Ouch.  MacDiarmid might be tempted by the offer of a government patronage job to leave elected office.

NEW:  Bill Barisoff - The current Speaker loves pomp and ceremony - and is pompous and ceremonious himself but without redeeming political skills.  Clark is unlikely to waste a spot on this guy and Bloy wants his job.

Murray Coell, Stephanie Cadieaux, Mary McNeil - Current cabinet ministers - yes, I know, news to me too - and less than stellar performers. 

Long shots:

Ralph Sultan - The smartest member of the caucus - and most ignored by Gordon Campbell - might just get a chance but don't count on it.

NEW: Bill Bennett - Within spitting distance of cabinet once again?  First he has to get back into the BC Liberal caucus - being a lickspittle will help there.  But cabinet?  Not likely at this point - he's too toxic for admitting to the media that Gordon Campbell is "not a nice man" - shocking news.

Iain Black, John Yap, Randy Hawes, Naomi Yamamoto, Ben Stewart, Steve Thomson - who? Exactly.  Current cabinet ministers who didn't back Clark - don't expect a call, buy lottery tickets.

Gwyn Morgan - Christy's fundamentalist right-winger transition team advisor.  Makes Stephen Harper look like a French Socialist Party leader, Fraser Institute director, would instantly be most controversial minister since Flying Phil Gaglardi - let's do it!  The Saanich resident would need to run for a seat - unless he organizes a Clark coup d'etat.

Ed Mayne - Even less known than Moira Stilwell or the immediately above but Mayne is an accomplished business owner on Vancouver Island and former Parksville mayor - I think - but who cares?  He didn't support Clark either but it didn't matter.  Another non-MLA.

NEW: Kash Heed - he's rested, he's ready - now all he needs is to be cleared by Elections BC!  The "stallion" is set to ride again - if a BC Supreme Court judge decides he doesn't lose his Vancouver-Fraserview seat over failing to file appropriate financial statements.  Get really long odds before betting on this flash in the pan. 

Gordon Campbell - Hey - he's experienced, didn't support a competitor and is more competent than most of his cabinet - give the guy a chance!

Watch this spot for updated odds and more predictions in the next little while!

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Christy Clark demonstrates the Seven Habits of Highly Effective BC Liberal Leaders

Premier-designate Christy Clark at news conference February 26, 2011

Christy Clark's Secrets of Success

Her shocking win is explained in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective BC Liberal Leaders

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours/The Tyee column

Tuesday March 1, 2011

By Bill Tieleman

"Live out of your imagination, not your history."

- Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Premier-designate Christy Clark executed a shocking win in the BC Liberal leadership vote Saturday.

Shocking because Clark's narrow third ballot win over Kevin Falcon came against the wishes of the BC Liberal cabinet and caucus, the business community, most of the party establishment and despite her connections to people involved in B.C.'s biggest political scandal.

None of it made a tinker's damn of difference -- Clark simply ignored her history and captured BC Liberal voters' ballots with her imagination.

There are lessons here for anyone in politics. There are also big warnings in Clark's victory for the opposition BC New Democrats and the upstart BC Conservatives, which both see significant opportunities.

Beware, because Clark's victory illustrates the "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Liberal Leaders" like Covey's book demonstrated universal truths. Those principles are:

1. Ignore BC Liberal cabinet ministers and MLAs; they are nobodies. If they weren't, either Falcon or George Abbott -- who split the support of caucus between them in the contest -- would be premier-designate today.

Falcon had every major cabinet member on his side and Abbott had the "outs" of the cabinet and caucus -- while Clark had only one lonely backbench MLA, Harry Bloy. (Or perhaps Deputy Premier-designate Bloy to you!)

And none of the rest had the political good sense to figure out backing Clark was at least a good bet. But the province depends on their skills to run government -- yikes.

2. Scandals mean jack squat. Clark's family and political connections to the B.C. Legislature raid trial that found ex-BC Liberal ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk guilty of breach of trust and fraud did not sink her candidacy.

Nor did the Basi-Virk case stop Campbell from winning two consecutive elections, despite the case lingering like stinky cheese throughout.

And two previous scandals, the NDP's Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society affair or the B.C. "Hydrogate" bomb dropped by the BC Liberals on then-premier Glen Clark just weeks before the 1996 provincial election, failed to derail Clark's surprise defeat of Campbell.

3. Big business doesn't matter. If its support made any difference, Falcon would be the incoming premier, as he cornered a phenomenal amount of corporate backing and the most money of any candidate.

Falcon's vaunted "20/20" business fans, including top B.C. big shots, tried their best but put up a second place finisher.

4. Media does matter. Clark's enormous advantage was in having enjoyed a four-year province-wide radio show platform on CKNW AM 980 to not only reach a huge audience but also to carefully hone her populist message with instant feedback.

5. Loyalty is highly overrated. Clark abandoned the Campbell Liberals and never looked back -- until the premiership was available.

After unsuccessfully seeking the Non-Partisan Association nomination for mayor in 2005 and losing to Sam Sullivan, Clark landed at CKNW, where she roasted her former cabinet colleagues in government to such a crisp that none supported her leadership bid.

It brings to mind how veteran Social Credit Health Minister Jim Nielsen reacted in 1986 to the news that Premier Bill Bennett's former principal secretary Bud Smith was going to enter the race to replace his retiring boss.

