BC Rail inquiry – The time has come
Friday, April 26, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
By Peter Ewart
The scandal-ridden sale of BC Rail has haunted provincial politics and the BC Liberal government since 2003. Like Marley’s ghost in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", it shows up again and again, chains clanking, reminding all who will listen of some very unpleasant facts.
Now, finally, it looks as if we could have an opportunity to confront some of these facts. The BC NDP has announced that, if elected on May 14th, it will conduct a judicial inquiry into the sale of BC Rail to the U.S. rail giant CN Rail. This inquiry is expected to take two years and cost $10 million.
What are just a few of these unpleasant facts? In the early 1990s, David McLean, Chairman of CN Rail, provided substantial backing and support for Gordon Campbell’s bid to take over the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, which was then in opposition.
In the 1996 election, Campbell ran on a platform that included the selling off of BC Rail, a provincially-owned crown corporation. However, he lost the election in large part due to the opposition to the proposed sale from people in the north of the province. After the election, Campbell apologized to northerners and said that he would not repeat the mistake.
Yet, after winning the provincial election in a landslide in 2001, Campbell reversed his promise. BC Rail was put up for sale in 2003. Although the Liberal government used other terminology to describe the transaction, such as "partnership", "lease", and so on, the bare fact remained that it was, for all intents and purposes, a sale.
People in Prince George and surrounding communities, from all walks of life and political affiliations, stood up against what they considered to be a flagrant betrayal of trust. Nevertheless, the provincial government, with the full support of then Minister Christy Clark, as well as local Liberal MLAs Pat Bell and Shirley Bond, proceeded to push it through.
The bidding process itself was scandal-ridden. Two of the bidders, CP Rail and Burlington Northern, withdrew their offers alleging that the government had leaked key information to the winning bidder CN Rail, and that the bidding process was "unfair."
Soon after CN Rail was granted the contract, the RCMP launched an unprecedented raid on the BC Legislature. News outlets around the world reported on the spectacle of RCMP officers ringing the Legislature and marching out of buildings with seized computers and boxes bulging with files. The incident has to be one of the most shameful things ever to happen in the history of BC politics, and brought the entire political process in the province into disrepute.
As part of the investigation, the RCMP also raided the home of Bruce Clark, brother of current Premier Christy Clark, and seized confidential documents that had been handed over to him by the two ministerial aides, Basi and Virk, who were charged with accepting bribes, breach of trust and fraud. Bruce Clark was never charged.
The corruption trial of Basi and Virk had its own set of controversies. In testimony, various dirty tricks and questionable practices carried out by individuals associated with the BC Liberals came to light. Indeed, just as key testimony was about to be given that could have shed light on broader aspects of the bidding process and scandal, the provincial government announced that a plea deal had been negotiated. Astoundingly, as part of the plea deal, the $6 million legal bill for Basi and Virk was paid off with public funds and the trial was shut down.
There are a multitude of other unanswered questions and controversies too numerous to be mentioned here that are associated with this sordid affair, and which hover phantom-like over BC politics.
These must be brought to light. Why? Because there is a perception amongst many British Columbians that other crimes and wrongdoings associated with this deal still remain to be uncovered. Indeed, a number of facts point in that direction. Given the sheer magnitude of the sale and the controversies associated with it, a full public inquiry is warranted.
Furthermore, BC Rail represented a major billion dollar public asset, one which was closely associated with the opening of the Interior and development of the province. To sell off such an important asset, after promising not to do so, was an act of treachery committed against the people of BC and the sovereignty of the province.
Elected officials must be taught that when they carry out actions in contempt of the people, there will be consequences. Not to do so, means that such actions will be repeated in the future. As an example of this repetition, scarcely two months after the 2009 election, the government tried to impose the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) even though before the election, it had clearly indicated it was not planning such a controversial action. The parallel to the sell-off of BC Rail in 2003 was apparent to the many who were outraged by the imposition of the tax.
Finally, the $6 million payout to Basi and Virk to cover their legal expenses (and subsequent shutting down of the corruption trial) stinks to high heaven. Government officials need to account for such an outrageous act.
No doubt some in the BC Liberal Party will howl and moan about the prospect of a public inquiry. But the fact of the matter is, it was their mess. They caused it. They inflicted it on the province. So they shouldn’t complain when others try to clear the air.
In addition, they definitely should not complain about the price tag of $10 million, considering that they handed over $6 million to the convicted criminals who were part of the scandal, and considering that they sold off a publicly-owned asset worth more than $1 billion to a U.S. rail company, using a scandal-ridden bidding process to do so.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Comments
It is time!
