The Wood Innovation And Downtown Best Served With A Full Blown Inquiry
Monday, March 4, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
If 250NEWS hasn’t been at the fore front of the controversy surrounding the allegations dealing with the old PG hotel site and the adjacent property , it is because while everyone else in BC had failed to report on the story, we did and with that comes the penalty of not being able to get comments from the affected players.
There are so many pages missing out of the “Downtown Redevelopment” that an inquiry should be held to address them. Until such time as this occurs, it will be more "he said- she said" without ever getting down to the bottom of the issue. I wouldn’t be surprised when the NDP are elected as the new provincial government that they will initiate an inquiry into how all of this took place, who the players were and what were the benefits.
It just isn’t the Wood Innovation Center that we are talking about here, the pit is much deeper.
Let’s start with the Western Diversification Fund handing out a million dollar interest free loan to Commonwealth Health on the basis that they would renovate the newest building in the downtown into a first class medical facility. The terms of that loan were that the company would bring new doctors and new facilities to the city. It didn’t happen and in fact, a doctor’s office from two blocks away, a legal firm from one block away are just a few of the new tenants. The subsidy of the interest came directly from the Canadian Taxpayers pockets but with it, little, if any, accounting.
Then there is the matter of the City of Prince George paying Commonwealth Health $900,000 dollars for the “air” above the parking lot where the health building is located to build an affordable housing complex. The city is awash in property downtown and yet they bought the air above a city owned parking lot at a premium price. The province put up the money for the facility, the city the land, and Commonwealth built the building.
Then there is the matter of the PG hotel and the adjacent parking lot. It was the City of Prince George who bought the property from Commonwealth for a gross profit of $750,000.00 on a $2.5 million dollar deal. That wasn’t a good commission on sale, it was a hell of a commission and yet why the city entered into this agreement with the NDI Trust to do the deal, remains unanswered.
There also remains the matter of the old laundromat across from the Court house in Prince George, which the NDI Trust loaned money to Commonwealth to construct affordable housing for those being displaced from the old PG hotel. The building sits on the street, boarded up, after the province didn’t buy into the idea, it is an eye sore and yet the there it sits without as much as a peep from the city about the appearance and condition of the structure.
Now if there are briefing notes, as is suggested by the Globe and Mail that ties Pat Bell and Shirley Bond into a meeting to discuss the Wood Innovation and Design center , we never received them when we filed a freedom of information request for “all” the documents surrounding the discussion of the lands in question.
There also is the matter of why the NDI Trust approved a loan for up to $8.9 million dollars for Commonwealth to acquire the properties in the 400 block. The Globe says the property would eventually be sold to UNBC. But in the documents that we received and the follow up that we conducted, UNBC was offered the land for 12 million dollars, again a healthy profit for Commonwealth. The CEO of NDI Trust, Janine North said she didn’t make the $12 million dollar pitch to UNBC, while the chairman of the NDI trust at the time, Bruce Sutherland said at the time he couldn’t remember who made the pitch. If the deal had been cast in stone beforehand it certainly doesn’t have the appearance. The president of UNBC, George Iwama certainly wasn’t in the loop and he should have been if the deal was as suggested.
Now Dan McLaren and Brian Fehr are now suggesting that Pat Bell had promised that Fehr, who had a deal to buy the lots that Commonwealth Campus owned from McLaren, would be short listed on the Wood Innovation center. Fehr apparently put up $150,000 dollars as a deposit to buy the property based on the assumption that they would be in a strong position to build the WIDC, and then would be able to use the Commonwealth property to tie into the complex.
There is a slight problem here. Who’s right and who is wrong? Bell says he never made such a promise and above that, didn’t tell the City where the Wood Innovation Center should be built. The City meantime, under the watch of a new council that had connections to the Commonwealth group, didn’t hesitate at making The PG. Hotel site the location and that question remains unanswered as to who was calling the shot at City Hall on that one.
Lumped into all of this one should not lose site of the fact that the DBIA (Downtown Business Improvement Association) was heavily involved in the original goings on and so the players who were sitting around that table at the time have some explaining to do.
You may recall the Publisher of the daily newspaper at the time played an important part in the transmission of information on the goings on.
So what’s needed is an inquiry that calls to the table, Pat Bell, Shirley Bond, Kevin Falcon, all of the city council at the time along with the new Mayor Shari Green, the CEO of the Northern Development Trust, the former Board members, the directors of the DBIA at the time, former Federal Cabinet Minister Jay Hill, and the players from Commonwealth and the Bid Group. Let’s put them all on the stand and give us an opportunity to finally discover what really went on through these past few years in downtown development.