"I didn't shovel shit in the stables for 10 years to have someone else come in and ride the pony," the colourful Nielsen snorted.

Now Clark is in the saddle and Campbell's cabinet are still cleaning up in the barn.

6. Outsiders are appealing. BC Liberals and voters wanted an "outsider" to replace Campbell, even if Clark is a consummate insider who served as his deputy premier.

Glen Clark successfully became NDP leader and won an election as premier in part by running "against" his own party's previous Mike Harcourt government. The NDP should be very worried another Clark named Christy will try the same trick.

7. Insiders are essential. Clark had ultimate BC Liberal insider Patrick Kinsella on her campaign team and donating money. Exactly the same as he did for Gordon Campbell for years.

Now the challenge for Clark is to further overcome her own and B.C's political history -- and become the first woman elected premier.

Imagine that.

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Bad weather forces cancellation of Bill Tieleman speech in Courtenay Wednesday night for Fight HST Recall campaign to remove BC Liberal MLA Don McRae

Bill Tieleman speaks at Fight HST rally in Vancouver, Sept 19, 2009

Unfortunately the high winds and stormy weather that stopped all BC Ferries trips to and from Vancouver Island for much of the day also forced the cancellation of my planned speech in the Comox Valley tonight.

I am very sorry to all the organizers who put the event together and hope to reschedule if possible.

* * * * *

I am pleased to tell you that I will be speaking on behalf of the Fight HST Recall campaign against BC Liberal MLA Don McRae in Courtenay on Wednesday March 2 at 7 p.m. at the Native Sons Hall.

Here is the news release from Comox Valley Recall - hope to see you there - even if you disagree or just want to know more about the Harmonized Sales Tax.

* * * * *

Fight HST Strategist and Political Commentator Bill Tieleman to Speak on Recall Campaign in the Comox Valley

Bill Tieleman, Fight HST strategist and political columnist with 24 Hours Vancouver newspaper and The Tyee Online will speak on the politics and economics of the Harmonized Sales Tax at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, at the Lower Native Sons Hall in Courtenay

Tieleman, together with former Social Credit Premier Bill Vander Zalm and former Unity Party leader Chris Delaney are the originators of “Fight HST”, the grassroots group that launched the first-ever successful citizens’ initiative in Canada.

They represent the wide diversity of people who have come together to fight the HST and support recall campaigns. Tieleman was Communications Director to Premier Glen Clark in his successful upset victory in 1996 and a former BC NDP executive member.

When former NDP cabinet minister Paul Ramsey and former Premier Dan Miller denounced the idea of “recall”, Tieleman broke ranks to speak out on the importance of recall in demanding accountability in government.

When it comes to the economic and social impact of the HST, Tieleman doesn’t pull any punches. “I need to be as alarmist as possible,” he says on his website. “The Harmonized Sales Tax is the biggest wealth transfer through taxation that we have ever seen, with big business shifting $1.9 billion of corporate taxes onto individuals!”

“The big business community loves the HST,” Tieleman tells his readers, “And no wonder. Large companies no longer pay 7 % PST on the purchase of goods and services and instead get "input tax credits."

 Most big B.C. businesses like Rio Tinto, Alcan and Canfor don't produce any goods and services for B.C. consumers so they can't pass on any "savings". British Columbians now have to pay that $1.9 billion HST cost every year -- simply to subsidize Alcan selling aluminum to China! The only possible price reduction for most of us will be, maybe, 7 % less on a roll of aluminum foil.”

Tieleman posts research on his blog to explain the deception in B.C. Liberal HST messages during the 2009 provincial election and is widely known for his coverage of the B.C. Rail or “Basi-Virk” scandal.

In the Tyee, Tieleman chided politicians on all sides for their contempt for accountablilty and ironically left the last word to recall opponent Paul Ramsey, who is quoted as saying: "The campaigns have proven to be more effective at getting the government's attention than other forms of political protest…One thing is clear: the recall campaigns have forced the government to pay far more attention to the local effects of provincial policies.”

According to Kathryn Askew, local recall proponent, who has invited Tieleman to speak at the March 2 Town Hall, Tieleman is delighted to take any questions from anyone of any stripe. She encourages people who have been unsure about signing the recall petition to come and hear this dynamic speaker.

For more information go to http://www.comoxvalleyrecall.ca/ or 250-334-7891

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CHRISTY CLARK WINS! NEW BC PREMIER

CHRISTY CLARK WINS!  NEW BC PREMIER NARROWLY BEATS KEVIN FALCON 52% TO 48% ON THIRD BALLOT

BC Premier-Elect Christy Clark

Christy Clark has pulled off a stunning 3rd ballot victory over Kevin Falcon to become BC's Premier-Elect - and the BC Liberal Party is now split down the middle.

Clark had just one MLA backing her - all others supported Falcon or third place finisher George Abbott.

The final ballot had Clark with 52% against Falcon's 48% - 4420 vs 4080 - a razor thin margin.

Watch the BC Conservative Party closely in the days ahead - and the federal Conservatives, who were mortified at the thought of Clark winning with her deep federal Liberal Party roots and after her constant drubbing of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on her CKNW AM 980 radio show.

This is a fascinating result that will determine BC's political history for years to come - and the story is only just unfolding as we watch tonight.

At least three other winners tonight - MLA Harry Bloy - or should I say Deputy Premier-elect Bloy? As Clark's only MLA supporter, he done good.

