What Secrets do the BC Liberals have to Hide? Suspension of Access to Information & Privacy Investigations in BC

Foul demons be gone! What more do we have to put up with? On the eve of the Olympics more madness from our government, which seems to be adrift of a captain and rapidly heading for the rocks.

What a mockery this loathsome BC Liberal regime makes of even a pretense of fairness and of valuing the rights, dignity and respect for people of BC. They are an insult to freedom and liberty to the citizens of our province.

The man most in the know of the secrets and risks to the BC government, David Loukedelis, the so-called "independent officer" [aka BC Liberal appointee] who was the Commissioner of the Office of Information & Privacy Commission (OIPC) has just scored a gig as Deputy Minister of the Attorney General. The AG, home of the Justice Branch, the lawyers who protect the government from accounting for their employees gross lapses and errors and sometimes criminal acts. Boy, if one were suspicious one might think this had been coming for awhile, Loukedelis has been remarkably benign in this most important role. What secrets does Mr. Loukedelis bring to his new post, you bet there will be many.

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2nd B.C. public servant fired for welfare privacy breach
CBC News

In April, the RCMP found files on 1,400 social assistance clients in the home of a government worker, but it took the government seven months to notify those whose confidential files were involved.

Loukidelis's investigation is one of several taking place into the security breach that has already led to the firing of two civil servants, one of whom reportedly had a criminal record for credit card fraud and counterfeiting at the time he was hired.

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This resignation and appointment and how it has all been handled stinks to high heaven. If you look at a Ministry of Children & Families, they've had numerous changes of useless and clueless figure-heads. The delegations of it's employees didn't cease because some new idiot was on the way out and a new one in. The day-to-day work and mandate did not cease while the new lamb to the slaughter was briefed on the file by those whose jobs it is to carry on business and mandate while the political nonsense carries on. People can't possibly think it's that the elected ones (many of whom have little to no experience doing anything of much use) or Liberal appointees (Order in Council) who are really bringing the brains, elbow grease and know-how to the table??? Is anyone that naive?

Installed into the position in 1999, he has weathered the changing of the guard time and time again. Since the entire BC government is run out of Premier Gordon Campbell's office (which explains A LOT), there is no way that Mr. Loukedelis left the one position and was appointed a Deputy Minister (Order in Council) without that happening through the Premier himself. No competent, moral, or ethical government, or administration would make this set of decisions and leave the Commission without a delegated leader (in this case a Commissioner) unless it served the government's political purposes.

The government of BC, the BC Liberal government, is operating outside the laws of natural justice and the people of BC must do something about this before everything that matters to us is stripped by these banana republic corpo-demons.

Commissioner David Loukidelis' letter of resignation (19 Jan. 2010)
I hereby resign, effective today, as Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

DOCUMENT: Mary Carlson letter (PDF)

Privacy Official Sounds 'Urgent' Alarm
CBC News. January 22, 2010.

Work at the office of B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commission in Victoria is reported to have ground to a halt after the commissioner resigned suddenly this week.

Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis resigned unexpectedly Wednesday to take a job as deputy attorney general.

Commission executive director Mary Carlson circulated a letter labelled "extremely urgent" at the B.C. legislature Friday calling for a quick resolution of the situation.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner is independent from government and monitors and enforces British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection Act.

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How B.C.'s Government Tracks, Stalls Muckrakers

A deeper look at how Liberals track FOI-filing reporters reveals the methods, the spins, and how the reporter herself ended up on the list.

By Ann Rees, 3 Apr 2004, TheTyee.ca

But confidential "Advice to Minister" notes show the FOI process in B.C. has been twisted to serve as a communications tool, which allows government to scrutinize the FOI activities of law-abiding citizens who intend to hold it accountable.

The 65 communications notes obtained under FOI show spin doctors, using a sophisticated surveillance system, routinely track and review potentially-damaging requests.

All requests from media, anyone working for the Opposition, lobby groups, and others, who might use records to embarrass government, are automatically flagged as "sensitive" on the government-wide database.

Records deemed politically dangerous are reviewed by Liberal spin doctors prior to releasing them to the requester.

In addition, troublesome requesters are often identified by name and brought to the attention of the minister responsible, a breach of privacy protections in the Act.

And the entire exercise has the blessing of cabinet ministers, and the Office of the Premier through its Public Affairs Bureau (PAB) which designed and operates the communications FOI surveillance system.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Privacy and Information Commissioner launched an investigation following complaints from several requesters, including this reporter, who were identified in the confidential communications notes.

Not only did the ministry track requests which I had filed to MCFD directly, it also tracked related FOI requests which I had submitted to Regional Health Authorities which operate separate FOI systems - logging my legal activities across different levels of government and flagging them to the attention of the Minister.

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The “10 steps” that any would-be dictator must go through to close down an open society:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to the people.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens’ groups and rights organizations.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Declare all dissent to be treason.
10. Suspend the rule of law.

2009 Top Ten Reasons the BC Liberals Still Suck

Because We all Know they Suck. I think even some of their people even know it too.

From cradle to grave in BC, the BC Liberals have found a way to tax us, harm us, sell BC's resources and assets, and kill BC's future prosperity. Unless you happen to be rich. Gordon Campbell doesn't have to care (and doesn't), he will be richly rewarded by his corporate and political masters for screwing the citizens of BC. He has led the worst and most corrupt government in BC and possibly Canadian history.

A decade in government has demonstrated that time and time again, the BC Liberal regime is incapable of acting in the public's interest and they have displayed a ruthless, Machiavellian bloodthirst to pick the government and province's bones clean. Ask yourselves - what legacy has the BC Liberals left in their wake. BC will never be the same after their bloodletting is done.

