PART FIVE. A Society in Breakdown. British Columbia’s Hip-High Corruption.
The New Democratic Party. The Mainstream Press and Media.
Alex G. Tsakumis, I am told, has objected to my statement that he is a ‘known Liberal’. He says I am wrong – though he was for a time a Liberal and contributed financially to the Party, as members of his family, apparently, continue to do. I regret any error I may have made in any statement about him. If some still think of him as a Liberal, he has made clear he left the Party and does not now contribute to it. I am especially apologetic since anyone might feel embarrassed to be incorrectly named a Liberal or to be said to be associated with the Liberal Party at this time in our history.
I extend my earnest apologies to Alex G. Tsakumis.
The question, however, still remains – posed in PART FOUR of this series. Why did copies of the very important Dave Basi memos end up in the possession of Alex G. Tsakumis? In PART FOUR I suggested they should, perhaps have gone to the Parliamentary Opposition, the NDP.
As evidence piles up that some top government and private corporate officers may have engaged in breach of trust extending to criminal breach of trust … and more … in the BC Rail Scandal, all evidence possible should be in the hands of a body powerful enough to force the RCMP to (real) investigation - and to criminal charges where and if warranted.
The RCMP has been formally requested to investigate Gordon Campbell and his associates in the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR. The top RCMP officer in British Columbia, Gary Bass, has refused to undertake that investigation. And so another force is obviously needed to bring about a criminal investigation.
In addition, as time passes, the RCMP “investigations” in the BC Rail Scandal matters appear more and more to have been inadequate. Defence counsel in the Basi, Virk, and Basi case insisted the three accused were “targetted”, that others who should have been investigated were not.
Corroboration of that allegation lies for all to see in the strange RCMP statement near the end of December 2003 that no elected officials were under investigation. In mid December finance minister Gary Collins was under investigation and surveillance. At the end of December RCMP announced no elected officials were being investigated – but investigation continued for another full year before charges were laid.
The RCMP statement points to “targetting”, especially since evidence has piled up and piled up of manipulation, misrepresentation, disinformation, unnecessary secrecy, and falsification by senior officials in the on-going process that saw BC Rail transferred to the CNR.
I asked in PART FOUR if Alex G. Tsakumis (or any individual) could wield the power in the matter that might be wielded by the NDP Opposition in British Columbia.
The answer of course is No. But the operative words in my question are “power that MIGHT be wielded by the NDP Opposition….”
This part, PART FIVE, is called ”The New Democratic Party, The Mainstream Press and Media.” (Hereafter the MSM). That is because both have been abysmally, lamentably at fault in their failure since the return of more than thirty NDP MLAs in 2005, at least.
My focus in this series is the BC Rail Scandal, but the NDP has failed across the spectrum on major issues in the province. Loyal NDP members, supporters, and sympathizers have to face that major fact. If the NDP is to form government in the next election, it will have to undergo a change in attitude, in policy, in imagination, in determination, and in action on key issues.
So far, NDP leadership candidates speak about the province as if they have just returned from a decade of travel … on other planets.
Because of the huge damage done to the province by the Liberal government since 2001 not a single Liberal deserves to win a seat in the next election. NDP members, supporters, and sympathizers, however, must face the failure of the NDP in Opposition - or the election will go to the Liberals.
Watching the NDP failure, and resisting it over those years, I refer to my own experience only to give particular evidence of NDP reality.
When the theft of B.C. river energy power began, I was a founder of the Save Our Rivers Society. I (we) sent information again and again to all NDP caucus members – receiving only very brief electronic non-replies….
When the B.C. Supreme Court chief justice of the day made a key and critical judgement about Alcan, Kitimat, and the Nechako River, I believe it was a very, very bad judgement, argued with bad law. The decision needed Opposition guns trained on it. It needed loud protest. The critique I wrote and posted on the SORS website sank into the political sludge of B.C. politics. The NDP? What NDP?
We knew – AS ANYONE WHO WANTED TO KNOW DID KNOW - that BC Hydro was being eviscerated, looted, destroyed by the Campbell forces. We told everyone we could tell. The NDP heard nothing. Major political action was required which should have been assisted, co-operated with – even led by the NDP.