Another winner - CKNW's Michael Smyth - he just got himself a more permanent job as the afternoon talk radio host!

Perhaps the biggest winner?  Perpetual backroom party operative and lobbyist Patrick Kinsella!  Pat is back in charge, as he was under Premier Gordon Campbell, as he was as chair or co-chair of the 2001 and 2005 BC Liberal election campaigns.

Losers?  Too many to mention!

But the BC New Democrats are not among them.  They know the cat is now among the pigeons and if they play their cards right, a provincial election victory is entirely possible.

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The snowy weather has forced me to cancel plans to attend the BC Liberal leadership vote gathering - it's NOT a Convention - but I am live blogging with Public Eye Online's Sean Holman - who is on the scene at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Check it out for full coverage.

Will "Hanging" Chad Pederson determine BC Liberal leadership? OR "Bring me the head of Kelly Reichert!"



"No PIN?  Get the hell out!" Friendly BC Liberal Party staffer at undisclosed Vancouver office tells Global TV's John Daly and camera operator to please turn off camera and leave on Friday




"Hanging" Chad Pederson - BC Liberal Party Executive Director - since December, replacing Kelly Reichert

The BC Liberal Party leadership contest has descended into chaos as thousands of members have not received their Personal Identity Number or PIN that is required in order to vote for George Abbott, Christy Clark, Mike de Jong or Kevin Falcon.

"This is not good," Abbott said on Global TV news Friday. "We don't have a clear sense of how many people might potentially be affected by this PIN number situation."

Falcon is also worried, telling the Vancouver Sun on Thursday evening that: "We’re not getting a real strong sense this is something that is under control entirely at the party. A day before the vote, this is a serious concern.”

So one good question is - why did 15-year BC Liberal Party Executive Director Kelly Reichert suddenly resign December 11 and leave the most important event since Gordon Campbell's leadership takeover in 1993 in the hands of new Executive Director Chad Pederson?

Wouldn't good sense tell anyone - especially BC Liberal Party board members - that Reichert was desperately needed at the helm for just two more months to make sure the critical leadership contest was run smoothly and without controversy?

While Reichert's term was marked with controversy - especially allegations in pre-trial hearings for David Basi and Bob Virk that Reichert hired Basi for political dirty tricks for $20,000 outside his job as ministerial assistant to then-Finance Minister Gary Collins - surely a couple more months work wouldn't have made a big difference.

Reichert is also known for being the brother-in-law of top Basi-Virk RCMP investigator Inspector Kevin deBruyckere - who disclosed the relationship to his superiors but continued on throughout the more than 6 year investigation and trial, which ended with surprise guilty pleas just before Collins was to testify.

Chad Pederson is no doubt a fine fellow who has been dealt an extremely difficult hand of cards - but he can't be held to blame for the mess that has embarrassed the BC Liberals.

Perhaps BC Liberal Party President Mickey Patryluk would like to explain how and why Reichert was made to disappear like a magic trick just before the leadership rabbit was pulled out of the hat.

And perhaps, while she is at it, Patryluk could explain why the BC Liberal Party has left Kash Heed to go to BC Supreme Court to attempt to get out of his Election Act obligations for appropriate financial reporting rather than the Party intervening some time ago to straighten out the books after Heed's campaign manager Barinder Sall was charged with criminal and Election Act charges over an unauthorized and unreported attack leaflet on NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu.

And why can't we find any photos of Kelly Reichert online anywhere?

Inquiring minds want to know!.

UPDATE: A reader sends this URL with a probable Reichert sighting online:

Puzzling the pundits - can anyone predict who will be the next BC Liberal Premier? A survey of prognosticators

Premier Gordon Campbell celebrates escaping the wreckage of the BC Liberal leadership race, background

The BC Liberal leadership vote scheduled for Saturday February 26 is probably the most puzzling and perilous ever for pundits and prognosticators to predict.

If it even happens Saturday that is - as the PIN-GATE problem means thousands of BC Liberal members new and old may be disenfranchised because they haven't yet received their voting Personal Idenitification Number by mail! 

BC Liberal Party officials and leadership campaigns for contenders Christy Clark, Kevin Falcon, George Abbott and Mike de Jong are frantically meeting now to try to resolve the problem so the vote can proceed, possibly with extended hours or even days to complete.


And breaking news from the Globe and Mail - the vote will proceed Saturday!  But Intelivote Systems Inc., the Nova-Scotia-based electronic voting system company, still can't explain why PIN numbers mailed in Ottawa last Wednesday or Thursday had not yet arrived.

But for those of us in the political prediction business this is a total nightmare of complexity:  polling from both outside and campaign sources shows Christy Clark with the lead - even her competitors privately acknowledge that.

But the regional weighted vote adopted earlier this month at a special convention changes the game dramatically. 

5,000 members in a Surrey riding have the same 100 points as a 500 member riding in northern BC - and with 85 BC ridings, their are 8,500 points up for grab.  The winner needs 4,251 or more.

So, what are the prognosticators saying?


My good friend and veteran political handicapper Will McMartin in The Tyee goes where pundit angels fear to tread - almost - with this prediction:


"The second-round results, then: Falcon, 2,975; Clark, 2,825; and Abbott, 2,700. Incredibly, fewer than 300 votes could separate the top three candidates, and the one with the fewest will be dropped before the third and final tally.....Our choice(s) for the winner on Saturday, and next premier of British Columbia: either Kevin Falcon or George Abbott."


