For what it's worth

I'm heading off to vote. Before that, I'm joining my blogging colleagues and providing a seat count prediction:

• BC NDP - 58 [46%]
• BC Liberal - 23 [36%]
• BC Green - 1 [11%]
• BC Conservative - 0 [5%]
• Independent - 3 [2%]

In the interest of transparency, I provide part of my working papers. No secrets here.

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Connections between wealth and power flourish in secret

An article I published almost three years ago is timely on this election day. Voters have an opportunity to change direction. If we do not, the plundering of British Columbia will accelerate. Gordon Campbell began with a set of principles and slid into corruption. Christy Clark started without principle.

Earlier in Northern Insights, the article Indeed, Power does corrupt contains words of Paul Graham that are a diagnosis and could be the prescription for reform in British Columbia.

"The problem here is not wealth, but corruption. . . We don't need to prevent people from being rich if we can prevent wealth from translating into power. And there has been progress on that front. . . But what's changed is not variation in wealth. What's changed is the ability to translate wealth into power.

"How do you break the connection between wealth and power? Demand transparency. Watch closely how power is exercised, and demand an account of how decisions are made. Why aren't all police interrogations videotaped? . . . Why don't government officials disclose more about their finances, and why only during their term of office?

"A friend of mine who knows a lot about computer security says the single most important step is to log everything. Back when he was a kid trying to break into computers, what worried him most was the idea of leaving a trail. He was more inconvenienced by the need to avoid that than by any obstacle deliberately put in his path.

"Like all illicit connections, the connection between wealth and power flourishes in secret. Expose all transactions, and you will greatly reduce it. Log everything. That's a strategy that . . . doesn't have the side effect of making your whole country poor."

Now, consider those thoughts and hold them in mind while I introduce the intermediary connecting Gordon Campbell and his puppet masters. Martyn Brown was the only witness in the opening weeks of the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial. Experienced pol and blogger Ian Reid wrote this about him:

"Brown, as you may know is the Rip Van Winkle of BC politics and can’t remember much about what’s happened in BC since 2001.  His default answer to everything Basi/Virk is “I don’t recall.”

Brown's forgetfulness and paucity of personal records is by carefully considered design and the purpose relates to the same fear that bothered Paul Graham's young computer hacker friend:

"What worried him most was the idea of leaving a trail."

Indeed, government of British Columbia is all about secret connections and one hand washing another, in private. Do you suppose for a moment that Martyn Brown functioned as Campbell's consigliere for years with a non-functioning memory? Do you suppose that Justice Anne MacKenzie believed Brown's lack of memory was anything but considered? The truth is that to manage without diaries and files requires an extraordinary memory.

BC Liberals are drawing more and more public business behind closed doors. Private negotiations replace open tenders. Public private partnerships hide information for "competitive reasons" and publicly owned private corporations shield major transactions from review. Trade councils and intermediaries controlled by government have been established to keep business out of the public sector. Crown corporations such as BC Hydro are made to follow government direction but allowed to hide contracts that commit citizens to pay tens of billions of dollars in future payments.

I could go on but the idea is clear. Again, I repeat that Campbell promised open and transparent government but he has given us the opposite. Liberal members of the legislature are frightened to speak out, they merely nod their heads and speak the words written for them by the leader's minions. Media pals, knowledgeable about ethical defects, close their eyes and write about other things. Some of them don't even hold their noses as they churn out pap punditry.

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Without core values, fake and phony

H/T RossK, The Gazetteer

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Bankrupting BC with $171 Billion Debt Legacy

From The Common Sense Canadian.

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Choose the coast you want for British Columbia

Tuesday's vote provides a rare opportunity for citizens to choose a course for our province and our children and the children of our children.

Do we want this:

Or, this:

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But now the days grow short

And only one will say, "It was a very good year."

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Liberal campaign based on falsehoods

From Kevin Logan, contributor to The Common Sense Canadian

click here to read The New West Partnership Trade Agreement

Part I states operating principles, including:

• ESTABLISH a comprehensive agreement on trade, investment and labour mobility that applies to all sectors of the economy;
• ELIMINATE barriers that restrict or impair trade, investment or labour mobility.
• SUPPORT ongoing trade and investment liberalization both nationally and internationally...

Read Yaila Yuile's fine work (it always is) on this subject, particularly the comments exchange with Kevin Logan September 11, 2012 12:24 am.

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Absolute best comment written about Premier Photo Op

Long time Liberal Warren Kinsella, only guy in the four years of Northern Insight who threatened to sue this humble blogger, published the most precise description of Christy Clark yet written. It's in his piece, ADRIEN DIX IS GOING TO WIN.

"My problem was that she was, in her core, without a core. She was fake. She was phony."

