Northern Insight

Returning soon

2013-06-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

A convergence of health and other personal and business issues consumed my attention recently and kept me from blogging. However, I expect to be back on line mid-week. Thanks for the messages of concern and your patience.

Canada's Senators, choose one

2013-05-21T13:25:00.003-07:00

To help us decide which image best represents the Senate, Toronto Star provides a helpful resource HERE.

Do not click here if you anger easily:
Comparative Costs – Upper Houses of Parliament: Canada and UK

H/T Chris M.

Government we collectively deserve

2013-05-21T00:07:00.003-07:00

A significant week just passed. Great days for some; difficult moments for others. Like many observers of British Columbia politics, I was surprised by the election result. Believing facts clear and the need for change obvious, I was not merely surprised. I was confounded and needed time to react.

The outcome demonstrates that I put too much faith in political polls and was too attentive to people followed in social media and real life. Beyond that, perhaps I had excessive faith in fellow citizens. After all, nearly half of the people registered to vote in BC didn't bother to show up at the polls. As a result, the Liberals hold power despite being affirmed by fewer than 16% of the provincial population. That is particularly disheartening. My father and uncles served in WWII; my grandparents, mother and aunts served at home. They treasured the right to stand against tyranny and influence public policy by voting. They also passed regard for democratic responsibilities to their children. Apparently, most of my generation didn't convey the messages any further.

People who took time to investigate and evaluate knew that BC Liberals were beyond the best before date. Well beyond. I was certain and I assumed other informed people would also be certain. However, not enough folks made efforts to be informed. They bought the messages provided by wealthy media moguls or were distracted, watching Real Housewives of Dawson Creek or similar video trash.

MSM stalwart Keith Baldrey noted a few weeks back that social media participants spend much time talking to themselves and thereby misunderstand the political landscape and overestimate their collective influence. If that is a charge for me to answer, I reluctantly plead guilty.

Bob Mackin wrote a fine examination of the 2013 election. Without doubt, Adrian Dix and the NDP opposition snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It would be easy to blame Brian Topp, the Ontario strategist who, weeks before voting day, partnered in a consulting enterprise with Christy Clark allies Boessenkool and Guy. To all besides BC's would-be Premier, the move confirmed reservations about Topp's judgement and commitment.

Adrian Dix is the person who tolerated Brian Topp's presence. Dix decided it was best to stay quiet about specific Liberal corruption and Dix underlings instructed all to avoid a focus on major misdeeds of the opponents. Business people who provided documentary evidence of wrongdoing to the NDP opposition wondered why it was ignored and never heard about again. Whistle blowers in the NDP's 2013 world were not welcome. The party's aristocracy was waiting for the coronation they believed to be certain.

Long time political observer Norman Spector recently reminded us that politicians seldom examine the flimflammery of predecessors because tradition demands that sleeping dogs lie undisturbed when governments change. Adrian Dix misunderstood the custom; he thought the entire game should be played with softballs, even while opponents aimed hardballs at his head. The sad lesson is that people don't expect decency from politicians.

Before election night, I was told that BC Liberals were short of volunteers and, in most communities, reliant on paid staff for campaigning. I learned subsequently that despite rumours and dreams of endless volunteers, many NDP candidates faced similar difficulties. Like the Liberals, they had too few bodies but, unlike the Liberals, they had too few dollars. That was a perfect situation for the corporate welfare bums who who believe that paying for politicians results in the absolute best possible returns on investment.

Party workers who might have volunteered in earlier days now spend time on social networks, thinking they have contributed adequately. They don't bother to join the door knocking enterprises or the other tough work of running for office.

Dix is not entirely to blame. The NDP is not a vessel that can find calm seas. They've been defined by their enemies and the country's most brilliant strategists might not alter the situation. Perhaps the Green Party is best equipped to represent grass roots. To do that, they must avoid being captured by big business movements and large labour unions; difficult tasks when huge dollars are offered. To be meaningful, Greens must represent ordinary citizens of British Columbia and their future generations. Neither of BC's major parties seem intent on doing that now.

For what it's worth

2013-05-14T13:49:00.002-07:00

I may have been a touch off on the seat count, but at least I got the graphic right.

I~~'m heading~~ headed off to vote. Before that, I~~'m joining~~ I joined my equally sightless blogging colleagues and ~~providing~~ provided a seat count prediction:

BC NDP - 58 [46%] ... Actual - 33 [39%]
BC Liberal - 23 [36%] ... Actual - 50 [44%]
BC Green - 1 [11%] ... Actual - 1 [8%]
BC Conservative - 0 [5%] ... Actual - 0 [5%]
Independent - 3 [2%] ... Actual - 1 [3%]

In the interest of transparency, I provide part of my working papers. No secrets here.

