Boring. It's all been said before and wasn't interesting then.

The inner workings of the government are interesting though. The lesson there is no hire people that can keep things in perspective. It's lonely at the top, and you sure don't need some lap-dog fanatics getting haywire ideas. Fanatics run hot and cold, now they are running cold.

Anyone who professes to care for this province should attend this meeting. This issue is not dead and only those who lack the intelligence or desire to protect our province from further deterioration should stay at home as this issue is best left to those who are capable of understanding it's implications. I'm glad some will not attend their lack of concern is typical of the problems we face.

I'd have to say a lack of action would just allow them to continue on this deceitful path, and then "What's next ?"

The biggest problem is that it needs to be "all of us" or it might as well be "none of us."

So stay home Yama or maybe apply for a job as a government operative and get paid to attend. Let the light shine in. it's about time.

Anything thats puts the spotlight on the Liberals sale of BCR is to be supported. At a time when Warren Buffet is buying into railroads, the Liberals decision to divest BC of its railway can only be seen as a massive betrayal of the public trust. The fact that there are criminal investigations surrounding the affair, should lead to an inquiry at least and more importantly, the revocation of the "deal".

Whats next, is already in the works. The Alcan, Kitimat BC, fiasco.

I'm still trying to decipher most of Yamaman's cryptic comment ??

What are you really trying to say Yama ?

I am also still stewing over the idea that OmniTrax apparently was a "government friendly" and maybe even a favorite, but the deal was awarded to CN.

I don't understand. If the allegations against the Premier and his staff are true, then why did he award the sale to CN ?

And they want a big raise on top of this

I can't understand why the citizens of Prince George are not demanding answers from our mayor who was mentioned in the testimony by Gary Collins at the Basi-Virk corruption trial. I think this guy is not on the level and our press (other than 250) seem to hide this information from the public. What is going on?

Darn, that's annoying, I wasn't interested in the subject enough to even spell check!

Boring. It's all been said before, and wasn't interesting then.

I'm not a socialist, and any of the "public trusts" and similar "government freight" businesses get to be a public burdens. The return on investment exists only in hyperbola. The same people that want their toy train set back will want BC to have an airline, a phone service, liquor stores, gasoline service, trucking, golf courses, the Canucks, radio stations, housing projects, medical monopoly, barber shops, and get into business at every opportunity.

Who gives a hoot who owns the choo-choo! It doesn't matter and it doesn't matter to the people of BC. And why isn't the government making CN pick up all the moose they kill every winter? That's what the government is there for, to govern. Not to see who's got the fastest choo-choo!

*Whats next, is already in the works. The Alcan, Kitimat BC, fiasco.*

Alcoa, don't forget to mention Alcoa and the planned 2010 absorption of Mexico's and Canada's ability to make independent decisions into the all-powerful United States of America.

Some good points by the Yamaman.

Yes but the shape of one's head should not be entered into in this venue.

Yamaman- This is why you should care. The forestry industry pays the freight (literally) for business around here. The monopoly position of the railways in Canada allows them to overcharge the forestry industry to a tune of $280 million dollars a year. Roughly that means $140 million dollars sucked out of BC every year. Not to mention new business that will not get off the ground or bother to locate here due to overpriced shipping fees.
Also remember that dream to hook up the railway to Alaska? It'll never happen with CN in control of BC Rail. Scratch Prince George as a major railway hub, along with all the jobs that would entail.
In a world with declining oil reserves, the railway is the transportation mode of the future. If you don't mind handing your future off to corporate care, more power to you. Just as long as you get your pension, and to hell with the kids, eh!

NDP pet issue. Always has been. Governments can't seem to run governments let alone businesses.

"Governments can't seem to run governments let alone businesses"
Yeah but what you've got right now is CN that can't even run a railway without government help. Without the back to work legislation, CN would still be out. The most profitable railway in the world can't keep its employees happy. Plus its 'pollute free pass' for spilling toxic chemicals into lakes and rivers. Never mind its criminal negligence in putting employees on trains with no brakes. Or trains on defective bridges. The only reason this company has not been sued into oblivion is government protection. If CN is your shining example of free enterprise then bring on the NDP.