BC is #1 in Child Poverty for 6 Years in a Row!!!

Grinding, don't-ever-have-enough poverty. That's how the BC Liberals like to keep our future generations & their families. While Gordon Campbell is jetting all over the world and Canada, having photo-ops, over 100,000 BC kids each day don't have enough food, or the basic necessities of life. This is the shame of BC. Get real Mary, enough window dressing from the bunch of you, get to work and help our kids have a future or start building the jails now. Child poverty has been the choice of the BC Liberal government since 2001.

BC Liberals Senior Tax (BCST)

Not satisfied that around BC many of our elders live out the end of their lives in care homes, some better than others. Most of these citizens have worked their entire lives and contributed and paid into BC's coffers so that systems of care would be there for them when they need it most. Oh, no, if there is money to be made, trust the BC Liberals to find it. Come 2010, they will be raising care-home fees by eight per cent. In 2011, they will increase the fees by 10 per. This Seniors Tax will impact 75 per cent of seniors living in care homes.

Privatization

I don't think that most citizens truly understand how much of our province and infrastructure has been privatized, with billions of dollars flowing to private corportations, dollars that used to flow into our governments coffers to pay for public services. This means jobs lost, revenue paid into government, resources and assets lost forever. Crown lands. Agricultural lands given up to developer friends.

They are Piss Poor Manager's of the Public Purse

Why are they in politics in the first place? If they ran a business like they administered our government most of them would bankrupt a lemondade stand. Would you hire a Kevin Falcon, or a Rich Coleman? What about a Mary Polak? Why do you think they gave themselves "transitional" salaries and training etc. when they don't make it back into government. BC Liberal MLA's names are mud and unless they have an actual profession to return to, their employment prospects are pretty slim. But, they've taken care of that - the disgraced always find themselves with some snazzy corporate Directorships. And if you've been a BC Liberal MLA over the last decade, make no mistake about it - you are considered a disgrace to a growing majority, remember that when it's time to return to private life.

See BC's Bizarre Fiscal Plan for more details. And be afraid, very afraid.

Slashing & Burning Health Care & Community Support Services

Cancellation of thousands of surgeries. Downgrading health care services offered at local hospitals. Slashing of mental health and addiction services for adults and CHILDREN. Cuts to community support that actually prevent significant harm that requires more costly and intensive interventions. Penny-wise pound foolish public policy. And we all know where they money's going, we aren't stupid. To the 2 week party - the Olympics. That will bankrupt all of us. Our next generation of BC children who aren't even born yet will be left holding the bag. Who could have ever conceived of leaving unborn citizens a legacy of debt and substandard public services? The BC Liberals could conceive of it and they made it happen. Remember that next time at the polls. See Campbell Cuts for more details.

Lies, Omissions and Treachery in the 2009 Provincial Election

Does this sound familiar? The budget deficit will be maintained at $495 million. A blatant, total lie to the people of BC. After the election, we were told some version of the truth (they really don't know how to do that) and the real deficit figure was more like $2.8 billion.

They suppressed government documents during the election, purposefully obstructing the public's right to know by manipulating Freedom of Information requests. They didn't want taxpayers to know about the increase in people on Income Assistance.

They failed to mention they were bringing in the HST (Hey Stupid Tax). It would have been difficult for anyone to vote for them if the public knew about that. So, they omitted that from their platform, lying by omission to the people of BC.

B.S.Illusion & Inaction on Climate Change

Remember how in the last term Gordon Campbell was all about the environment, about doing something about climate change. Remember how he told us bringing in the Carbon Tax (CT) was going to somehow magically make a difference. Well, it's made a difference alright - it's slicing off even more of our meagre funds. For people who have no choice but to heat their homes & drive because there is no transit, or those who need their cars - we are paying and paying and paying. And not a damn thing has been done for the environment.

In fact, under the BC Liberals leadership, the environment is in the worse shape it's ever been, with no plans to do anything about it - except expand the damage. They plan to expand coal methane bed extraction, go big in privatizing more of our rivers to "Independent Power Producers." Why should corporations own our rivers and sell the power back to us for more money? Where have our salmon gone? The Feds plan to investigate, no interest from the BC Liberals to find out why these crucial food resources have been disappearing under their leadership.

BC Liberal Homelessness

The blame rests squarely on the head of this government. They brought in some of the most draconian, cruel and evil public policies any government in Canada (or elsewhere) ever has. They slashed the numbers on welfare. They brought in barriers to accessing it. They brought in reasons to disqualify people.

In a decade BC's rate of homelessness has exploded around the province. Cities and towns that never had issues of homelessness now do. Children, youth and families are now homeless. We have a generation of people who have been marginalized, socially excluded and forced into a mode of survival that a just, humane and compassionate government would never allow. But Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government created this crisis. No matter how much Coleman blathers on about the province buying up hotels. There are still thousands of people homeless around BC. Because their own government made it thus. It is a provincial disgrace.

Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia ( 765 KB)

Bringing in the HST

As if the rising cost of living, the Carbon Tax they brought in last year and the downward spiral of most of our budgets, the parasitical government decided to bring in this tax that will include so many more things that never used to be taxed. There is a reason even typical Liberal supporters such as the BC Restaurant & Food Association has started a petition against it. Sign the petition here. The HST is going to downgrade all of our standards of living at a time when none of us can afford that.