Connections between wealth and power flourish in secret

2013-05-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

An article I published almost three years ago is timely on this election day. Voters have an opportunity to change direction. If we do not, the plundering of British Columbia will accelerate. Gordon Campbell began with a set of principles and slid into corruption. Christy Clark started without principle.

Earlier in Northern Insights, the article Indeed, Power does corrupt contains words of Paul Graham that are a diagnosis and could be the prescription for reform in British Columbia.

"The problem here is not wealth, but corruption. . . We don't need to prevent people from being rich if we can prevent wealth from translating into power. And there has been progress on that front. . . But what's changed is not variation in wealth. What's changed is the ability to translate wealth into power.

"How do you break the connection between wealth and power? Demand transparency. Watch closely how power is exercised, and demand an account of how decisions are made. Why aren't all police interrogations videotaped? . . . Why don't government officials disclose more about their finances, and why only during their term of office?

"A friend of mine who knows a lot about computer security says the single most important step is to log everything. Back when he was a kid trying to break into computers, what worried him most was the idea of leaving a trail. He was more inconvenienced by the need to avoid that than by any obstacle deliberately put in his path.

"Like all illicit connections, the connection between wealth and power flourishes in secret. Expose all transactions, and you will greatly reduce it. Log everything. That's a strategy that . . . doesn't have the side effect of making your whole country poor."

Now, consider those thoughts and hold them in mind while I introduce the intermediary connecting Gordon Campbell and his puppet masters. Martyn Brown was the only witness in the opening weeks of the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial. Experienced pol and blogger Ian Reid wrote this about him:

"Brown, as you may know is the Rip Van Winkle of BC politics and can’t remember much about what’s happened in BC since 2001. His default answer to everything Basi/Virk is “I don’t recall.”

Brown's forgetfulness and paucity of personal records is by carefully considered design and the purpose relates to the same fear that bothered Paul Graham's young computer hacker friend:

"What worried him most was the idea of leaving a trail."

Indeed, government of British Columbia is all about secret connections and one hand washing another, in private. Do you suppose for a moment that Martyn Brown functioned as Campbell's consigliere for years with a non-functioning memory? Do you suppose that Justice Anne MacKenzie believed Brown's lack of memory was anything but considered? The truth is that to manage without diaries and files requires an extraordinary memory.

BC Liberals are drawing more and more public business behind closed doors. Private negotiations replace open tenders. Public private partnerships hide information for "competitive reasons" and publicly owned private corporations shield major transactions from review. Trade councils and intermediaries controlled by government have been established to keep business out of the public sector. Crown corporations such as BC Hydro are made to follow government direction but allowed to hide contracts that commit citizens to pay tens of billions of dollars in future payments.

I could go on but the idea is clear. Again, I repeat that Campbell promised open and transparent government but he has given us the opposite. Liberal members of the legislature are frightened to speak out, they merely nod their heads and speak the words written for them by the leader's minions. Media pals, knowledgeable about ethical defects, close their eyes and write about other things. Some of them don't even hold their noses as they churn out pap punditry.

Without core values, fake and phony

2013-05-14T11:40:00.001-07:00

H/T RossK, The Gazetteer

Bankrupting BC with $171 Billion Debt Legacy

2013-05-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

From The Common Sense Canadian.

Choose the coast you want for British Columbia

2013-05-13T14:34:00.001-07:00

Tuesday's vote provides a rare opportunity for citizens to choose a course for our province and our children and the children of our children.

Do we want this:

Or, this:

But now the days grow short

2013-05-12T23:39:00.002-07:00

And only one will say, "It was a very good year."

Liberal campaign based on falsehoods

2013-05-12T16:09:00.001-07:00

From Kevin Logan, contributor to The Common Sense Canadian

click here to read The New West Partnership Trade Agreement

Part I states operating principles, including:

ESTABLISH a comprehensive agreement on trade, investment and labour mobility that applies to all sectors of the economy;
ELIMINATE barriers that restrict or impair trade, investment or labour mobility.
SUPPORT ongoing trade and investment liberalization both nationally and internationally...

Read Yaila Yuile's fine work (it always is) on this subject, particularly the comments exchange with Kevin Logan September 11, 2012 12:24 am.