I wrote a column for vivelecanada.ca about the sell-out of B.C Hydro to which an Accenture official replied to try to discredit my work. The NDP did … nothing.
The NDP should have set up an imaginative Research Committee on Fish Farms in B.C. and should have named Alexandra Morton Committee chair – with at least a few MLAs supporting and working with organized volunteers.
The NDP should have set up – with First Nations and other representative groups – a BC Children and Families, on-going, working Committee to assist Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond, B.C. Representative for Children and Youth. MLAs should have been named to that public Committee. Volunteers should have been enrolled across the province.
The NDP should have set up a provincial Audit Committee of MLAs and volunteers to undertake audits of B.C. Hydro, B.C. Ferries, B.C. Rail, all major government contracts for infra-structure and all Private Public Partnerships. The fight to get information kept secret, misrepresented, and falsified by the Campbell government would have been a method of informing the public full time of the looting being sponsored by the Campbell forces.
Ironically, recently, Eric Anderson, an economist has begun demonstrating the parlous condition of B.C. Hydro. He has been taken into the newly being-born Conservative Party. The NDP? What NDP?
There is much, much, much more the NDP MLAs should have done, and should be doing right now.
Just one more. Those us who remember the British Columbia days of the CCF know a simple, on-going fact. The Mainstream Press and Media have been opposed to that political expression from the first day. The MSM has done what it can through nearly eighty years to undermine and destroy the democratic Left in B.C.
What should the NDP do? Should it try to curry favour with the MSM? Should it try to fit its policies to what the MSM wants? Should it try to become the Gordon Campbell Liberals with the name NDP?
I suggest the NDP should admit its history with the MSM, name the Mainstream Press and Media a major enemy, treat it as such leading up to and during the coming election campaign. It should create a high-profile committee of MLAs, volunteer electronic news workers and activists, as well as others. That committee should devise a program of attack – ridiculing, deriding, and exposing the MSM as the propaganda arm (that it is) of the Liberal Party and government.
I believe a very large part of the B.C. population – which increasingly believes the MSM is the enemy – would celebrate the guts of the NDP and would flock to support it.
When I think of the work of the NDP in the BC Rail Scandal Basi, Virk, and Basi matter, I think of Alex G. Tsakumis. Maybe Dave Basi was not wrong to avoid the NDP and to have delivered to Mr. Tsakumis the very important memos from 2003.
Over the four years that I attended pre-trial and trial days of the Basi, Virk, and Basi case, I came to realize the NDP would do nothing of importance on the issue.
Oh yes…. The Party would call and call and call for a Public Inquiry. BUT, as became increasingly obvious, the NDP should have been demanding criminal investigation of the leading actors in the BC Rail Scandal. Right away. That should have been the drum the NDP would not stop beating.
The NDP should have demanded over and over that top RCMP officer Gary Bass attend public meetings with the NDP Leader and key MLAs to answer questions about the RCMP investigation.
The more Gary Bass refused to participate in such meetings, the more the NDP should have demanded his presence – and the more the B.C. public would have become informed.
Those are just a few suggestions. Much, much, much more should have been done by the NDP.
When evidence that the Special Prosecutor in the BC Rail Scandal Basi, Virk, and Basi case, William Berardino, was appointed in violation of the legislation governing such appointments, the door was open for the NDP to drive through to … government.
The wrongful appointment of Mr. Berardino by old partners and colleagues (and one presumes friends) Attorney General Geoff Plant and Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel – invalidates ALL of the pre-trial and trial proceedings.
Forcing the issue, forcing Mr. Berardino’s resignation would have exposed the whole rotten Affair. Then real investigation could then have been demanded. Then a Public Inquiry could follow new criminal charges being laid … if they were warranted.
NDP Justice critc Leonard Krog was informed of the wrongful appointment. He would do nothing.