And, the one that seems be the most important reason the BC Liberals Still Suck:

They have lowered the bar so far, we will truly never be the same again as a society. We are all tarnished a bunch more because of them.

In May 2009 they ran at least 4 BC Liberal candidates (and incumbent serving MLA's) who were under investigation for various violations (Rich Coleman & Mary Polak for interference in the Langley municipal election, as far as we know they've been exonerated and no charges have ever been filed). Whatever happened with the "Other aspects of the complaint [that] are still being evaluated, Thiessen said. He couldn't give extensive details, noting that, so far, there were "only allegations" being looked into. Other individuals or agencies are also involved.

Then there is John Les, who had to resign as Solicitor General when "special prosecutor Robin McFee has been examining whether Les "improperly benefited from any commercial transactions involving land developers."

And Les' predecessor, leadfoot Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General John Van Dongen resigned from the BC Liberal Cabinet "following revelations that his driver's licence has been suspended for excessive speeding... van Dongen said the suspension had been triggered by two cases of "excessive speeding" in the last 18 months on a highway on Vancouver Island and on Highway 99."

But, in a surprise move, the usually moral people of Abbotsford returned the Honourable Van Dongen to the People's House. See what I mean, lowering the bar. For good.

Mentioned above, the lies, the treachery and deceit in not telling voters (including to their business buddies who were forking over the election ca$h) that they were bringing in the HST.

It hasn't been enough to plunge thousands into unrelenting poverty and homelessness, then the BC Liberals brought in legislation so that in the May 2009 election, those same thousands no longer have a right to vote for their own government. If they don't have ID, or anyone to "vouch" for them, then their own BC Liberal government disenfranchised them and took away the basic right conveyed to citizens in a democracy - to vote.

For moving forward with the pillaging of our lands, our resources, our Rivers.
Lower the bar so we have no choice but to get used to paying transnational Corporate masters our hard earned & dwindling paycheques. We're all really just serfs to the oligarchy in the BC Liberal regime and their Shadowy puppet masters.

Is it really too much to ask that this madness stop? We are in a new year and a new decade. The possibilities and opportunities for positive change are endless and at the tip of our fingers.

It is really time for the More of Us (than the few of them) to kick some BC Liberal @$$. We need to take back our Province and stop more hurt and fix the damage done.
Who's up for that as a Res/volution?

BC Liberals Seniors Tax (BCLST)

Did you hear the one about the government that decided to put a tax on being a Senior?
No - WELL, THAT'S OUR f#$^*(g BC LIBERAL GOVERNMENT.

It hasn't been enough to keep the most children in Canada living in poverty for the last six years.

To drive an epidemic of homelessness and poverty that they are now rapidly trying to clean up.

Or to drive chaos, bankrupt and dismantle our provincial Health Care and child welfare systems.

Draining away BC Hydro, carving and slicing away Crown and Agricultural lands.

Bringing in the HST (Hey Suckers Tax) to drain our wallets.

Cutting money from programs for abused kids, the disabled, addictions and mental health and from the Special Olympics!

No, they could add to that morally adrift administration and governance. In their infinite wisdom they're now bringing in the Senior Tax (ST).

Because, you know, those damn seniors just have too much income.
And if a buck can be made off of 'em, dammit, that just makes sense and must be good public policy. At least in the Machiavellian BC Liberal government. Sinking to levels we haven't even seen the depths of yet. Just wait until after the Big Party.

Babies, that's it. We are not taxing babies, pets or the dead. The possibilities are apparently endless to the BC Liberal government.
Look for more Stupid and Amoral taxes coming to you from the BC Liberals in 2010! You'll be on the edge of your seat! You will laugh, but mostly cry!

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B.C. care-home fee rise sparks concern
CBC News

Most B.C. seniors will have to pay more to live in a care home in the new year and many might not be able to afford it, according to the provincial NDP.

The province is raising care-home fees eight per cent in the new year and 10 per cent the next year.

The change — affecting 75 per cent of seniors living in care homes — will bring in an additional $54 million, the province says. The revenue is to be used to improve services for seniors.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon denied seniors will face hardship as a result of the fee increases.

Falcon said all drug costs in residential homes are covered by the government, and all seniors will be able to keep a minimum of $275 a month for personal needs under the new rate structure.

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Ombudsperson releases first report on care of seniors

• News release

• List of findings and recommendations

• Full report

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Are they insane, stupid, morally bankrupt? All of the above?

Are these Pod people?

Hatched from eggs of some cold-blooded creatures?

Do they not have parents, or loved ones who will now be seeing their dwindling funds being taxed by the very government most have paid into the coffers of for decades?

I just don't get how they don't say to themselves, no, this just goes too far. It will hurt too many. Are BC Liberal MLA's, flunkies and supporters incapable of accessing the kind of humanity this takes at this point in time? It appears to be the case and that is just so damn scary.

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Complaints about seniors' care prompt probe by B.C. ombudsman

B.C.'s ombudsman has launched a widespread investigation into the quality of care for senior citizens in the province, prompted by the more than 50 complaints her office received this summer about seniors' care facilities and services across B.C.

Kim Carter said Thursday the complaints include neglect in care facilities, the separation of spouses, accessibility of services and the closure of some facilities.

From the Who are They Trying to Fool File: Coleman & Campbell Homeless for a Day Dare

"It's just that on my conscience and on the conscience of the police officer on the street, I think they need to have a tool for the duty of care."
- Rich Coleman - December 02, 2009

How about the Duty of Care the current administration had toward not creating an explosion of homelessness, marginalization and social exclusion? The BC Liberal government bears a great deal of responsibility and with the Big Party coming, they need to get the blight of BC's homelessness off the streets somehow.