Absolute best comment written about Premier Photo Op

2013-05-11T12:52:00.002-07:00

Long time Liberal Warren Kinsella, only guy in the four years of Northern Insight who threatened to sue this humble blogger, published the most precise description of Christy Clark yet written. It's in his piece, ADRIEN DIX IS GOING TO WIN.

"My problem was that she was, in her core, without a core. She was fake. She was phony."

From The Sermon on the Mount:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

“Valuable Consideration Mutually Given and Received”

2013-05-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

This item is written by a Northern Insight reader I've known for years. He's done business regularly with the BC Government but in recent years, it's been a problematic relationship because he has refused all exactions issued by the "Pay to Play" BC Liberals. For that refusal, his business was targeted for injury. It's a business style we used to think was confined to third world nations. It is not so confined while Christy Clark, Rich Coleman and friends are in charge. It's business as usual.

"For valuable consideration mutually given and received."

This ubiquitous phrase in legal agreements has taken on new significance as documents related to the indemnification of Basi and Virk were released to the public by Jas Johal. Link

One has to ask what value the people of British Columbia received when BC Liberals relieved Basi and Virk of responsibility to repay taxpayers $6 million in legal fees owed as a result of their criminal activities.

What would have been the value of knowing the real reasons Liberals sold BC Rail to CN, a big financial contributor headed by a friend of Gordon Campbell, the Premier who promised voters he would not sell BC Rail.

What would have been the value of hearing testimony from elected officials and bureaucrats about the roles they played in the BC Rail matter, in court and under oath?

What would have been the value of learning how a plea bargain followed arrangement of generous terms for Basi and Virk, an inducement to plead guilty that shut down the judicial process that seemed certain to expose wrongdoing by BC Liberals?

We know the valuable consideration Basi and Virk gained was $6 million, no jail time and easy house arrest that barely confined them to home.

What mutual valuable consideration did the people of British Columbia gain?

The sad but obvious answer is none.

An open letter from a concerned citizen of BC:

2013-05-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

If ever the people of BC needed the power of the press, now is that time.

The Basi-Virk plea agreement made public yesterday lays bare the corruption of our courts for all who have eyes to see.

Now we get to find out if that same corruption has neutered our fifth estate.

W.W.
Victoria

For more on this story, read Jas Johal's report at Global TV.

Leaked Basi-Vrik documents: Letter from Richard Fyfe

Only in Alberta, you say? Pity...

2013-05-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

NOT for the people

2013-04-29T15:26:00.001-07:00

In an 1830 speech, Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster said that government should be

"Made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."

British Columbia's present ruling political class may pay lip-service to this fundamental ideal of democracy but, repeatedly, their behaviour demonstrates the priority is to serve special private interests. Premier Clark said that unashamedly in the leaders' debate on radio, explaining why TI, the province's vital pharmaceutical watchdog, was being eliminated. It's teeth had already been blunted.

In Saturday's Times Colonist, former Deputy Minister of Health Lawrie McFarlane wrote:

"Tuesday's announcement by Adrian Dix, leader of the B.C. New Democrats, that he plans to rescue the Therapeutics Initiative concludes (hopefully) one of the more disgraceful episodes in our recent political history..."

Of course, it is no coincidence that BC Liberals have pocketed hundreds of thousands in donations from the very private interests that lobbied against TI.

Please take the time to read through materials at AlanCassels.com. It is "Where media and medicine meet." Follow him too on Twitter @AKECassels

Pavco is another disgraceful illustration of how BC Liberals function for the benefit of insiders and friends. As the days counted down to the election, Pavco was racing to deliver valuable real estate into the hands of private interests friendly with Rich Coleman and the Liberal government. To facilitate these and other efforts, most of the provincial government stopped delivery of FOI documents unless they had been stripped of contentious contents. Countless files have been placed in limbo pending the election. Pavco even took action seeking to deny answering each and every request for documents filed by diligent investigative reporter Bob Mackin.

Similarly, other provincial departments and agencies have been working at tying the hands of a new government. Long term procurement and service contracts worth hundreds of millions have been renewed long before they needed to be. Senior bureaucrats and Liberal operatives, knowing days are numbered, are greedily stuffing pockets wherever they can.

Economic crimes are underway and both present and future taxpayers are the victims.

BC's uncomfortable political reality

2013-04-27T16:15:00.001-07:00

I noticed this at Bob Mackin's website and my thoughts match his. So, it is easier to steal Bob's words than crank out ones of my own that couldn't be better.