Yeah, the NDP would fix things 'real good'.

Hey, NDP supporters can admit the fast ferries were a disaster. Can you as a Liberal supporter admit any mistakes? Or do you have Gordos picture in your locker?

Hey, NDP supporters can admit the fast ferries were a disaster. Can you as a Liberal supporter admit any mistakes? Or do you have Gordos picture in your locker?

Please remind me where I posted that I was a liberal supporter. Or a homosexual.

death to socialism would indicate you are not NDP. And your lack of any critical capacity with the Liberals would indicate that you are one of Gordons fanboys at the very least.

herbster - on the endangered species list(NDP supporter)

Well, you can't call me political, I haven't voted in the last three elections.
Why ? Because they are all crooks, liars, thieves, and cheats (did I mention idiots ?). They don't get my support for that kind of performance. When I find someone I can support, they'll get my vote.

NDP supporters can admit the fast ferries were a disaster ? That's it ?
The whole damn party is and was a disaster. Way to downplay it.

The liberals are shaping up to walk the same path, with a different coat on.

BCRail was losing money hand over fist, year after year. If the shipping rates have gone up, under CN, then maybe they needed to.

I know, after we handed over all of our forests to Canfor, why don't we subsidize a failing railway for them to ship their products below cost ?

Hell, I mean it's not like Canfor to turn it's back on our communities with closures, long shutdowns, etc.
They take good care of us (I mean shareholders) don't they ?

Having been in business and run a business of my own, and having been involved with people who run large corporations, I'll say this:

I wholeheartedly agree with Yamaman and DTS when they say governments should not be running businesses. DTS makes a good point in this statement: "Governments can't seem to run governments let alone businesses."

Can't argue with that. No matter how you feel about the BCR.

How soon we forget the facts. BC Rail last year in existence it actually turned a $26 million profit. From Wikipedia
"The success story that continues to get lost however, is that BC Rail centralized its operating department during 2000/2001. This did lead to some growing pains during early implementation which may have helped build the case for the sale to CN, but by March 2002, BC Rail was on the verge of a significant recovery. The synergies related to the entire operation being run on one floor lead to huge gains in productivity. For example, empty online cycle times for lumber equipment improved over 40 percent between 2001 and 2003 and continued to improve in 2004 prior to the sale. Profitability at BC Rail made huge gains even with the loss of coal traffic and the business sense of the sale was debated furiously. It has been speculated that what should have been THE success story in North American railroading for 2003 and 2004 had to be hidden from the press in order to complete the sale. Some have said that BC Rail's centralized yard operations strategy could have been a model for North American railroads plagued with inefficiencies and congested yards. Others have speculated that BC Rail needed to be sold before they proved again that a government owned business could in fact turn a significant profit."
Before that it had been hobbled by the high development cost of its extension to Tumbler Ridge (mandated by a non-NDP party). That line incidentally, has allowed the latest coal boom in Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd, for which the Liberals are claiming all sorts of credit.
And if you read my posts, I am not even close to claiming that we should subsidize Canfor rail shipments. Privatizing the rail system made about as much sense as privatizing our highway system. If you feel comfortable with that, then keep on not voting.

Oops- In 2002 BC Rail made $75 million, in the first 3 quarters of 2003, it made $70.5 million. My mistake...

Heres a portion of the wiretap between Collins and Basi
"Michael Bolton, the veteran lawyer who is defending David Basi, quietly set off multiple sticks of political dynamite by reading into the record a wiretapped cell phone conversation between Basi and Collins on October 31, 2003.

The call takes place less than a month before the BC Rail sale to CN Rail is announced and as opponents to the planned deal are mobilizing against the B.C. Liberal government.

The call allegedly captures the type of media manipulation and political dirty tricks that have already been headlined previously in this case but this time Gary Collins is directly involved.

The following is a transcript taken from notes from Bolton's statement in court and is slightly abbreviated:

Collins: Hello.

Basi: Hi boss. Judith Reid was on Ben Meisner [at the time, a Prince George radio talk show host] -- she handled herself real well. There was only one call and it was ours.