Problem is, and it's a BIG PROBLEM: THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH G.D. SHELTER BEDS TO ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THE PEOPLE POLICE ARE SUPPOSED TO "ESCORT" AGAINST THEIR WILL IN THE FIRST BLOODY CASE.

This Act is idiotic, unenforceable and vile. And it wouldn't pass a Charter case, but they're going to try to ram this through.

To prove my point, I want one of Coleman's minions to sit down with the Shelter list and start calling each one for a bed one day. They must report out how many beds are available. Do it four times, once in every season.

I am personally issuing a Double Dog Dare to Rich Coleman and Gordon Campbell -

Here are the Rules of Engagement:

• Each of these individuals will live 1 day/24 hours in the life of a homeless person in the Downtown Eastside.
• They leave their money, ID, phones - basically everything they own behind. They will be given a garbage bag so they can use that if they find things that might be helpful along the way.
• They will be dropped off at Main & Hastings with $2, early in the morning, often the time the homeless must be out of the shelters. For 24 hours they will try to survive, with no assistance from highly paid peons, just themselves.
• This new life will happen in winter, the temperature is dropping. They will be given runners that have a hole in the bottom and no socks. They will each be given an unwashed donated jacket.

Ready, Set, Go:

• Realizing you need to focus on where you will eat and sleep for the day you will each need to figure out where you can find food and shelter. You don't know the numbers of shelters, or have a phone to call any of them (Blackberries left behind). You find out you can make a couple of calls for free at some drop-ins, but lots of people need to use the phone too. Every shelter you call tells you they don't have any beds for that night.
• Someone tells you about a free lunch at the church, so you go get in line. It's started raining really hard, but you're pretty hungry and breakfast was a few hours ago so you just have to deal with it. After the long wait, you have some food and are soaked to the bone now and feeling really cold.
  
• You still haven't found a shelter bed for tonight.
  
• As you wander around, there is nowhere to go, you will notice all around you people who are, like you, homeless. Some are obviously on drugs, or mentally ill. You see that lady at the bus stop, she's picking up butts. She is talking to herself. As you walk by her, you see she has soiled herself and you notice she is walking around with her buttocks exposed and she doesn't have a jacket. Her cheeks are sunken in and she is shivering and mumbling to herself. [Ed. I know they wouldn't wonder, but they should ask themselves - how did she get like this? What has happened to her? Why isn't anyone doing anything to help her? ]
  
• Someone tells you of another shelter you might try, it's still raining and getting colder and you walk to that shelter. You get there and there is no bed for today.
  
• It's really, really cold and wet out there, it's almost snowing and it's now dark. The night comes early this time of year. You really never noticed that too much before.
  
• You found out about another place you can get some dinner. You get in that line. You notice something, you saw some of the same people at the other line up earlier in the day, or people you saw walking around.
  
• you drag out the meal as long as you can, still soaked, you have no place to sleep tonight. Where do you go?
  
• You remember you still have the $2, since you haven't been able to find a bed at any shelters you decide to go find a restaurant you can buy a coffee. You will spend some time in there. You go in and ask to buy a coffee. You're really surprised at how rude the worker is to you. What's their problem, what did you do to deserve that?
• Someone at another table starts telling you their story. They say they got in an accident at work, couldn't work. WCB wouldn't pay up, said they weren't hurt. Their employer fired them. Couldn't pay rent, applied for EI and welfare but because they got fired they can't get onto either. Their family tried to help out for a bit, but, you ended up on the street. You don't know what to say.
  
• You stay and stay and stay at the restaurant. You ask for re-fills but don't have any more money. The assistant manager says you have to go, this place isn't a shelter he tells you. You don't have any money to buy stuff, you can't stay here. As you leave you hear him say under his breathe "go get a job ya bum."
• Now what? The rain has turned to snow. It's so cold. You never knew before today that there were so many different kinds of cold. Better find somewhere under cover.
  
• Found a spot, looks like someone puked here earlier, just avoid that area, at least its out of the rain/snow. It is SO cold. Never been cold like this before. Hear voices and a flashlight is shined right in your face. "Hey, you can't stay here, get outta here. This is private property." It's a security guard. They say, "hey, I'm not looking for any problems, just wanted to be dry." As you leave you hear them say "fuckin' crackheads." You decide not to tell them it's not true, it might start something.
  
• On the move again, need another spot. See people smoking crack at one place. Find another area, security comes. Move again. You feel so tired. And cold. You think to yourself, I can't continue like this all night. But where do I go?
  
• Find another spot. It's too cold and wet to sleep, but I'll just close my eyes for a second. Next thing you know, someone is shouting at you. "Hey, you can't stay here. We're taking you to a shelter" shouts a VPD police officer. "It's the new law."
  
• You say "good, I was trying to get a bed earlier, I couldn't get one. Which shelter has the bed?" The cop says he's not sure, they're waiting to find out. But, while they wait, they'll put you in cuffs and in the back of the car.
  
• You hear the radio crackle a lot, there's a lot going on, but these guys are here with me now. Waiting to find out where the bed is. And waiting. And waiting. No bed at any shelter. Now what do they do with you?
• You aren't apparently crazy. Cops tell you that you aren't a risk to yourself, or others. We can't take you to the hospital, it would just put you out anyways. We need to get to a call. They unlock the cuffs, they say you can get out of the car. You can go but move along from this area. We don't want to see you here again tonight they say.
  