"On April 28, Sean Holman screens his new documentary "Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline" at 7 p.m. in the Vancouver Public Library's Alice MacKay Room. Suggested donation is $5.

"I saw the premiere at the University of B.C. on April 26 and it is a shocking look at how B.C. is governed. It is a must-see that will cause you to question the state of our democracy (or lack thereof).

"It was great to see Holman back in B.C., rousing the rabble like he does so well. This province's loss is Alberta's gain. The former Public Eye Online proprietor is an assistant professor of journalism at Mount Royal College in Calgary."

Bob also has details of DOA's Joe Keithley performing a solo acoustic gig tonight for NDP supporters and again May 3. Check Bob's website for details, using the link above.

I was also at the UBC screening Thursday. Even though I've been a political observer in this province for a very long time, Sean's video described defects in our parliamentary system worse than imagined. It is astounding that a man now employed in Calgary is the one to say what needs to be said while the dinosaurs of the Legislative Press Gallery just go along, to get along.

I now understand why the sitting government maintains an extravagant pension plan for backbench MLAs; it is not to attract better candidates, it is to ensure the quiet complicity of loyal enablers. All they have to do is sit quietly, pound their desks at the right moments and vote as instructed by leadership. If they don't do those things...

Whipped is a program every concerned citizen should see. Nothing much will change in the Legislature until we make fundamental alterations of our voting system. Understanding the faults of governance is vital to beginning any meaningful improvement.

Thank you Sean Holman for completing your work. Now, it is time for citizens to begin ours.

If you value independent journalism

2013-04-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

To the left is a donation button linked to PayPal Secure Payments. An explanation of why
you're asked to use it follows. Note: any amounts not expended directly in furthering this
project will be returned to contributors July 31, pro rata.

A number of bloggers plan a blog aggregation website featuring regular commentary about many issues important to British Columbia. Writers will maintain independent sites but there will be a single internet entry for readers to review abstracts, then make a choice to be linked, or not, to originating blogs for the complete articles.

In addition, original and cooperative publishing will occur as the effort evolves. We will promote vigorous exchanges but feature wise, witty and mannerly discussions. At least, most of the time.

We also intend to provide research assistance and training resources to encourage and improve independent journalism. Another goal is to help beginners start in the world of blogging.

To achieve this goal and ensure the website remains free of advertising or commercial sponsors, we must address start-up costs that include programming and internet hosting and communication services. That’s how readers can help. A number have already contributed but without further assistance, we cannot develop a product as fine as it can be.

Additionally, if you can volunteer technical or professional services to assist in the start up, send me an email and explain what those could be. We'll be looking for a graphic artists, web designers and a lawyer with media experience.

Many bloggers receive no revenues from published work and independence is reflected in their writing. We think a broad range of opinions deserve to be heard and we want to bring you the best.

Patients exposed to harm on a staggering scale

2013-04-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

This item first published here in September is worth republishing as the BC Liberal Gov't takes more action against Therapeutics Initiative, a science based reviewer that troubles major pharmaceutical companies and their client politicians.

Make sure you read RossK's recent piece: Nevermind The Stunt-O-Meters...The Therapeutics Initiative Is An Issue That Matters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal, Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Sept. 21, 2012

"...In 2010, researchers from Harvard and Toronto found all the trials looking at five major classes of drug – antidepressants, ulcer drugs and so on – then measured two key features: were they positive, and were they funded by industry? They found more than 500 trials in total: 85% of the industry-funded studies were positive, but only 50% of the government-funded trials were. In 2007, researchers looked at every published trial that set out to explore the benefits of a statin. ...They found that industry-funded trials were 20 times more likely to give results favouring the test drug.

"...The results from every randomised controlled trial (45 out of 45) favoured the drug of the sponsor."

"How does this happen? How do industry-sponsored trials almost always manage to get a positive result? Sometimes trials are flawed by design. ...Sometimes, drug companies conduct lots of trials, and when they see that the results are unflattering, they simply fail to publish them.

"Because researchers are free to bury any result they please, patients are exposed to harm on a staggering scale throughout the whole of medicine. Doctors can have no idea about the true effects of the treatments they give...

"And this data is withheld from everyone in medicine, from top to bottom.

"...it is entirely normal for researchers and academics conducting industry-funded trials to sign contracts subjecting them to gagging clauses that forbid them to publish, discuss or analyse data from their trials without the permission of the funder.