Hmmmm - McMartin previously fearlessly gave Abbott the best odds a few weeks back.


Bernard von Schulmann of The BC Iconoclast is a renewed BC Liberal member with lots of varied political experience.


Von Schulmann bravely goes further than McMartin - predicting a Kevin Falcon victory on Ballot 3:


"Third Count

Kevin Falcon - 4700
Christy Clark - 3800"

Global TV's veteran Victoria bureau chief Keith Baldrey has covered many a leadership race - he and I still fondly remember the incredible free food and drinks at the 1983 Conservative Party leadership battle where Brian Mulroney deposed Joe Clark in Ottawa.

Baldrey leans towards Clark but then hedges his bets in a Surrey Now column this week:

"Can Christy Clark be stopped from winning the B.C. Liberal party leadership? ....Clark can be tracking high in the polls, but if her team does not identify their supporters and get them to vote in sufficient numbers, the stage will be set for Abbott or Falcon to leapfrog her on the third count.

But I'm not betting against her (or on her either; the second-choice element makes things too unpredictable)."

Sacha Peter over at BC Election 2013 gives Kevin Falcon the win over Christy Clark, by 53% to 47%.

As for myself, this is one of the toughest challenges I've faced to predict.

I've had a hard time all along seeing how Christy Clark could win with just one lonely MLA from the caucus supporting her - Harry Bloy - but the polling numbers and fear in the other camps certainly has me second guessing that.  Clark's enormous federal Liberal Party connections - which she has lamely tried to deny or hide - could split the classic BC Liberal - and prior to that Social Credit - "free enterprise" or right wing alliance of federal Conservatives and federal Liberals by creating way too much Grit imbalance.

Already red-meat Tories like John Reynolds and others are warning that a Clark victory would lead to a provincial BC Conservative Party revival that would split the right's voters and let the NDP win the next election.  No one should underestimate how much animosity Clark's bashing of the Stephen Harper Conservative federal government on her CKNW show over that past few years has alienated that side of the family.

Kevin Falcon should be the overwhelming favourite if you look at the combination of his successes - majority of cabinet members supporting him plus lots of MLAs, the most money, the most business community support by a wide margin, the party establishment backing - it should translate into a no-brainer win.

But Falcon's negative polling numbers indicate a basic truth - he is an unrepentant, hard-edged right-winger who makes many voters uncomfortable.  And since winning elections is what this is about, Falcon has a problem.  And he is the Conservative "ying" to Clark's Liberal "yang" - the federal Liberal side has problems with Falcon's clear connections to the Harper government and its players in BC.

George Abbott could be the beneficiary of both Clark's and Falcon's problems - or he could be  left in the dust. Abbott has the advantage of the regional weighted vote and being a compromise without the strong federal Tory or Grit ties, plus being a much friendlier face to government than Gordon Campbell has been.  Is that enough?  Hard to say.

Then there's turnout.  There are over 90,000 members but it's doubtful anywhere near all of them will vote - but will the turnout be 60%?  40%? 

And will the 30,000 or so members who were in good standing prior to Campbell's resignation vote at a much higher percentage than the newbies signed up by the four camps?  Probably so.

Will dubious PIN Parties carry the day, where PIN numbers and names are given to the campaign so there is a 100% turnout of some mass or block signups?  It allegedly helped Gordon Campbell himself triumph over then-leader Gordon Wilson and challenger Gordon Gibson in 1993 - the last BC Liberal contest.

The company running the vote says it could restrict the number of votes coming from one computer or telephone number - but the BC Liberals have given no such instructions.  [The same issue will dog the NDP later during their vote.]

So, if you put the proverbial gun to my head and force me to predict, I'm going to narrow it down to Falcon or Abbott with errr, ummm, uhhhh - the new premier being....Kevin Falcon. 

But whatever you do, don't make any bets - there are three absolutely possible winners and I'm keeping my own political betting money in my pocket.

It will be a fascinating vote, whenever it takes place!

Stay tuned for more updates - and give me your predictions too!

UPDATE

My friend Stacey Robinsmith at Leftcoast.ca makes his choice - and says George Abbott will come up the middle.  Plausible enough to me - we'll see later tonight..

Christy Clark telephone interviewer says he was fired for complaining about low wage paid - $1.25 less than Ontario minimum wage - despite Clark promise to increase BC minimum pay



Ex-Christy Clark telephone interviewer Rich MacMillan - 24 hours photo

Christy Clark contractor Dimitri Pantazopoulous & Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Christy Clark campaign telephone worker says he was fired for complaining about low wages while Clark promises higher minimum wage;  "Families First" slogan now rings hollow, worker says, but employer rejects allegations

EXCLUSIVE - Thursday February 24, 2011

By BILL TIELEMAN, QMI AGENCY/24 hours Vancouver

A telephone interviewer for the Christy Clark B.C. Liberal leadership campaign says he was fired immediately after complaining about the low wages being paid.

And the fired phoner is angry that despite Clark calling for increased B.C. minimum wages, his $9.00 an hour salary was lower than the $10.25 minimum wage in Ontario, where the firm who hired him to call for Clark is based.