U.S. rail giant CN? Its a publicly owned company with its headquarters in Montreal. Try being more of an impartial reporter and less an opinion piece author.
Umm Ruez it is a US company now!
What a waste of 10 million dollars. What is it going to prove? Will someone go to jail? Sounds to me like there has been enough money wasted on this subject.
Next!
Sometimes it is just necessary to do something, even if it costs some money, and this is such a time. A very large number of BC taxpayers want to know the truth, or a substantial part of it, about the BC Rail events. So many accusations have been made about various aspects of it over the years involving so many people, including prominent politicians, that many taxpayers think it well worth while to spend the money needed to ferret out the truth and separate it from the fiction.
If it results in criminal charges, then so be it. If it does not, all well and good. We will, at the least, have finally reached the facts.
The BC Lieberals can find $10 million to fund a Bollywood extravaganza in Vancouver, and people are worried about the same amount in an effort to determine the facts about the BC Rail Giveaway? Whats the matter- can’t handle the truth?
For those that feel an inquiry is needed to satisfy their unanswered questions, open up your personal cheque books. It is easy to want a useless inquiry when others are paying for it…Time to work on the next 10 years and stop crying about the past.
A lot of Lieberals are worrying about what will come out. Good!
Now I can answer that poll. It will be NDP. This will be our last chance to get to the truth. You would think the Liberals would want this to clear their names. (At least the innocent ones).
Lenny and Sqiggy gonna be off the hook due to what they call “double jeopardy”?
We have a political analyst in town who could you know..maybe…shed a little light on the situation and can give us an answer for everything and anything. Of course he is not involved in any scandals past or present ;)
Love to see this inquiry happen, but not at the cost of electing the NDP.
The Liberals sold an unprofitable railway 10 years ago. Who cares.
Beat me to it JB – everyone seems to forget that BC Rail was losing money. I certainly do not care enough to vote in an NDP government and then spend another 10 million besides to look into the sale.
“The Liberals sold an unprofitable railway 10 years ago. Who cares.”
Well, it’s not so much about the railroad in my opinion. Campbell promised he wouldn’t sell it and then he did! He changed his mind and took a political risk. He should have put it to a referendum as it was an asset (heavily in debt though) of the people. I personally find that kind of deception totally unacceptable. Just as unacceptable as fudgit budgets and syphoning bingo charity funds into party coffers. Actually if one looks as this realistically with an open mind it becomes apparent that b-essing the voters during and after an election has become somewhat of a standard in Canadian politics, even at a municipal level.
That is why (as much as I hate the expense) I think we have to do an inquiry into every event of this sort if there are questions about proper procedure. That includes BOTH parties. I will still vote the way I always do.
Who supplied the info that the BCR was unprofitable?
BCR was making money, the fiberals cooked the books to make it look like it was losing to try to make us believe we where doing a good thing by getting rid of it.. I mean a 99 year lease.. It was just another way to get rid of jobs that the liberals are really good at..
We all have one vote to cast.. please vote.
Of course BCR was profitable, more Lieberal spin to suggest otherwise. By the way it was leased for 999 years, not 99.
Dragonmaster: “Who supplied the info that the BCR was unprofitable?”
JohnnyBelt on April 26 2013 10:13 AM, thst’s who!
I don’t know if BCRail was profitable enough to carry a 600 million dollar debt and have money left over to bring bridges and other infrastructure up to date, including purchasing new railcars. Actually ALL parties have in the past raided profits from crown corporations and forced them to assume debts which they otherwise would not have had.
CN Rail is a private Company. It was privatized a number of years ago.
The majority shareholders are American Insurance Companies, etc;, Their head office is in Montreal to make Canadians feel good in thinking it is a Canadian owned company, however it is in fact run by top management in Chicago Illinois.
If BC Rail had to be sold, it should have been sold to the BN Railway or CP Rail, then we would have had some competition in the North for CN Rail. As it now stands we have a monopoly, and business and industry in the area are suffering as a consequence.
Actually it’s called a public company. Which means it’s owned by it’s shareholders. It’s headquarters are in Montreal. It’s CEO is from Montreal and is based there. No doubt they run some of the extensive U.S. operations from the U.S. However anyone with a brain, which includes regulators and governments considers it a Canadian based railroad with a large U.S. operation.
People that continually call it an American owned railroad do so because of their bias against anything American and anything successful.