• But where to now? Feeling exhausted, sore, wet and cold, hopeless, alone. Only a few hours left to go until the morning. Start walking again. It's really coming down now, but more rain than snow at least.
  
• Somebody starts yelling at you " what are you lookin' at?" They're coming toward you. You say "I don't want any problems, I'm just walking by." You're pretty scared the guy might hit you. You hurry up and get out of there.
• You finally find a spot, you avoid the human waste, but at least its out of the rain. It's started to snow again. You stay there. You don't sleep, anything could happen if you do. You don't know what time it is, but, when it starts getting lighter you start making your way back to Main & Hastings. You can't stop shivering. Your hands are shaking. Your feel are numb, so it takes a long time to walk there. There are already people gathering.
  
• As your ride comes to pick you up, you realize that another day of being homeless in the Downtown Eastside has just started for these people. Your assistant arrives, they are shocked at your appearance. And you know you smell. But you get to leave. You get out alive. Many don't.
  

• And people wonder how, or why people become homeless. Many of us are one paycheque away from poverty. One car accident away from missed rent payments. One lost job away from an eviction notice and being homeless.
• And people wonder why some street people do drugs.
• And people wonder why some street people are mentally ill.

And I wonder why our government has created such broken lives and people? Why they keep throwing people away like garbage? And why they now want to arrest them for having no other way to live than deep, chronic poverty, with compromised health and complete and total social dislocation. With no way out, except for one very final one.
After living on the streets, death becomes a shadow friend, something a little closer than it was before. And some days, maybe the solution to the endless, grinding life ahead.

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VPD's Silence on Shelter Act Doesn't Worry Coleman

Province fine tuning details on how to implement controversial law

Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier. Dec. 2, 2009.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Monday he is not concerned that Police Chief Jim Chu has not publicly endorsed provincial legislation that allows police to remove homeless people from the streets.

"Jim is the chief and he'll use the laws that are at his disposal, and whatever they choose to do as far as their policy in the City of Vancouver is fine," Coleman told the Courier.

Coleman said the government is still working out the logistics of police transporting a homeless person who may have a cart or other belongings that wouldn't fit in a police car.

The new act gives police the power to use "reasonable force, if necessary" during an extreme weather alert to transport a homeless person to a shelter. If that person refuses to stay at a shelter, police cannot hold the person there, Coleman said.

With the act unlikely to be repealed, the focus has to be on ensuring there's enough shelter space and that homeless people seek shelter rather than get picked up by police, Jang said.

We're #1 - In Child Poverty - BC's Kids Lose Again

You sir, are an @$$. Here's a tip for you & your minions. B.S. (ie. the spin machine of the overpaid and overstaffed PAB) and telling the same untruths over and over doesn't make them true. It doesn't make you more palatable to those who are living beyond desperation and the rest of us. Those who know that their government has not only failed them, but has completely excluded them from participation and inclusion in their own society.

Why isn't our government concerned about the growing legions of alienated and discarded people slipping into deep poverty, homelessness and the distress of being forced into a place of abject and unrelenting survival seeking?
Why are they ushering so many into social dislocation, of deprivation, even at the most tender and vulnerable ages?
Who does this benefit?

The BC Liberals are failing in so many ways. And the people, the ones with nothing left to lose are getting damn sick, tired, hopeless and angry about it.

Back to the Basics - See the Dark Lord explaining what the province is doing to remediate child poverty. Basically nothing. I bet you're shocked.
Public Eye Online. Nov. 24, 2009.

The provincial government will be "reducing people's taxes, increasing the number of jobs and investing in education." That seemed to be the extent of Gordon Campbell's plan to deal with the rate of child poverty in British Columbia - which is the highest in the country for the sixth year in a row. Of course, the premier could have likely said more about what his government is doing to solve that problem. But he didn't when reporters scrummed him on his way into a caucus meeting.

By Sean Holman | Posted in Provincial | Comments (1)
Tagged: child poverty, Gordon Campbell

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Report on the Budget 2010 Consultations

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2009 BC Child Poverty Report Card
First Call: BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition

Premier Campbell’s BC Progress Board has argued, “All children, irrespective of their social background, should have an equal chance to succeed in the province, and there is compelling evidence that children from low income families are at greater risk.”

British Columbia had the highest child poverty rate in Canada for the sixth year in a row in 2007. According to the Statistics Canada before-tax Low Income Cut-Offs (LICOs), the proportion of children living in poverty in BC was 18.8% – well above the national child poverty rate of 15%. This means that an estimated 156,000 children were living in poverty in BC. That is greater than the combined population of Nanaimo and Prince George.

Crime & Public Disorder: Why are the BC Liberals Driving this Train to Hell?

This is absolute nonsense. So whose job is it going to be to be running the criminal records for welfare applicants? Where is the information found going to be kept? For how long? Who gets access to that information? Will it become part of someone's personal file with the welfare ministry? Now, here's the million dollar questions - what choice will criminals have but to continue to create crime & the public disorder that arises out of this life and collateral damage?

We should all be asking ourselves why the BC government is doing so much to promote crime & disorder in Beautiful BC in such a short time? Because we should all understand that is what happening on a gigantic scale. These people are just devoid of morality, it's so bloody odious.

I don't even think this is legal. I'm sure they will waste tons of taxpayers funds defending the indefensible for the Charter suit. But then most people have no idea they can look up anyone's name and find out whether they've had criminal charges against them in the last few years, where, how many appearances, whether they've been ordered for psychiatric assessment and what their sentence was. Go ahead, test it out with your name, or someone you know.