Rich MacMillan told 24 hours in an exclusive interview that he questioned the $9.00 an hour pay at a meeting with other interviewers and a supervisor for Clark campaign contractor Praxicus Public Strategies and was terminated the next day by email.

MacMillan said the supervisor told phoners that workplace changes were coming because “Dimitri our boss needs to feed his family” – referring to Ottawa-based Praxicus owner Dimitri Pantazopoulos, who hired MacMillan by email in December.

“Yeah, is Dimitri trying to feed them on $9 an hour?” MacMillan asked the supervisor in response.

But in an email, Pantazopoulos strongly rejects MacMillan’s claims.

“Nobody has been terminated from this office for reasons related to disputes related to salary levels,” Pantazopoulos wrote, adding that: “All decisions related to staffing are at the SOLE discretion of Praxicus and not the Christy Clark Campaign."

Clark’s campaign declined an interview despite email and telephone requests.

MacMillan said he worked four weeks without any complaints on the Clark campaign phoning B.C. Liberal members and lapsed members to gain supporters before the sudden firing and had been told he would work through to the February 26 leadership vote.

MacMillan said he would have been paid $1.25 an hour more if he was working in Ontario, where the minimum wage is $10.25 an hour. B.C.’s minimum wage is $8 an hour and has not gone up in 10 years.

“The fact is that it’s a $1.25 difference and we’ve got someone [Clark] saying ‘Families First’ – that’s disingenuous,” MacMillan said. “I feel the wool is being pulled over our eyes.”

Clark has also vowed to scrap the lower $6 training wage for inexperienced workers but no one hired by Praxicus is being paid that rate, Pantazopoulos wrote, “including in situations where the training wage could be paid.”

B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair said Clark is “hypocritical” for not practicing what she preaches.

“It’s hypocrisy for Christy Clark to say ‘we’re going to raise the minimum wage then turning around and paying her own workers only $9 an hour,” Sinclair said Wednesday. “B.C. has become the cheap labour zone for all of Canada, with the lowest minimum wage.

MacMillan said Clark’s claim to be a B.C. Liberal Party “outsider” calling for a “Families First” policy now rings hollow to him.

“Clark had a chance to press for a minimum wage increase in cabinet and she didn’t,” MacMillan says, referring to Clark’s years in government between 2001 and 2004 as deputy premier, education minister and minister of children and family development.

Pantazopolous has been a pollster for the federal Conservative Party and its predecessors the Canadian Alliance and Reform Party, as well as other political campaigns.

MacMillan said he met both Pantazopolous and Clark campaign manager Mike McDonald in the Seymour Street phone room.

MacMillan says McDonald told him that comments from B.C. Liberal members they were phoning were going to Clark or other senior campaign officials.

Pantazopolous said by email that: “Mike McDonald has not been involved in any way, shape or form in any hiring or firing decisions.”

But on the main issue, MacMillan has no doubt he was fired solely because of the $9.00 wage complaint.

“That’s exactly why – I had received some positive feedback and was previously told I wouldn’t be laid off or given a short shift,” he said. “I hadn’t gotten any written warnings or whatever. I thought I’d be working through February.”

MacMillan said he got the job in late December through an online Kijiji help wanted ad and was working with over 50 other interviewers.

A shorter version of this story was published in 24 hours Vancouver on Thursday.

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Fight HST to hold rally outside BC Liberal leadership vote gathering on Saturday February 26 calling for HST elimination

Crowd of 5,000 protest the HST in Vancouver, September 19, 2009

Fight HST, the grassroots group formed to get rid of the Harmonized Sales Tax, will hold a rally Saturday afternoon outside the BC Liberal leadership vote gathering at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Saturday February 26 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

The full media advisory is below:

* * * *

Fight HST Rally


February 24, 2011– Vancouver

Fight HST, the group that lead the successful Initiative petition to repeal the HST will hold a rally this Saturday adjacent to the BC Liberal Leadership Convention to let the Candidates for premier know that the people of BC want an end to the HST.

Date: Saturday, February 26, 2011

Time: 3:00pm to 4:30pm

Location: Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre – West Building

Meet by Olympic Cauldron – Jack Poole Plaza

For more information go to: http://fighthst.com/the-fight-hst-organization-will-hold-a-rally/

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BASI-VIRK: Was there a BC Liberal cabinet leak on $1 billion sale of BC Rail? Newly released evidence shows Gary Collins stunned by lobbyists' info in 2004 police interview

Christy Clark - her campaign declined comment

Gary Collins & Gordon Campbell

Railgate: Was There a Cabinet Leak to Lobbyists?


Ex-Finance Minister Gary Collins told police he was surprised at 'blow by blow' description of cabinet meeting in lobbyists' memo to bidder for BC Rail.

By Bill Tieleman 

TheTyee  February 24, 2011

"But, I mean, this is, it reads to me like someone who's more sitting there observing, right?"

- Former B.C. finance minister Gary Collins describing a lobbyists' briefing note about a cabinet meeting to police, Nov. 3, 2004.

How did lobbyists for one of two bidders in the $1 billion privatization of BC Rail come to know the inner discussions of a BC Liberal cabinet meeting about the sale?

Was there a cabinet leak?

That's one of the most intriguing questions arising from new police evidence from the B.C. Legislature Raid case released by the courts late last week, including two lengthy interviews with then B.C. finance minister Gary Collins.

Collins strongly suggests to police in 2004 that those lobbyists had a "sort of blow by blow of the cabinet meeting."