From The Sermon on the Mount:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

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“Valuable Consideration Mutually Given and Received”

This item is written by a Northern Insight reader I've known for years. He's done business regularly with the BC Government but in recent years, it's been a problematic relationship because he has refused all exactions issued by the "Pay to Play" BC Liberals. For that refusal, his business was targeted for injury. It's a business style we used to think was confined to third world nations. It is not so confined while Christy Clark, Rich Coleman and friends are in charge. It's business as usual.

"For valuable consideration mutually given and received."

This ubiquitous phrase in legal agreements has taken on new significance as documents related to the indemnification of Basi and Virk were released to the public by Jas Johal. Link

One has to ask what value the people of British Columbia received when BC Liberals relieved Basi and Virk of responsibility to repay taxpayers $6 million in legal fees owed as a result of their criminal activities.

What would have been the value of knowing the real reasons Liberals sold BC Rail to CN, a big financial contributor headed by a friend of Gordon Campbell, the Premier who promised voters he would not sell BC Rail.

What would have been the value of hearing testimony from elected officials and bureaucrats about the roles they played in the BC Rail matter, in court and under oath?

What would have been the value of learning how a plea bargain followed arrangement of generous terms for Basi and Virk, an inducement to plead guilty that shut down the judicial process that seemed certain to expose wrongdoing by BC Liberals?

We know the valuable consideration Basi and Virk gained was $6 million, no jail time and easy house arrest that barely confined them to home.

What mutual valuable consideration did the people of British Columbia gain?

The sad but obvious answer is none.

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An open letter from a concerned citizen of BC:

If ever the people of BC needed the power of the press, now is that time.

The Basi-Virk plea agreement made public yesterday lays bare the corruption of our courts for all who have eyes to see.

Now we get to find out if that same corruption has neutered our fifth estate.

W.W.
Victoria


For more on this story, read Jas Johal's report at Global TV.

Leaked Basi-Vrik documents: Letter from Richard Fyfe

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Only in Alberta, you say? Pity...

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NOT for the people

In an 1830 speech, Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster said that government should be

"Made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."

British Columbia's present ruling political class may pay lip-service to this fundamental ideal of democracy but, repeatedly, their behaviour demonstrates the priority is to serve special private interests. Premier Clark said that unashamedly in the leaders' debate on radio, explaining why TI, the province's vital pharmaceutical watchdog, was being eliminated. It's teeth had already been blunted.

In Saturday's Times Colonist, former Deputy Minister of Health Lawrie McFarlane wrote:

"Tuesday's announcement by Adrian Dix, leader of the B.C. New Democrats, that he plans to rescue the Therapeutics Initiative concludes (hopefully) one of the more disgraceful episodes in our recent political history..."

Of course, it is no coincidence that BC Liberals have pocketed hundreds of thousands in donations from the very private interests that lobbied against TI.

Please take the time to read through materials at AlanCassels.com. It is "Where media and medicine meet." Follow him too on Twitter @AKECassels

Pavco is another disgraceful illustration of how BC Liberals function for the benefit of insiders and friends. As the days counted down to the election, Pavco was racing to deliver valuable real estate into the hands of private interests friendly with Rich Coleman and the Liberal government. To facilitate these and other efforts, most of the provincial government stopped delivery of FOI documents unless they had been stripped of contentious contents. Countless files have been placed in limbo pending the election. Pavco even took action seeking to deny answering each and every request for documents filed by diligent investigative reporter Bob Mackin.

Similarly, other provincial departments and agencies have been working at tying the hands of a new government. Long term procurement and service contracts worth hundreds of millions have been renewed long before they needed to be. Senior bureaucrats and Liberal operatives, knowing days are numbered, are greedily stuffing pockets wherever they can.

Economic crimes are underway and both present and future taxpayers are the victims.

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BC's uncomfortable political reality

I noticed this at Bob Mackin's website and my thoughts match his. So, it is easier to steal Bob's words than crank out ones of my own that couldn't be better.

"On April 28, Sean Holman screens his new documentary "Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline" at 7 p.m. in the Vancouver Public Library's Alice MacKay Room. Suggested donation is $5.

"I saw the premiere at the University of B.C. on April 26 and it is a shocking look at how B.C. is governed. It is a must-see that will cause you to question the state of our democracy (or lack thereof).

"It was great to see Holman back in B.C., rousing the rabble like he does so well. This province's loss is Alberta's gain. The former Public Eye Online proprietor is an assistant professor of journalism at Mount Royal College in Calgary."

Bob also has details of DOA's Joe Keithley performing a solo acoustic gig tonight for NDP supporters and again May 3. Check Bob's website for details, using the link above.

I was also at the UBC screening Thursday. Even though I've been a political observer in this province for a very long time, Sean's video described defects in our parliamentary system worse than imagined. It is astounding that a man now employed in Calgary is the one to say what needs to be said while the dinosaurs of the Legislative Press Gallery just go along, to get along.