Until that occurs nothing will be solved as to how and why this all took place
I’m Meisner
Comments
Agree100% Ben. Put all involved on the stand and put this hole mess to bed. Still say the tax payer got the shaft in this whole deal and the profit went to local business.
A similar inquiry should be done on the Haldi road fiasco! Who promised whom what?
What is needed is a police raid to seize all relevant documents. This is way more serious than someones backyard deck.
Thank-you, Ben. Until reading this article, I had not formed a picture of the scope of possible shenanigans going on here. Bring on the inquirey and let’s get to the bottom of this.
Sadly, it is highly unlikely that such a process will ever be completed in time to turf those responsible from office or fine the guilty to the extent that the tax payer is actually repaid. Bond, Bell, Green, the rest of council will all be voted out (save Brian Skakun, I suspect), and McLaren and Fehr will conveniently go bankrupt with tax payers getting pennies on the dollar given how far down the line of creditors they will be. Gotta make sure the banks don’t go without, dontcha know?
It does not need an inquiry. All it needs is for the meeting minutes and decisions which were made by Council behind closed doors to be made public.
The City is the most complicit in all of thise, not the province.
Everyone has the wrong people!!
“Until that occurs nothing will be solved as to how and why this all took place”
I think that is the idea. ;-)
The guise under which Council has in camera sessions for land use matters is to prevent speculation …. LOL …..
The only matter which Council has to, by law, keep in camera are dealings with the province. Any other decisions on land may be conducted in camera if the Council feels it needs to.
By now all speculation has been had, so there is nothing to prevent a Councillor or two to move that portions of the in camera meetings be read into an open meeting. Purpose? To clear the misconceptions or very the conceptions and end further beating each other up in this community.
There has been a push to get rid of the PGHotel for many years. The Ramda Hotel was one of he key proponents of that if some people can remember. They were tired of having that facility across the street from them and were blaming that for their business going sour.
nothing to see here folks, carry on. lol.
have said for years, that if people think graft and corruption are third world issues, they must be daft.
as far as a great encompassing investigation as to the alleged money shenanigans going on around here, never happen.
From just under three years ago come the following words written by Ben at the time
blog/view/15944/1/p.g.+hotel+notes?id=143&st=9930
The Ramada Hotel was involved in the initial buy along with the Commonwealth group. The City may have been smart to sit back and watch them buy the building and then, when it looked like the development that Commonwealth was proposing for the down town wasnât making too much head way, jump in and do a deal.
The group that originally tried to assemble a large piece of property in the down town core, went to the City seeking a tax holiday for a period of up to 25 years if they built on the property.
There even was a meeting with provincial officials on the matter.
So where are we in the mix? It is very likely the City will turn the property over to the Province for the wood Innovation center. That Center was to be the cornerstone of a development talked about over the winter among private developers. That major project would have included the Wood Innovation Centre, condominiums, and a UNBC satellite engineering campus complete with student residences.
Did the city make a good deal? While it wasnât a fire sale, it was a reasonable price. The problem with all of this of course is that the City is quickly becoming the largest landlord in the core of the city, and the question is ; should civic government be in the development business.
What is missing is where is UNBC with all this at this time?
Going from a $75 million development to a $25 million development is quite a difference. It seems that UNBC may be the deal breaker. That, to me, is still an important piece of the puzzle.
Would the mention of the Mafia in these works expedite the matter? Maybe just alleging might raise eyebrows.
mtnlover- There will be an investigation as soon as the NDP come to power. Prince George residents have an important decision to make in the upcoming election. Elect NDP candidates who can make a clean sweep of things, or endure at least 4 years of disgraced and tarnished MLA’s fighting rearguard actions to protect their vested interests. With all the upcoming projects coming onstream, we need to jettison the Liberals and all their baggage. Let Shirley Bond, Pat Bell, Janine North fight it out in the courts on their own dime. We don’t need to pay their salaries while they do so.
Yea herbster instead of making completely unproven accusations against someone let’s elect a convicted forger to run the province and remove all doubt that there is a criminal at the helm.
Oh and a thief too…..ummm the dog ate my skytrain ticket
Hmm, sell BC Rail (sorry lease it for 999 years), use the proceeds to create a political slush fund that rewards Liberal cronies, wastes hundreds of millions of dollars on airport renovations, runway extensions, unneeded bridges, and now office towers made from 2×4’s. Who is the thief? And why are you vexed about a skytrain ticket?