Collins' former ministerial assistant, David Basi, pled guilty to breach of trust and fraud for admitting he was paid cash and benefits for giving lobbyists Erik Bornmann and Brian Kieran confidential BC Rail documents.

Bob Virk, former ministerial assistant to then transportation minister Judith Reid, also pled guilty.

Basi and Virk were sentenced to two years house arrest but in a controversial decision, the B.C. government agreed to pay their $6 million legal fees in the lengthy case.

Media reporting to date has focused on two themes -- that police found no wrongdoing on the part of elected BC Liberal MLAs and that Basi engaged in a series of obscenity-laced wiretapped conversations about colleagues, lobbyists and others, including references to the sexual exploits of one contact.

Only media accredited by B.C. Supreme Court can access the more than 1,000 pages of police reports, wiretap transcripts, interview and other material RCMP used to build their case, under an order issued by presiding trial judge Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie.

And that material is but a proverbial drop in the bucket of more than one million pages of evidence disclosed by the special prosecutor, representing the Crown, to the defence.

But what has so far gone unreported goes to the heart of the defence's argument that some of the confidential information obtained by Bornmann, Kieran and business partner Jamie Elmhirst -- who jointly owned Pilothouse Public Affairs -- could not have come from Basi or Virk.

Central to that theory is the evidence given by Collins in police interviews after the unprecedented Dec. 28, 2003 raid on the B.C. legislature in which dozens of boxes of material from Basi and Virk's offices were seized.

'I have always discharged my duties honourably': Clark

Last week's disclosure of selected evidence was the result of negotiations between police and the Crown with CTV news and the Globe and Mail newspaper, which made a court application for the prosecution's documents.

The Globe headline on Feb. 17 stated that: "Corruption probe exonerates Clark in BC Rail scandal."

That headline reflected what the RCMP had made already made clear -- namely that Clark and other elected officials had not been under investigation.

The RCMP told the media and public one day after the B.C. legislature raid took place December 28, 2003 that "no elected officials" were under investigation.

Eight years later the Globe reported that: "An exhaustive police investigation into political corruption surrounding the sale of BC Rail found no evidence of wrongdoing by former BC Liberal cabinet minister Christy Clark or any other elected official."

CTV took a similar tack, saying that Clark had been "cleared" and quoted her as saying:

"All along, this has been something that people with a political agenda have been trying to drag me into. Those people have a political agenda; they're not speaking about reality when they throw all this mud."

Neither Collins nor Clark was ever charged with anything. Clark was not even interviewed by the RCMP at the time.

Not surprisingly, Clark concurred with the Globe's conclusion.

"Two people have been convicted of accepting bribes who worked for the government. I mean, that's unacceptable," Clark told the Globe. "From a personal perspective it confirms what I've been saying from the beginning. I have a spotlessly clean public record, I have always discharged my duties honourably."

No need for public inquiry: Clark

By journalists, however, Clark has been questioned repeatedly about her role in the sale of BC Rail and her connections to some of the key players in it.

But she has steadfastly rejected calls for a public inquiry, as have fellow leadership candidates Kevin Falcon, George Abbott and Mike de Jong -- who were also cabinet ministers when BC Rail was sold in a BC Liberal broken election promise.

And a Christy Clark campaign spokesperson declined email and telephone requests for an interview with The Tyee for this article.

However, what was disclosed to the Globe and CTV, and subsequently all court-accredited media [of which I am one] but not the public or other journalists, is the police and prosecution side only, not that of the defence.

And perhaps most importantly, none of the evidence from either side was tested in a court under full cross examination and testimony from witnesses because of the premature end of the trial.

If there was a leaker, who?

There are tantalizing clues from both the pre-trial hearings and the newly-released evidence though that raise more questions than provide answers.

For example, on June 4, 2009 in pre-trial hearings, Basi's veteran lawyer Michael Bolton alleged that it seemed possible Bornmann and Kieran's Pilothouse Public Affairs had a cabinet source feeding them information.

And Bolton alleged in court that source may have been Christy Clark.

"Pilothouse internal briefing notes appear to reveal sources in cabinet," Bolton told Justice Elizabeth Bennett, then presiding over the case, referring to Bornmann's lobbying firm. "Bornmann clearly had certain cabinet sources."

"For example, Christy Clark may have been the source within cabinet -- certainly Mr. Bornmann was in contact with Ms. Clark," Bolton said.

Clark also declined to comment on the allegations when contacted at that time, and of course the allegations remain completely unproven. Certainly they were never raised in the actual trial -- because Basi and Virk's surprise guilty pleas ended it after only two witnesses testified, Martyn Brown, Gordon Campbell's former chief of staff and Brian Kenning, a director of BC Rail's board at the time of the sale.

But the newly-released evidence also includes two lengthy police interviews with Gary Collins, in one of which he also appears to suggest someone present at a cabinet meeting about BC Rail may have provided information to Pilothouse.

In the Nov. 3, 2004 interview with several RCMP investigators, including then inspector Kevin deBruyckere -- brother-in-law to then BC Liberal party executive director Kelly Reichert, Collins discusses a document police presented to him -- a seized Pilothouse briefing note to OmniTRAX.

What is stunning is that Collins clearly indicates the briefing note contains a highly detailed report on exact cabinet discussions -- who said what. Collins told the RCMP he couldn't see how either Basi or Virk would have known it.