I now understand why the sitting government maintains an extravagant pension plan for backbench MLAs; it is not to attract better candidates, it is to ensure the quiet complicity of loyal enablers. All they have to do is sit quietly, pound their desks at the right moments and vote as instructed by leadership. If they don't do those things...

Whipped is a program every concerned citizen should see. Nothing much will change in the Legislature until we make fundamental alterations of our voting system. Understanding the faults of governance is vital to beginning any meaningful improvement.

Thank you Sean Holman for completing your work. Now, it is time for citizens to begin ours.

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If you value independent journalism

To the left is a donation button linked to PayPal Secure Payments. An explanation of why
you're asked to use it follows. Note: any amounts not expended directly in furthering this
project will be returned to contributors July 31, pro rata.

A number of bloggers plan a blog aggregation website featuring regular commentary about many issues important to British Columbia. Writers will maintain independent sites but there will be a single internet entry for readers to review abstracts, then make a choice to be linked, or not, to originating blogs for the complete articles.

In addition, original and cooperative publishing will occur as the effort evolves. We will promote vigorous exchanges but feature wise, witty and mannerly discussions. At least, most of the time.

We also intend to provide research assistance and training resources to encourage and improve independent journalism. Another goal is to help beginners start in the world of blogging.

To achieve this goal and ensure the website remains free of advertising or commercial sponsors, we must address start-up costs that include programming and internet hosting and communication services. That’s how readers can help. A number have already contributed but without further assistance, we cannot develop a product as fine as it can be.

Additionally, if you can volunteer technical or professional services to assist in the start up, send me an email and explain what those could be. We'll be looking for a graphic artists, web designers and a lawyer with media experience.

Many bloggers receive no revenues from published work and independence is reflected in their writing. We think a broad range of opinions deserve to be heard and we want to bring you the best.

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Patients exposed to harm on a staggering scale

This item first published here in September is worth republishing as the BC Liberal Gov't takes more action against Therapeutics Initiative, a science based reviewer that troubles major pharmaceutical companies and their client politicians. 

Make sure you read RossK's recent piece: Nevermind The Stunt-O-Meters...The Therapeutics Initiative Is An Issue That Matters.

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The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal, Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Sept. 21, 2012

"...In 2010, researchers from Harvard and Toronto found all the trials looking at five major classes of drug – antidepressants, ulcer drugs and so on – then measured two key features: were they positive, and were they funded by industry? They found more than 500 trials in total: 85% of the industry-funded studies were positive, but only 50% of the government-funded trials were. In 2007, researchers looked at every published trial that set out to explore the benefits of a statin. ...They found that industry-funded trials were 20 times more likely to give results favouring the test drug.

"...The results from every randomised controlled trial (45 out of 45) favoured the drug of the sponsor."

"How does this happen? How do industry-sponsored trials almost always manage to get a positive result? Sometimes trials are flawed by design. ...Sometimes, drug companies conduct lots of trials, and when they see that the results are unflattering, they simply fail to publish them.

"Because researchers are free to bury any result they please, patients are exposed to harm on a staggering scale throughout the whole of medicine. Doctors can have no idea about the true effects of the treatments they give...

"And this data is withheld from everyone in medicine, from top to bottom.

"...it is entirely normal for researchers and academics conducting industry-funded trials to sign contracts subjecting them to gagging clauses that forbid them to publish, discuss or analyse data from their trials without the permission of the funder.

"...How is it possible that our systems for getting data from companies are so poor, they can simply withhold vitally important information showing that a drug is not only ineffective, but actively dangerous? ... "

• This is part of an edited extract from Bad Pharma, by Ben Goldacre, published next week by Fourth Estate. To order a copy go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop.

Ben Goldacre's Guardian article reminded me of The Gazetteer's reports on BC's capitulation to international pharmaceutical giants. RossK quoted from a Times Colonist editorial that has since disappeared from view:

"The last act in a nasty vendetta has finally played out. Premier Gordon Campbell's government has decided to kill B.C.'s only independent drug review agency. And not just kill it, but bury it in an unmarked grave.

"The agency involved is called the Therapeutics Initiative. Based at the University of British Columbia, it evaluates new drugs that come on the market.

"The Therapeutics Initiative saves taxpayers $50 million annually by finding cheaper alternatives. Largely thanks to its efforts, B.C. has the lowest drug costs in the country, despite offering some of the best coverage.

"Moreover, the Therapeutics Initiative runs on a shoestring budget. The agency gets $1 million a year. That means it generates a 50 to one return on investment.

"Finally, its researchers have been credited with saving 500 lives by issuing timely warnings about suspect medications. When the new anti-inflammatory product Vioxx came out, the agency discovered a link with increased heart attack rates. As a result, although Vioxx was approved across most of North America, it was kept off the shelves in B.C. ... "

Read more about Therapeutics Initiative at The Gazetteer.

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