Court Services Online

Record could stop Welfare
VICTORIA/CKNW(AM980)

11/20/2009

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman is defending a bill that will cut off welfare for people convicted of indictable criminal offences.

Coleman had said the bill would cut off welfare for serious crimes like sexual assault and murder, but in debate with the NDP this week he admitted the legislation does not spell that out and "indictable offences" could include minor crimes like shoplifting.

But he says the intent is still to only cut off welfare for serious crimes, "But you know, there's a way to balance that, and we'll do that."

Coleman denies an NDP claim the bill casts too wide a net, and could see single moms lose their welfare for minor offences.

The Minister has this to say about the opposition, "You know, they have a love affair with criminals, these guys."

'NW: "Who?"

RC: "The NDP."

NDP critic Shane Simpson says Coleman's comments are ridiculous, "Well, that's just an absurd comment. I believe the problem with the Minister is the Minister when he spoke in second reading, he either misrepresented the truth when he suggested what this bill was, or he didn't understand his own legislation. And then he got caught on that when we got to further debate the other day, and I suspect the Minister's just feeling a little testy because he was shown to be wrong."

Simpson says the Government should have spelled out in the legislation exactly what crimes would see people cut off from welfare.

Psychopathology Breeds Contempt for the Public Good

See, I wasn't joking about the size of the ego and there is no room in BC for this disgusting kind of arrogance. Get the hell out of our Province and back to the depths to which you belong. You can't talk about OUR people like this. People who swore an Oath to the public good in BC, unlike those whose only fealty is sworn to the Almighty dollar no matter what it costs the citizens of the province one is visiting. And there are more than a few of 'em careening around BC right now.

I say let's give it a whirl, say bye-bye to the pocket liners, re-jig the Boards (no more double-dipping and conflict of interest), cap the salaries of CEO and directors and get back to an understanding of what public services are all about - serving the public interest.

BC Ferries Boss Dismisses Report of Being Overpaid as "Nonsense"
Comptroller general biased toward public-sector model, Hahn suggests
Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist. November 10, 2009.

Excerpts:

David Hahn began an interview by saying he had to be careful with his comments, then variously referred to the report's findings and recommendations as "biased," "nonsense," "craziness" and "dumb."

Hahn even objected to a section where comptroller general Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland stated that, compensation aside, the quasi-private company was reasonably well-managed.

"I'd probably take exception with the word 'reasonably,' " he said. "I think it's so much better, it's night and day."

Hahn, who earned more than $1 million last year, said he was insulted by the report's suggestion that he had too much influence over his compensation. The board decides how much he gets paid, not him, he said.

"I kind of chuckled, and thought it was sad at the same time, when she said the targets were easy to achieve," he said. "Do you think building ships in B.C. and getting that done the right way is easy to achieve? Do you think the on-time performance on the ships or changing the culture of B.C. Ferries from what it was to what it is, is easy?

"I don't know. Maybe she never rides the ferries or didn't ride them a long time ago. But I know from where it was to where it is today, we've got a lot to be proud of."

Hahn also rejected the report's call for increased accountability and greater separation between the B.C. Ferry Authority and B.C. Ferries' board of directors. The authority appoints itself to the B.C. Ferries board, creating what Wenezenki-Yolland called a conflict of interest. She also recommended an expanded role for the B.C. ferry commissioner.

Hahn suggested Wenezenki-Yolland was "biased" toward a public-sector model.

"I think she's saying B.C. Ferries should return to the way of the past. And let me tell you, if they fully implemented her mindset and it went back into this Crown environment, it would take less than a year for things to fall apart."

********************************

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
6. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
7. lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Off with Their Gigantic Inflated Heads: BC Liberal Appointees Bleeding Taxpayers Dry

“The relevant talents of the guy that Gordon Campbell's appointees have hired to run BC's ferry fleet appear to lie mainly in breaking up and selling off a major transportation company's assets.”
[The Troubled Company Reporter ; Georgia Straight Dec 18/03]

The Queen had it right "Off with their Heads" only I would add with their Greedy Egomaniac heads. Well, the latest audits are in. Great work on the part of Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland in exposing the monumental waste of tax payer dollars on the salaries of the Transportation Kings.

But, lets be clear, this latest bombshell (not) is laid, as usual, at the BC Liberals feet. They picked their henchmen, they filled the boards and they waved goodbye to our taxpayer funds, while many of us waved goodbye to adequate transportation services.

But - it's not like any of this is new News. It's been reported before what these scoundrels were doing on the public dime:

On April 1st , the BC Ferry Authority Board of Directors gave themselves a retroactive $233,000 pay hike on top of salaries and bonuses totaling $730,000 for attending meetings to increase fares and vote themselves pay raises. [Vancouver Sun Apr 16/08; Hansard Apr 15/08]

And what did Kevin Falcon, then Minister of Transportation have to stay to taxpayers: "Boo hoo."

Who on earth has ever heard of such a flagrant conflict of interest (and violation of the public interest) to have some of the same members sitting on the board that would set the salaries for themselves?

What layer of hell do these people spring from and how do they actually look at themselves in the mirror each day and not know what gigantic failures they are as protectors of BC's public good? At least everyone else now knows it too. Sorry excuses. I'd be hanging my head in shame if I were named as part of something like this - but, guess what, I WOULDN"T EVER FIND MYSELF DOING THIS TO THE TAXPAYERS OF BC. If you asked most taxpayers about this, I think they would say "nice gig, how do I get a sweet deal like this to pick my own salary? But seriously, ask ten random people on the street and they would get what a crappy deal this is for those of us who have to actually PAY THEM.