And there are no records made public to date that show either Basi or Virk attending that or any other cabinet meeting.

The RCMP-Collins transcript

The following are relevant excerpts from that 67-page police interview with Collins.

Sergeant Ian Lawson: "This is a Pilothouse briefing note dated June the 24th 2003 prepared for Gary RENNICK and Fraser McKAY." [OmniTRAX employees]...This briefing note was provided to us by OmniTRAX....

DeBruyckere: "Y'know, the date again now would be after.

Gary Collins: "Yeah, there are..."

Lawson: "May 15."

Collins: "Right. So we have, this is um, okay. I don't, I'm just, I find curious, I mean, the sort of blow by blow of the cabinet meeting I'm trying to remember who would have been in the room.

"I mean, generally s', I mean, certainly um, there would have been Chris TRUMPY, Yvette WELLS, [NOTE: Trumpy was a Deputy Minister of Finance, Wells was a senior bureaucrat who was secretary to the evaluation committee on the B.C. Rail sale] maybe some other people. Um, I don't know who from transportation would've been there. I don't know if cabinet keeps minutes of that, they might know who was in the room at the time but...."

Lawson: "Draw your attention there's a descriptor of uh, we think, referring to the Minister of Transportation at the time-'' [Judith Reid]

Collins: "Mm-hm."

Lawson: "-responded weakly."

Collins: "Mm-hm."

Lawson: "It's a...

Collins: "I don't know who would know that, that's the thing, right? I mean, we don't have a lot of people in the room when cabinet discusses this kind of stuff, right? So, I mean Chris would've been there. Yvette WELLS would've been there that I'm, I'm sure they would have been there.

"Whether rail guys were there or not I don't recall. They might have been. Chris could probably, probably would have better recollection of that than me.

Lawson: "Suppose that's our, our question to you with respect to that document is do you recall, so we understand that that might be in the normal course of-"

Collins: "Mm-hm."

Lawson: "-of your-"

Collins: "Mm-hm."

Lawson: "-your business is giving a brief to Dave BASI at all?"

Collins: "I generally don't do that. Um, y'know, if there's issue up in cabinet that I am part of um, then, y'know, and it has something to do I may say, y'know, 'Here's how it goes we go, we're coming back next time.'

"But, I mean, this is, it reads to me like someone who's more sitting there observing, right? Yeah, you've got now who's more vocal and who isn't.

"Um, y'know, I would not have had that detailed a discussion with Dave at all uh, on sort of that, nor would I've characterized one of my minister's presentations as weak even to a political staff person probably. The um, uh...."

DeBruyckere: "Would Bob, what did, did you ever recall Bob VIRK being in-"

Collins: "He..."

DeBruyckere: "-any of these meetings?"

Collins: "That's, it's possible um, but we, I mean, it's rare that ministers bring political staff into cabinet. Uh, I mean, it's not impossible but I think it's highly unlikely.

"Um, I've never had my political staff at a cabinet meeting and I don't generally have too many staff around me (indecipherable) doin' stuff just 'cause I don't want them and don't need them there. Um-"

Lawson: (Indecipherable)

Collins: "-so, I don't know that."

Lawson: "Yeah, you may have already answered do you find that that is an accurate description of that cabinet meeting?"

Collins: "We had a number on rail. Um, y'know, me not talking or the premier not talking, if I, I mean this looks to me like there is, I mean, there's a briefing, its essentially a briefing right?

"On the 18th and then it's coming back for further discussion and other stuff a', a', on the 23rd according to this, right? Um, so, y'know I got a million things to do. I probably would've been already briefed by Chris on this s', uh, stuff I expect.

"And so, y'know, I could very easily have just completely tuned out and been doing, y'know, workin' through a stack of other stuff which I often do when it's something that I'm not getting much out of, right?

"Um, so I mean, it, it, it's a very possible um, y'know, I'm looking at the players here.

"Jeff is often a strong interventionist in cabinet on issues where he, y'know, he, he's pretty good political too so he sort of gets stuff. He I could see speaking at length on it."

TIELEMAN NOTE: "Jeff" may be Geoff Plant – then-Attorney General.

"Christie would have although she was not a big, big contributor at cabinet. I mean, she doesn't talk, didn't talk as much as you might think given her position. Um, in this case she would have asked though because she used to work for the Minister of Transportation in Ottawa. Um, so-"

TIELEMAN NOTE: "Christie" appears to be Christy Clark, who had worked for federal Liberal Transportation Minister Doug Young in Ottawa.

Lawson: "Mm."

Collins: "-she would have understand. Um, the uh, y'know the federal regulatory process around, y'know, 'cause one of the issues we were discussing was if it's, if it's uh, if CN is the successful bidder what is the regulatory climate um, including labour, right?"

"Um, 'cause now it's regulated under the Federal Labour Act, right? If it's provincial and it's held within BC then it's the BC Labour Code and one of the issues that we were looking at was how do you deal with the what's a, an absolutely ludicrous collective agreement, right?

"So, I could see her playing a bigger role in that meeting uh, based on that um, Jeff would never, y'know, never accuse the Minister of Transportation of providing a one-sided presentation. It's not the way he works."

The interview continues with Collins saying Chris Trumpy reported that CN Rail had been "discouraging or intimidating to possible other bidders", in particular Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Lawson: "Okay. If you had learned that uh, Dave BASI or Bob VIRK has this information and passed it on to Pilothouse would that be appropriate?"