But the story of William Berardino’s wrongful appointment is not the only one! The same kind of thing happened with the next Attorney General, Wally Oppal. He misused the Special Prosecutor legislation in the Bountiful bigamy case. Mr. Oppal ‘arranged’ the launch of a case after “Special Prosecutor shopping”. He sought and rejected Special Prosecutors until he found one who would take the case – others saying it should not be taken.
When the case, with Terence Robertson, Special Prosecutor, came to court, it was stopped dead when Wally Oppal’s actions were revealed to Madam Justice Stromberg-Stein. Wally Oppal is reported to have ordered Robert Gillen, assistant deputy Attorney General to appoint Terence Robertson.
Needless to say a conviction against the Bountiful bigamists (legitimately or illegitimately convicted) would have gained votes for the Liberal Party – as would the credible conviction of ‘the three brown men’ in the BC Rail Scandal matter. But that action is still exploding its rotten bombs all over the province.
A third Attorney General appears to have violated the Special Prosecutor legislation in his appointment of Terence Robertson as Special Prosecutor in the Kash Heed affair. Michael de Jong will deny the appointment was wrongly undertaken. Nevertheless, the appointment revealed a failure on the part of the Attorney General to know the validity of the appointee.
As has been reported, Mr. Robertson was to investigate brochures in Chinese issued days before the 2009 election in which the NDP was aspersed and Kash Heed was supported. Mr. Robertson suggested Kash Heed was clear and that two others should be charged.
Gordon Campbell returned Kash Heed to the position of Solicitor General immediately. Clearly, Gordon Campbell wanted Kash Heed as Solicitor General. Then Mr. Heed had to resign again, and Terence Robertson had to resign because of conflict of interest in the matter.
It may be of interest that Terence Robertson was the Special Prosecutor when Ken Dobell was accused of breaking lobbyist law and could very well have been charged. On Robertson’s recommendation Dobell wasn’t. He was the Special Prosecutor Wally Oppal settled on and convinced to conduct a case (thrown out of court by the judge) against the Bountiful bigamists. He was the Special Prosecutor appointed to the Kash Heed investigation and was forced to leave the position because of conflict of interest. Were there more reasons?
Three Attorneys General and three calamitous Special Prosecutor appointments (that we know of). Clearly, every appointment of a Special Prosecutor since the Gordon Campbell government took power should be carefully examined by impartial investigators.
The NDP - through Leonard Krog – knew of the wrongful appointment of William Berardino … and did nothing. The NDP had to know of the Wally Oppal matter and the Michael de Jong/Kash Heed appointment of Terence Robertson. After all, Mike Farnworth was critic of the Solicitor General;s portfolio and Leonard Krog of the Attorney General’s ministry.
Things were getting hot in the Attorney General’s office last summer. And so Michael de Jong decided to have [what I consider a fake] review of the process for appointing Special Prosecutors. Mr. de Jong sought as Reviewer Stephen Owen who is vice president of UBC in charge of good relations with governments. (Conflict of interest?)
Mr. Owen was fully informed of the wrongful appointment of William Berardino. He never referred to it in his Report. He wrote a glowing and celebratory Report and did the same kind of interviews with the press. The process of appointing Special Prosecutors in B.C. is essentially … wonderful!
Mr. Owen didn’t interview Kash Heed, William Berardino, Wally Oppal, or Geoff Plant.
But before writing his Report he interviewed (among others) two NDP MLAs – Leonard Krog and Mike Farnworth. They had a chance to demand that a totally different Report be prepared. They had a chance to make a major separate Report demanding the resignation of William Berardino and demanding a whole, new, thorough investigation of the appointment process of Special Prosecutors. The two NDP MLAs, apparently, had nothing negative to say about the process.
We know about the calamitous appointments I have noted.
What other calamitous appointments have been made that we know nothing about?
The appointment process for the placing of Special Prosecutors must look I believe – to reasonable and prudent British Columbians – soiled and corrupt.
The NDP doesn’t seem interested. Its two key MLAs on the matter are, we may assume, quite happy with the present system.
They were interviewed by Reviewer Stephen Owen and – we must assume – agreed with him that the Special Prosecutor appointment system is … just dandy.
Stumble It!