Read about 'em and weep at what they've been getting away with at our expense
(bye bye Health care system...):

BC Ferry Services Inc. Board of Directors

BC Ferry Authority Board of Directors

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Translink: Proudly & Openly Screwing Taxpayers for Years

It's also been reported that Translink is completely unaccountable. Like that is news.

TransLink Pay Scale Raises Eyebrows in BC
CBC News. February 8, 2008.

Directors of the Greater Vancouver transit authority have raised eyebrows by voting to award themselves a hefty pay package.

Behind closed doors and without issuing a press release, the TransLink board approved a wage scale that pays six times more than what the previous board was being paid to do similar work.

News of the increases come after the B.C. Ministry of Transportation restructured the TransLink board last year, replacing elected directors with appointed ones.

**********************

What to Do: Housecleaning is the Only Way to Go:

The best way for efficiencies to be made is start cutting at the top and work their way down, chop, chop, chop of the Boards. I think a few million can be found chopping the exorbitant, unsustainable salaries of these BC Liberal appointees who've been sucking taxpayers dry as taxes and fees were raised for the citizens of BC just to get basic transportation, if they even have that anymore.

So, Monday, what can we expect from Hahn? What can we expect from the government? Prendergrast has made it easy for the province by already bowing out and heading back to NY. I think there must be some sort of ferry fleet Emperor Hahn could find to tear apart back in his home state of New Yawk, or somewhere else.

It's pretty clear, the taxpayers of BC can't afford these free-wheelin', high-life livin' Emperors anymore. Hello, remember - ECONOMIC CRISIS. If that's what all of us non-Royals have to deal with, then so can these folks.

*************************
Major BC Ferries and TransLink reforms needed: report
CBC News.

The top levels of both BC Ferries and TransLink require a major restructuring to give them more accountability, greater transparency and better oversight, B.C.'s comptroller general says.

*****
Senior Ferries Staff Overpaid: Labour Relations Expert
Rob Shaw and Ann Hui, Times Colonist. July 30, 2009.

"Taxpayers can't, like shareholders in a private business, protest or sell shares in B.C. Ferries if they're unhappy with the way it's run. We don't have that choice as taxpayers," he said [Ken Thornicroft, professor of law and labour relations with the University of Victoria's business school].

Ferries CEO David Hahn receives more than $1 million a year in salary and benefits. His four vice-presidents each earn around $500,000 a year, bringing the senior management total to more than $3 million a year.

**************
Follow the disappearing dollars, to find out what this was all really about, anyone noticing a theme about disappearing Crown lands (BC Ferries, BC Rail...)
from William Thomas:

On April 2, 2003, Kevin Falcon and the Minister of Land and Water quietly signed documents transferring all BC Ferry crown land, foreshore, water lots, terminals, berths and parking lots to the BC Transportation Financing Authority in exchange for a $330 million promissory note. The BCTFA immediately turned around and charged the Campbell government $330 million for a 60-year lease on the berths and terminals just transferred to it.

So the newly formed and heavily indebted BC Ferry Services Inc. handed back BCTFA's $330 million to lease the facilities it had owned just seconds ago. Presto! What had been public crown land was now owned by the newly hatched BC Transportation Financing Authority.

BC Ferries ended up with an insupportable debt that was soon to quadruple under a massive and long overdue modernization of ships and shore facilities that could best be carried out by the provincial government. But not after this bookkeeping flim-flam that removed government liability to what it called an “arms-length” distance that left taxpayers liable for any payback shortfalls.

By holding all but one voting share of the company, the province now owned a private company called BC Ferry Services. To insure that the BC government could not “interfere” with what is no longer a provincial ferry fleet, this voting share was handed to the newly created BC Ferry Authority, which controls the new BC Ferry Service through its Board of Directors. As the Ferry Authority explains on its website, “By its structure, the Authority ensures the operations of BC Ferries are independent from the provincial government.” [bcferryauthority.com]
*********
TransLink eyes $18M tax hike for Metro Vancouver residents

TransLink is facing an $18-million budget shortfall and residential property owners may be asked to pick up the tab for the transit authority.

TransLink, the regional transit authority, used to be run by a board made up of regional mayors and councillors. But in March 2007, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced sweeping changes to TransLink.

The former board was replaced by a government-appointed board of professionals — accountants, lawyers and engineers who govern day-to-day operations — and by a council of 30 mayors to look at long-term planning.

One of the first moves of the new board was to hold a vote behind closed doors to give themselves pay raises without any public notice, raising their pay to more than six times what the previous board was paid.

TransLink head departs for new job in NYC
CBC News.

Finance official offers fixes for Ferries, TransLink :: The Hook

Andrew MacLeod.

The BC Liberal Government: An Unmitigated Disaster & Disgrace

"I just can't understand why the opposition would want to maintain government positions at the expense of services to kids. What is it you don't like about providing front-line services to kids?"

Mary Polak - Minister of Children & Family Development, speaking about criticism of cuts of positions that supported parents in in accessing Infant Development services and Special Needs daycare for children with disabilities.

“It will be very straightforward,” said Falcon, noting that people will pay 80 percent of their after tax income for their care. “Will they be happy about it? They certainly probably will not be.”

Kevin Falcon - Minister of Health, speaking about increases for seniors living in residential care facilities.

**********************************

Sitting back sometimes and taking a breather, taking in what's happening around one's watering hole often pays off. You begin to see things at a broader level, spot the themes and the patterns swirling around said watering hole.