Collins: Good.

Basi: Bill Vander Zalm will be on [radio] with Barb Sharp -- mayor of North Vancouver. [former B.C. premier Vander Zalm and Sharp both opposed BC Rail privatization]

Collins: Uh-huh.

Basi: I wanted to have the mayor of Squamish, who's a good friend of ours, rip Barb Sharp a new asshole. Is that okay?

Collins: Absolutely.

Basi: I called Jerry Lampert of the [BC] Business Council and said: 'Jerry, we need your help.' The Prince George Citizen might take an op-ed [opinion editorial article] but they don't want only positive pieces.

Collins: Well, you could do that....I want you to keep this completely to yourself because there's only two of us who know about this."

Basi: Okay.

Collins: I talked to the Premier. We want to put Colin Kinsley [mayor of Prince George] and the mayor of Squamish on the committee.

Basi: I'm going to call Ian Sutherland [mayor of Squamish] at home.

Collins: Uh-huh.

Basi: Then we're going to arrange calls and rip these guys up good.

Collins: Okay but don't tell Sutherland because it's the Premier who's going to call.

It should be noted again that the wiretapped conversation cited by Bolton is part of the defence allegations, which are unproven in court and to which the Crown has yet to respond.

Former North Vancouver City Mayor Barb Sharp was stunned when I called her Wednesday evening to get her reaction to the alleged comments.

"It's quite a shocker. I don't know what they were so upset about with me except that I was trying to keep BC Rail in North Vancouver," Sharp said. "It's quite inappropriate to talk about anyone that way -- what a terrible way to talk about people.""

For the full story go to
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/05/04/CollinsWiretap/

BC Rail began to show a profit because they got into Major Downsizing, were relocating their Transportation Facilities to North Vancouver, got rid of their money losing Intermodal Division, sold off some real estate, logged off a large portion of timber on their right of way etc;;

All these cost saving efforts were made because they were required before anyone would buy the money losing Railway. Once BC Rail did all the necessary downsizing it was sold. Had they not sold the Railway, they would have had no reason to be responsibile, and would still be losing money.

The BC Rails Centralized Yard Operation Strategy was a carbon copy of the CN System that CN had been using for years. BC Rail was until it copied CN's System about 10 to 15 years behind the times.

Man what a load of bananas! First BC Rail never made a profit, now its only because they wanted to look good for a takeover! How about they made money because they were well run and in a good business. As I recall the BC Rail managers complained that the company was in fact making money and should not be sold. Also remember that this was before Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd took off with new coal mines.

If you want a smoking gun, go back and find out when the permitting happened for all the new mines. It'll show that the Liberals knew that there would be a whole lot more work for BC Rail, shortly after they sold it off (gave it away).

Reasonableman, its not the political parties, its the system we use to run campaigns and vote. Democracy has an evil parisite attached to it.

Herbster, great stuff.

Chadman, everything has an evil parasite attached to it. The parasite is called human nature. Communism is dysfunctional for the same reason democracy is.

Herbster, thanks for reposting an article that is already posted in full on this site. If you actually spent some time reading other stories and commenting on them, you might know that.

However, as a political servant, you are only interested in an opportunity to make partisan mud-slinging comments on someone else's dime.

The Liberals already invented that trick, and we're not impressed. How about you care about everything that goes on in our community or nothing at all. Don't digress to the level of the Liberals, or better yet, maybe you're a good candidate for their phone call and letter campaigns.

Every time there is a story that relates to one political party or another, we suddenly see all these "never been seen before" posters, who quickly sign up and make their comments, in a veiled attempt at political mudslinging, under the guise of a "concerned citizen", and then disappear. Old trick.

FYI: China is the ONLY reason for the coal boom. It had nothing to do with anyone here. CHINA needs it, and WE have it.

Reasonable I think you would agree that we can have a democracy that minimizes the parisitic influence, but that I guess will have to wait until people have had enough.

Or it will have to wait until all people progress to a higher level of thinking (as we have continued to do since inception), civilization, and community. We just aren't there yet. As each generation passes, we progress a little more.