Hey sparrow, how many free rides could we have given MLA’s for the cost of Basi and Virk taking one for the team, among dozens of other Liberal multi-million dollar scandals?
Your priorities are in the wrong place if you want to crucify a politician for a $1.75 public transit fare but are willing to let them off the hook for billions of dollars in back room deals and pillaging of public assets!!
Forgery and theft show a complete lack of ethics and morals.Simple
Gordo, Christy and crew wrote the book on “lack of ethics and morals”.
From a drunk driving premier to Kash Heed to John Les to John van Dongen to Rich Coleman…yeah you’ve got some real peaches to teach your kids about integrity and values!!
Good lets have an inquiry into the Wood Innovation scandal. Lets see the ethics and morality of those involved. So far it does not look good, if simple demands for documents are evaded.
ExPat: “From a drunk driving premier to Kash Heed to John Les to John van Dongen to Rich Coleman…yeah you’ve got some real peaches to teach your kids about integrity and values!!”
Did you forget Adrian Dix on purpose?
DUI speaks to a lack of judgment(with that judgment impaired by alcohol), theft and forgery show a complete lack of moral fiber and character.
I think the greased weasel tag used to describe Dix in the Vancouver press fits like a glove. In fact I think they are all a bunch of Dix:D
Lets have an investigation. If Pat Bell, Shirley Bond are the paragons of virtue that you claim, then they will be vindicated. But so far, stories have changed, documents have been hidden. Are you afraid of the truth Lonesome Sparrow? Maybe you can’t handle the truth, but it will set the rest of us free from the incessant BS produced by the Lieberals.
Bald-faced lying (BC Rail; HST) also shows a complete lack of moral fiber and character. But I guess it’s okay in your mind when the BC Liberals do it.
And trying to justify the crime of drunk driving as simply a “lack of judgment” with the further excuse that the “judgment was impaired by alcohol”…as opposed to a complete lack of moral fibre and character…is frankly reprehensible Sparrow.
Let’s see the documentation from McLaren and Fehr showing that Bid would be shortlisted.
I would hope that an MLA would encourage local firms to bid(no pun intended:) on work in the area. But as the awarding process is arm’s length from Bell’s office there would be no way to get someone shortlisted…has already been investigated and Bell cleared.
A far more likely scenario would be that Dan is left holding the bag after failing to squeeze obscene profits flipping a few vacant lots.
The only way we are going to see that documentation is through an inquest. Glad to see you agree we need one!
Welcome aboard Lonesome Sparrow!
All politics aside if I was given a choice between two politicians….one had a glass of wine too many with dinner and another was tried and convicted of forging a document in a criminal investigation while chief of staff for the premier being investigated I know which one I would choose every time.
What is frankly reprehensible is that he will likely “lead” our province come June.
I have heard Pat Bell called many things, but Saint Pat was never one of them. Get off your high horse Lonesome Sparrow, let those with no sin cast the first stone.
Don’t you get it herbster….if any documents existed Dan and Brian would be waving them in the air…. a letter of intent maybe a MOU.
Dan’s pockets are not deep enough to hold this property for anything more than a short term flip…he tried to squeeze to hard and was told to pound sand.
I do agree that the city’s dealings with Commonwealth deserve a closer inspection.
inquest….who died?
Who is casting stones at Pat, Shirley and Janine in a 9:55 am post….practice what you preach springs to mind:P
As if Pat Bell or Shirley Bond would put their name on a document that would clearly indicate criminal intent. LMAO! You need to follow the entire paper trail, including bank statements, personal email, that can only be accessed through an inquiry.
There is so much hollier than thou bullshit in this thread it really is pathetic that grown people do not have the inderstanding of an issue which would allow them to have a meanigful discussion.
I listened to the CBC at noon while driving home and there was a real breath of fresh air to the debate about the memo from January 2012 when Gordon Wilson spoke about it.
1. political opportunism by the NDP
2. A dead issue because the proposal never saw the light of day from the point of view of actions taken as a result or taxpayer money spent on it.
3. A real issue which ought to be addressed since voter turnout is getting little action since people always talk about it but do nothing.
4. There are real issues that are important that the NDP and BCLiberals ought to be debating, but no one is.
In my mind, the man is right on the money. What is happening in the media is no better than the useless BS on this site. People are becoming incompetent in addressing the real issues in a meaningful way. All they can resort to is name calling. Really helpful ….. NOT!!!!!