Collins: "I don't think anybody should give a blow by blow on what happens in cabinet to people outside of cabinet, right? And, y'know, that's just a general principle I don't think that's appropriate.

"I mean, I don't do that. I mean, we have, the only way you can have good knock 'em down and drag 'em outs at cabinet or caucus is if it stays within the room, right?"

No one implicated

None of Collins' statements to police in any way implicate any particular person, nor do they fully explain how Pilothouse obtained such confidential and detailed information.

But they do strongly suggest that neither David Basi nor Bob Virk would have been present or have direct access to the cabinet conversations about BC Rail later found in Pilothouse briefing notes.

The wiretaps released last week also show Basi and Virk gave other confidential government information on the separate privatization of a BC Rail-owned spur line at Roberts Bank -- called the Port Subdivision -- to lobbyist Bruce Clark, Christy's brother.

And the joint Crown and defence "statement of facts" issued at the time of the guilty pleas acknowledges that Bruce Clark, a lobbyist for Washington Marine Group at the time, was found by a police search to be in possession of confidential government documents obtained from Basi and Virk about the spur line privatization, including a draft request for proposals and TD Securities confidential presentation containing an economic evaluation of what BC Rail considered to be the value of the line.

That sale worth up to $70 million was cancelled in March 2004 after police informed then transportation minister Kevin Falcon -- another leadership contender -- that the process was tainted by leaks to a bidder.

Basi-Bruce Clark transcript

The telephone wiretaps show that in a call Oct. 22, 2003 Basi and Bruce Clark discussed how to get the BC Rail Roberts Bank sale draft Request For Proposals information from Basi to Clark, who was in London, England, by courier or fax.

David Basi: "So basically, um, what we have is the draft RFP."

Bruce Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Um, that uh, we have t' make changes and y'know, uh, um, we can draft it anyway we want now, right: so..."

Clark: "Whose, wh', whose hands is it in?"

Basi: "It's, it's in our hands right now."

Clark: "Okay."

Basi: "Uh, and then it'll go back to transportation. And then they'll look at it and then they'll uh, um, issue the official RFP."

Clark: "Okay. What are the time lines like?"

Basi: "Uh, two weeks."

Basi: "So, I can sit on this thing for two weeks. So if you come back next week then you can take it and look at it, show it to them. They can, they can, y'know, change some of the words around, that's obviously, some buzz words they wanna see in there, right?"

Clark: "Yeah."

Basi: "And these, these companies know how to, how to, y'know, get the fluff out of this shit and how to tailor it to themselves, right?"

Clark: "Of course."

Later in the same call Clark asks if he can get the RFP sooner.

Clark: "Wonder, wonder if it would be better if you got it couriered from here or not?"

Basi: "I don't care. Whatever you want. I don't care."

Clark: "Okay, well maybe I'll get you to courier it to Europe for me, or something."

Basi: "You want me to courier it to Europe?"

Clark: "Sure, you could do that."

But then they decided to fax it instead.

Clark: "Or uh, or, or can it be faxed or something or?"

Basi: "Oh it can be faxed, yeah. Do you wanna give me a fax, secure fax number?"

Clark: "Yeah, I'll get you a secure fax number and we can do it that way."

Basi: "Yeah, you get me a fax number and I'll fax it to you.

Clark: "Sounds great my friend."

Christy Clark has admitted that brother Bruce is part of her leadership team -- but her campaign has not explained his role or responsibilities, nor did they previously respond to 24 Hours/Tyee inquiries about him.

Nor has Bruce Clark made any public statements about why he possessed restricted government documents obtained from Basi and Virk when police searched his home on Dec. 28, 2003.

That information is part of the "statement of facts" agreed to by both the Crown and defence when the guilty pleas were made last October.

Public deserves answers

Basi and Virk received a sentence of two years house arrest for accepting money and other benefits in exchange for giving out secrets.

Bornmann and Kieran, who were both to testify as Crown witnesses, were never charged. Bruce Clark was never charged with any crimes but was also expected to be called as a witness at the trial.

So the secret of how the confidential cabinet conversations came to be in the hands of not only lobbyists but their Denver-based clients OmniTRAX remains just that -- a secret.

For his part, David Basi continues to call for all documents to be released and for a public inquiry to be held, a move that the opposition New Democrats have also demanded.

"I want everything released, all the transcripts of the wiretaps -- not just snippets -- let's get it all out," Basi told me in an exclusive interview Sunday. "I have consistently called for all documents in this case to be released and for a public inquiry, which I will fully cooperate with."

"Christy Clark and all the other B.C. Liberal leadership candidates refuse to hold a public inquiry -- what do they have to hide?" Basi asked. "That speaks for itself."

David Basi pled guilty to serious breach of trust and fraud charges. The wiretap transcripts make clear he and Virk were motivated by greed.

But their guilt does not change the fact that British Columbians will not know what really happened unless a public inquiry takes place.

If you agree, please join my group Basi-Virk Public Inquiry on Facebook.

Bill Tieleman has covered the Basi-Virk case for The Tyee since the B.C. Legislature Raid occurred on Dec. 28, 2003, writing tens of thousands of words here, in 24 Hours newspaper and at his blog on it. He is accredited to report at B.C. Supreme Court and has the documents released last week. .