Its a public company owned by shareholders, the majority of which are American. Its headquarters are in Montreal for political purposes only.
The CN bought a number of US Railways over the years, not the least of which was the Illinois Central Railway, who’s head office is in Chicago, and who for all intents and purposes runs CN out of Chicago.
The previous CEO was Hunter Harris who worked out of Chicago. You might have noticed that the name was changed from Canadian National Railway, to CN North America.
If it walks, and squawks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
The key here is that CN BOUGHT IC, not the other way around. CN is headquartered in Montreal. It is run from Montreal. I’m not sure why you are having a hard time understanding this.
Tdiguy wrote, “For those that feel an inquiry is needed to satisfy their unanswered questions, open up your personal cheque books. It is easy to want a useless inquiry when others are paying for it…
As one of those, I have already opened up my cheque book when I paid my taxes. Due to that I am fully entitled to suggest that my money be used to fund an inquiry I want since I am paying for it.
As to it being “useless” as you describe it. How do you know? Since the purpose of an inquiry is to get to the facts, how can you possibly say it is useless without knowing those facts? If it turns out their is more criminal culpability an inquiry would, in fact, be extremely useful in leading to necessary criminal charges, but how can we know that without an inquiry.
Rule of thumb. If bcrail was making money,
It wouldnt have been sold. Just saying.
Christy prob will make it back in. This
whole thing about the ndp mood has always been about the evil corporations, or the evil
businesses, if the ndp gets in, we will lose
a lot of jobs. always has been that way.
BC Rail was making money, that’s the reason it was sold. Why buy a business that is bankrupt? Buy a successful one, like BCR.
The election is all but over. Christy lost. Get used to it.
More jobs were created under the NDP than under the liberals. Fewer jobs were lost under the NDP than under the Liberals. Read the CBC fact sheet from a few days ago. If you want jobs, vote NDP.
As to the question of the BC Rail making or not making money that is not the point. Campbell ran the election on the fact that he WOULD NOT sell BC Rail saying that he had learnt his lesson in the previous election that he lost. The only lesson he learnt was don’t tell the truth.
Sale of raw logs? We are only selling a few!
No more casinos,just Mega size them!
Give away the fast cats!
Bollywood
HST
Liar,Liar
Easy come Easy go!
We live in a banana republic politically. A public inquiry is well over due and hopefully it leads to jail time for those involved in treasonous wrong doing.
Ammonra:`BC Rail was making money, that’s the reason it was sold. Why buy a business that is bankrupt? Buy a successful one, like BCR.
Well, usually not! The business (make a profit!) way is to buy low and sell high. Never pay top dollars for a business that is barely profitable, stagnant, unable to modernize for lack of funds and heavily in debt when it can be acquired for much less especially when the owner is just too happy to get rid of it.
Make an offer that is enough for the owner to pay off the debts and have something left over and a business may be yours. Then you modernize it the way you think is best with the money you saved by buying low.
That is the way business works most of the time.
The RCMP “RAID” our legislature. Why would anyone vote in a govt that created that scenerio???
Some people might want to ask the question.
How many freight trains are running between Prince George and North Vancouver BC since CN Rail took over BC Rail??
The answer would be next to none. Most rail traffic for Vancouver now goes on the CN Line to Jasper then down to Vancouver. So in essence CN Rail has gutted BC Rail. and uses it as a switcher line only.
For all intents and purposes BC Rail South of Williams Lake is a dead duck.
CN Rail wanted BC Rail because it gives them a monopoly in North Central BC, and as a result they are making huge profits.
Have a nice day.
Think NoWay is right.
Too much money has been spent flogg’in a dead horse, and we’re gonna throw millions more in to an inquiry?
Peter Ewert, while I agree with some of his opinions, well, this one’s getting pretty dusty, Peter, why don’t you do a story on the Fast Ferry issue instead, there is quite a story behind that one.
As a taxpayer, I am sick and tired of finger pointing at cost to me. Let’s get ahead, not behind.
Peter has a orange glow to him and would never bring up anything bad about the orange party.
What have all the other public inquiries resulted in? Does anyone remember or care? Or is it just something to argue about after a few beers! It’s gone get over it!
It is sad to see all the quitters on this board. At one time they must have had ideals, and a sense of the rule of law in our society. Is it 12 years of Liberal rule, or have you just got older and have no fight left? You get screwed, and you bend over farther so as not to raise a fuss.