So now you are doubling down herbster and implying there was criminal intent by Bell and Bond. You might want to read up on libel laws.
It’s just too much fun to poke the looney lefties gus:)
I see ….. that is what it is, eh?! …. LOL
So, a real issue in Wilson’s mind which supposedly comes from the NDP platform book is to address the increasing poverty in BC. He wants to know how the NDP is proposing to handle that. He understands they will be proposing a deficit budget for at least two years.
Good thing the Lieberals had balanced budget laws, for all the good it did them. Guess you figure it is better to lie to the electorate than to be honest. A true Lieberal!
The original balanced budget law was an NDP law brought in by Dosanjh. The NDP, under Clark had 6 budgets, all of which were deficit budgets.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/bc2035/signs+point+proposing+deficit+budget/7998233/story.html
from the article above:
“…. what would an Adrian Dix-led NDP government do?
“Dix did not want to say. By my count, it took 18 questions from six different journalists before he finally, conclusively confirmed that âyes,â an NDP government would repeal the balanced budget legislation.”
Have to offer my own mea culpa…alleged non payment of sky train ticket…nothing proven but there was not a dog in sight that might have eaten it.
Will be interesting to see the platform…Dix if WAY left of Barrett, Harcourt or Clark…..Haldi Road gulag and re-education camp in the future.
Have to offer my own mea culpa…alleged non payment of sky train ticket…nothing proven but there was not a dog in sight that might have eaten it.
Will be interesting to see the platform…Dix if WAY left of Barrett, Harcourt or Clark…..Haldi Road gulag and re-education camp in the future.
Glen Clark was Premier from 1996 to 1999. How then did he have 6 budgets?
From the Sun article…
“During the 1990s, Dix served as chief political adviser and confidant to Glen Clark, who once declared that balancing the budget was âthe easiest thing I could imagine doing.â
But Clark never managed to actually accomplish that supposedly easy feat. Through the two budgets he tabled as finance minister and the four he presented as premier, he was six for six on the deficit count.”
Repeat
“six for six on the deficit count.”
If you wonder why we do not allow comments on some stories, look no further than the postings above. May I repeat for the last time, clean it up and cut the name calling and stick to the topic , or you will find that tomorrow when you go to register you no longer can.
Ben Meisner
“How then did he have 6 budgets”
Easy …. he was finance minister before he was premier.
Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations from November 5, 1991 â September 15, 1993
Premier from February 22, 1996 â August 25, 1999
Any other questions? ;-)
Good research is not as easy as it looks, eh Herbster…
Stretching the truth just a tad to say that the Finance minister is responsible for deficit budgets. Is it Flaherty or Harper who is responsible for Canada’s deficits?
I wonder if there was a inquiry in to the wood inovation centre, would mclaren take the stand or would he have his son answer the questions being fed the answers by dan.
and people, the diference between the bc libs and the ndp is this, the ndp want “it” all given to them and the bc libs want to steal “it”.
Well stated Ben regarding an urgently needed inquiry as well as eliminating some of the small-mind posting individuals on this site.
Regarding the state of the City of Prince George, I believe on word states the ongoing situation: Corruption!!!
I said when the fibs got in they would make the NDP look like rank amateurs. They have in spades.
Wonder if the town of Trail is watching.
The question that needs to be asked is when the Hon. Justice Minister Shirley Bond (with no law degree) is going to resign from her post after this scandal?
The amusing thing about all of this is how Brian Fehr and Dan McKlaren fell for another Pat Bell story. He sure is a good story teller that Pat Bell.
“Is it Flaherty or Harper who is responsible for Canada’s deficits”
It is not stretching the truth since people think differently about where responsibility lies. In my way of thinking the cabinet is a team with several having key portfolios which generate huge expenditure budgets. Each one of them has a responsibility to bring in a balanced budget for their portfolio. I have never considered that a cabinet minister has no responsibilities with respect to spending caps.
Since the Minister responsible for finance is the key person who pulls it all together, he/she has a considerable level of responsibility to work with the other ministers to put together a balanced budget. If he can’t do it, then the premier will have to consider whether he/she will accept the decision of his cabinet and Finance Minister. Whose call it is and how the decision is reached is totally up to the premier and/or the cabinet depending on their working relationship. Unlike a City Council, for instance, it does not have to go to a vote.
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