Beautiful BC is the metaphorical watering hole in this story. The destruction and cuts being carried out by the BC Liberal government toward the vulnerable, the marginal and the insecure are the most prevalent themes and patterns occurring these days. The corruption, the greed and the diminishing status of the BC public service are themes and patterns all too obvious to many of us.

Since 2005 BC Liberals Sucks has been blogging and creating a log, a library chronicling the mismanagement, the corruption and the actions of a morally bankrupt government. In 2009, we can see that when we think they cannot reach new lows of depravity, they take our collective breath away with their cruelty toward our most vulnerable and precious citizens, with their excuses for those who have abused the public trust placed in them, by their greed and incompetence.

The quotes above are perfect examples of the mean-spirited, cold-hearted manipulative and self-serving excuses made by this government to those who attempt to speak and advocate on behalf of those who will experience harm at the expense of their own government. There is nothing like straight from the mouth comments like this to cut to the core of this government.

Being such a media fiend, reading mainstream, non-mainstream, blogs and comments of citizens of our fair province, talking to people from all walks of life, I think I have a good handle on the "pulse" of many. What I see in BC is that many of us are being wounded. We are being kicked when we are down and when we need the support of our government most. We are being handed B.S., lies and sophistry to cover up the misdeeds of those who lined their pockets at our expense, those who cause harm in how they conduct government, OUR government.

Our young people don't vote - for good reason. Governments have become lethally corrupt. They cause the harm they should be working 24/7 to mitigate. And it isn't just short-term pain, for long-term gain. The actions carried out by government will have long-lasting impacts. The harm done today, will reach into our next generations. One need only look to the legacy of colonization and the attempted genocide of Aboriginal peoples of Canada to see the damage done by amoral and greedy governments. I guarantee that when many of us look back in a decade or two and ask where things went so wrong for BC - the blame will be fixed firmly on the shoulders of those who smugly sit in Victoria over this last decade - the decade of the destruction of BC's public services and social safety net.

Let's review the damage directly caused by the BC Liberal government to it's citizens:

• BC has the highest child poverty rate for 6 years in a row. Their government robbed them of a decent childhood and robbed them of a better future.
• Cuts to sexual abuse counseling for children, cuts to proven Early Intensive autism Intervention services, inadequately funding for child & youth mental health services, systemic failure of the child protection system to meet it's mandate and protect children.
  
• BC now has the LOWEST minimum wage in Canada (highest standard of living in many communities) while our Premier and MLA's voted themselves raises and gave senior bureaucrats & Liberal appointees raises again.
  
• Cuts to school district funding for repairs, improving infrastructure, earthquake proofing of buildings. Imagine the scenes we've seen from China, from all over the world of the damage done from earthquakes.
  
• Cutting program advisers who assisted families in accessing Infant Development intervention and Special Needs daycare. See here.
• Plans to increase daily fees for long-term residetial care for our Elders fortunate enough to even make it into residential care. See here.
  
• Cuts to services for those seniors who try to live in the community as long as they can, sometimes to their own detriment.
• Creating and driving an epidemic of homelessness across BC and then expecting local communities to deal with a government-constructed nightmare, that only senior levels of governments can fix.
• Perverting, manipulating, corrupting and diminishing the justice and legal system of BC.
• Raid of the BC Legislature. Destroyed and missing e-mails. Manipulation of the legal process so the truth of what has been done to the people of BC can be kept behind closed doors. Perversion of the common-law system to evade giving testimony of government involvement.
• Cuts to Legal Aid.
• Disenfranchising the poor and homeless from voting.
• Destruction and reckless disregard of the environment, wild salmon as we know it, expansion of Run of River projects.
• Corporatization of BC and the billions that used to stay in BC communities and flow into our government coffers now leak like a sieve into the hands of private corporations.
• Massive breach of our privacy rights to our personal information through the privatization of government held information systems (Ie. provincial revenue) to American-owned corporations. The biggest slashing of BC's public services in our history to fund a 10 day party that will bankrupt us and future generations.

What to do?

I have the sense people feel completely uncertain about what to do to deal with the recklessness and harm being imposed by this government on it's citizens. At no point in the last decade are more people aware of the mismanagement, corruption and mess we're in because of these clowns.

BC has long been viewed with skepticism, as a joke etc. But our reputation has been so diminished that I don't think we can fully comprehend the harm of that, whether that is across Canada, or amongst the international community. We have been cited again and again by the international Human Rights community for the poor conditions created by our government. We should all feel disgraced and ashamed of our poor standing nationally and internationally. The BC Liberal government did that to us.

As many of us know, the recall legislation is flawed, and the standards are very difficult to meet. The way I see it, although we only marginally still live in a democratic province, admittedly it feels much more like an oligarchy, or some awful fascist dictatorship these days, one of the things we must do is let our elected representatives, our MLAs AND MP's know how unhappy we are with the decisions of this government. This goes double for BC Liberal MLA's. They quite frankly need to be told by constituents that they will be wiped from the map in the next election. They need to know that they can't simply walk away from their record in their ridings once they return to private life. The stench and shame of standing by and doing nothing while more and more citizens of BC will follow them wherever they go. When faced by amoral, corrupt and incompetent government, citizens must now mete out the consequences to those who prosper and succeed on the backs of the rest of us.

There is more than enough blame to go around. Those who carry out the cuts and diminish public services through their "leadership" and those who were elected to represent the people, who are silent bystanders to atrocities. We cannot tolerate either group anymore. Our BC is at stake, we all need to realize that and do whatever we can to ensure our government, our nation and others know what is being done to the people of BC by the moral and fiscal failure of the BC Liberal government.