Hey people, an NDP government is on the way, and there will be an inquiry. Voting for Mike Morris or Shirley Bond will not change it, and in fact will keep Prince George behind the eight ball in the bright future that is coming.
Anyone who thinks an inquiry is not necesary doesn’t realise the gravity of this entire scandal.
First is the bold faced lie that BCR wasn’t to be sold prior to the election followed by it being sold after the election. That really is a big lie that completely undermines who and what we vote for. That alone should not be tolerated.
When such a significant decision is made it is the duty of government to have a clear social licence to do these things.
That is the difference between democracy and a dictatorship.
Our government must conduct and be seen to conduct itself in a transparent manner which is legal and ethical as well as for the best interests of this province. When even one of these principles are broken or hidden, not to mention when all of them are broken and hidden/covered up, it is time for a full enquiry and proscecution of whomever was responsible for breaking the law. Politicians and bureaucrats cannot be allowed to be above the law.
This town used to be full of people who had a set. Now it seems, all we hear from are the moral eunuchs willing to vote for Shirley and Mike so as not to raise a fuss.
Pathetic, and out of touch with the rest of the province.
I understand that as a return on investment per km of track, the BCR was the most profitable railroad system in the world.
I still do not understand why they did not join Bill Gates to buy controlling shares of CN.
I mean, the BCR was run so well that they were able to lose money while everyone thought they were making money.
Herb: “This town used to be full of people who had a set. Now it seems, all we hear from are the moral eunuchs willing to vote for Shirley and Mike so as not to raise a fuss. “
Ah come on Herbster, you can do a better job than that. Next time, try not to be so obvious.
Herbster:”Now it seems, all we hear from are the moral eunuchs…”
Moral eunuch! Great name for people who forge documents. Thanks!
“CN Rail wanted BC Rail because it gives them a monopoly in North Central BC, and as a result they are making huge profits.”
Monopolies, the liberal corporate way!
You got that right Herbster!
Hey Herbster, where’d your “set go”???
Liberals gonna win.
Liberals are going to win the frightened, the weak minded, and the s*it house rat crazy vote. So they will get a lot of votes in PG. Dix is our next premier.
“Dix is our next premier.”
I remember that resolve in this town when the saying was: “Green is our next Mayor.”
Those people were right.
As they say: “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Be careful what you wish for”
My wish is that the Canucks are out of the playoffs before May 14. One less excuse for not stopping at a polling booth on the way home from work.
Go Sens !
CN – Canadian or USAian?
I think one can say that CN acts in a similar fashion to a Canadian Crown through the CN Commercialization Act
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-0.2/ current as of 16 April 2013.
The Act requires that the head office stays in Montreal and that no single private person/corporation may own more than 15%.
I think Bill Gates is one who may now have reached that limit.
The Board is composed of 13 directors at the moment (it can have as many as 21) as follows:
â¢7 are from Canadian organization
â¢The Chairman is Canadian, as is the President and CEO
http://www.cn.ca/en/delivering-responsibly/governance/board-of-directors
I did a count on the location of the education/experience of the senior operating officers of the corporation.
Claude Mongeau – President and Chief Executive Officer â McGill U. and U. of Quebec
There are a total of 31 senior managers including the President and CEO, all others being Vice Presidents
â¢21 have Canadian university degrees
â¢5 have USA university degrees
â¢1 has a Degree but no location
â¢1 has a trade from Canada
â¢2 have trade from the USA
â¢1 is from the USA, but no info on education
http://www.cn.ca/en/about-cn/who-we-are/company-officers
The interesting thing for me is that 11 have degrees from McGill.
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-0.2
Herbster: “Liberals are going to win the frightened, the weak minded, and the s*it house rat crazy vote.”
..said the dope smoker.
If there is no inquiry into the scandalous sale of BC Rail then we will be sending the wrong message to the public…..it’s not ok to simply sweep this under the rug because time has passed……6 million dollars of taxpayer’s money was already spent by the BC liberals to try and silence this issue….I support moving forward and unveiling the truth and all the players involved
Darn hippie socialists……set on changing JB’s world…… he will have to post from Alberta,250 News won’t be the same…..BC will crumble…..the sky will turn orange, Bollywood will boycott BC, the world price on BC’s commodities will crumble, other countries will discover that they have their own natural gas, Christy Clark’s hairstyle will not be all the rage, a new beetle epidemic will emerge, the roof on BC Place will fail, the majority of MLA’s will wear red underwear,……THE SKY WILL FALL.
Finally middle finger got it right!!!!
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