Liberal gov helping out corporate buddies again.

Why are we suprised at this?
And when we beat up on Rich Coleman,we should keep in mind that NOBODY makes a decision in the Campbell government with out Gordon Campbell's blessings!
We are talking a one man show here.
Coleman is a puppet, but Campbell will now let him take the heat for something most people already understood!
Corporate butt kissing and nothing more.
It isn't about what is good for the people of B.C.,it is about what is good for the Campbell Liberals!
Unfortunately for them,the cookie is starting to crumble.

Right on Andyfreeze.
Ever notice how ex politicians seem to land very excellent jobs with large corporations after they get turfed from office.

"Ever notice how ex politicians seem to land very excellent jobs with large corporations after they get turfed from office."

Okay, so am I to believe that these politicians who know from nothing, do nothing, and just eat from the public trough are much sought after by the almighty private industries?

Is there something wrong with this picture?

;-)

Firstly has anyone read the report? Only 25% of Private Lands on the Coast were included in TFL's in the 1950's- the remainder were in taxation tree farms now managed forests. Secondly while the Auditor General did find that their was a lack of consultation from his point of view he did not find any wrong doing by the Minister as their is no defined process to deal with withdrawing Private Lands (Schdule A Lands) from TFL's (this would apply to any party NDP or Liberals). The Auditor General report I believe is quite incomplete and very superfical as it did not consider Private Property Rights and only looked at the Private Lands from the perspective of it being in a Crown tenure since the 1950's. He also did not touch on the fact this land could be remove by surronding the licence or letting the licence expire. It should be noted also that no withdrawls have been made from Northern TFL's and that only 2,785 ha of Private lands are in Northern TFL's.

Dunno owl....maybe it has as much to do with inside knowledge and connections as it does with brains and skill?
:-)

Owl writes...
"Okay, so am I to believe that these politicians who know from nothing, do nothing, and just eat from the public trough are much sought after by the almighty private industries?"

Is that how you read my statement?
I never said that.
In case you never noticed Owl, this is a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours political/corporate system in Canada.

You know, just like when someone quits a job and they get megabucks for it.
The goodole boys club.

Gee nobody blaming the NDP for all this!

lostfaith .....

sorry, it was not aimed at you. It was merely a general observation I made about the many posts on this site over the months and years that politicans are up to no good and do no work, without an indication that such does not only apply to politicians but also large corporations and even smaller ones.

In reading the posts, I simply get the impression that private enterprise is all good and public enterprise, as run by politicians, bureaucrats and public service unions are not the best servants the taxpayers have.

Given that as an impression that appears to be out there, I was just surprised that private coporations would bother hiring such high maintenance staff.

;-)

No seamutt, but dog did make sure he excused the Liberal Forests Minister by saying it would apply to any party. Only thing is, the Liberal Party forms the Government.

Ammonra- yes if you know how Government works their are polcies and procedures in place the same ones that were in place when the NDP were in power- while I do not believe they are sufficient the Government (Pat Bell) is moving to correct this as I post this. Please read the Minister response.

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media/

Well don't forget Minister Coleman is not going to rock the boat over this issue, seeing as it was his brother who brokered the deal.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/01/14/TreeFarmDeal/

Please look at the headline of the story, " AG Says TFL Decision Made Without Sufficient Regard for Public Interest." The public was not consulted. In the gov't's response, they say that they don't know how to respond. Here is a quote from it: "The OAG makes no specific recommendations to improve decision-making or the public process. While no further actions are required, the Auditor General’s observations do
allow the ministry to identify potential improvements to its processes with regard to documentation, consultation and communication.
The ministry acknowledges that it could have done a better job of public consultation.
The ministry has taken steps to improve its consultation processes."

Also note that former minister Coleman did not talk to the Auditor General during the investigation as he was "too busy."

Coleman's brother Stan is the manager of Strategic Planning for Western Forest Products but in all fairness,that has been known for a while.
(it just wasn't mentioned much?)
Now really....is that a coincidence or what??
Typical government response is to deny,deny,deny, and hope it goes away.
In this case, they are using a verbal attack on the AG to deflect the heat and that is not called for!
I don't think Campbell has much choice than to get rid of Coleman pronto.
Did Campbell know about the pending condemnation by the AG prior to the recent cabinet shuffle?
Even Pat Bell is on the defensive.
Why so touchy...what has it got to do with him?
Hmmm...this could get very stinky.
Beware the pointing fingers!

dogs wrote:-"He also did not touch on the fact this land could be removed by surrendering the licence or letting the licence expire."

And that's just the point. The Companies involved are NOT "surrendering the licence or letting the licence expire." They want their cake and they want to eat it too.

The way I see it, two things contributed to this

1. Rich has to be insane to even go NEAR something like this. A private company in a financial bind, which employs his brother of all people, wants to withdraw VERY valuable real estate from their TFL's. If he could NOT see the potential for conflict of interest, then he has no business in the Forestry portfolio. He has no business in the Parliament building lemonade stand portfolio.

2. Campbell will obviously send his own cabinet members to be crucified to further his party. I agree that somebody must have put the squeeze on Coleman to get things done. Why would he risk such an obvious conflict of interest?

Either way, if the deal did make it through, Western's happy, and happy corporations are generous corporations.

Remember what I posted the other day in the #102 things that define Canadians ?

"#102 Being consistently ripped off by corrupt politicians at the federal, provincial and local levels and have grown to accept it as being normal and just the way it is. ( Can anyone name a political party that has been in power that hasn't had a period of corruption ? Granted there might have been no convictions but when you are a politician and all your friends are fellow politicians, lawyers, heads of state and other big wigs, the law doesn't really involve you)."

In other words nothing will come of this other than another politician will have looked out for his own at the expense of the public.

Colin Hansen distanced himself from Pat Bell's verbal attack on the AG today.
He went as far as to say that he does NOT agree with what Bell said about the AG, after the media pushed him a bit.
Bell should have known that in the Campbell government,if you run your mouth,Gordon Campbell WILL hang you out to dry!
Somebody WILL hang for this,but it may not be the one/s that should!
The government will now go into damage control mode and refuse to talk about it anymore.
That will be done in hopes that the public will simply forget about it.

Does the new AG from the land down under get a big fat severance package when Gordo sacks him for representing the public's best interest?

Some thing is very fishy- The CCPA today offically annouced a report by Ben Parfitt entitled Public Good on Private Forest Lands- the report contains numerous quotes/reference (P 34) and information from the Auditor Generals report released yesterday- However this report was released early last week to numerous media outlets including Gordon Hamilton of the Vancouver Sun who wrote an article on it. How did they get confidentional information from the Auditor's report prior to it's release- very fishy indeed.