"...How is it possible that our systems for getting data from companies are so poor, they can simply withhold vitally important information showing that a drug is not only ineffective, but actively dangerous? ... "

• This is part of an edited extract from Bad Pharma, by Ben Goldacre, published next week by Fourth Estate. To order a copy go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop.

Ben Goldacre's Guardian article reminded me of The Gazetteer's reports on BC's capitulation to international pharmaceutical giants. RossK quoted from a Times Colonist editorial that has since disappeared from view:

"The last act in a nasty vendetta has finally played out. Premier Gordon Campbell's government has decided to kill B.C.'s only independent drug review agency. And not just kill it, but bury it in an unmarked grave.

"The agency involved is called the Therapeutics Initiative. Based at the University of British Columbia, it evaluates new drugs that come on the market.

"The Therapeutics Initiative saves taxpayers $50 million annually by finding cheaper alternatives. Largely thanks to its efforts, B.C. has the lowest drug costs in the country, despite offering some of the best coverage.

"Moreover, the Therapeutics Initiative runs on a shoestring budget. The agency gets $1 million a year. That means it generates a 50 to one return on investment.

"Finally, its researchers have been credited with saving 500 lives by issuing timely warnings about suspect medications. When the new anti-inflammatory product Vioxx came out, the agency discovered a link with increased heart attack rates. As a result, although Vioxx was approved across most of North America, it was kept off the shelves in B.C. ... "

Bloggers 1 / BC Pro-media 0

2013-04-24T22:49:00.001-07:00

Excellent piece in the Globe & Mail by Eric Grenier (@308dotcom) on why he expects no irregular polling results in the BC election, as seemed to occur in Alberta last April.

Why the B.C. NDP aren’t likely to see a Wildrose-like collapse

"...Add to that the fact that the polls have not shifted to any great degree in British Columbia for the past year, whereas support for the Alberta Tories swung heavily to Wildrose in the first week of the campaign, and the more extensive organization and get-out-the-vote capability of the B.C. New Democrats compared to Alberta’s Wildrose, and there is little reason to expect a late swing to occur..."

I added emphasis to that first line because it is something bloggers have written about but it's largely been ignored or distorted by the pro-media people in British Columbia. Examples of mine are HERE and HERE. The second piece targeted the maybe/maybe-no conflicted Stephen Smart of the CBC.

RossK at The Gazetteer identified a few defects in reporting by corporate media, including a little wishful thinking by one of the senior lads in the Legislative Press Gallery of BC.

Blog Borg Collective provided additional interesting analysis here.

Boardroom theatre

2013-04-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

The concept of a Kitimat bitumen refinery may have reasons to exist at this moment but none are connected to serious business objectives. Accordingly, David Black's proposition, which if built would rank among the world's largest refineries, has been received with what Gary Mason called a rush of cynicism and doubt.

Last month, Black indicated $25 B financing was arranged through the Oppenheimer Investments Group, a company unknown to the public. This week, Black announced that Oppenheimer is out and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will try to organize lenders for the project.

David Black appears to lack technical and managerial experience for a huge industrial project and he does not have the financial muscle. (Torstar carries their 20% interest in Black Press at zero value.) Despite that, CP quoted Premier Clark, "Black driving the development, ensures the project is BC owned." Perhaps Ms. Clark expects ICBC will find investors for the project in BC.

Its promoter claims Kitimat Clean would process 525,000 barrels per day, making it larger than any refinery constructed on this continent in four decades. North America's last significant refinery project, a facility in Garyville LA, began operating in 1977 at capacity of 200,000 bpd and is now rated at 460,000 bpd.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

I surmise the project is a Hail-Mary effort to boost Liberal chances in the May election. Liberals lay claim to being a business friendly government and they hope the proposal promotes the Liberals' fantastical promise of a debt free British Columbia. Premier Clark announced that "Kitimat Clean refinery royalty revenues" will be captured by her new Prosperity Fund. Since the Dilbit feedstock would be extracted in Alberta, perhaps Clark is expecting a royalty sharing agreement with Premier Redford.

The second value of Black's refinery proposition is to lessen opposition to the Northern Gateway pipelines. Refining in Kitimat is promoted as a way of exporting petroleum products without the risks associated with water transport of diluted bitumen. However, beginning construction of the pipelines provides no guarantee the refinery will get built. Difficulties in financing a Canadian refinery can be claimed to justify shipping Dilbit to Asia.

Enbridge first disclosed its plans to transport bitumen to BC's north coast in 2003. After more than a decade of consideration, the company still faces obstacles that delay the start of construction. Kitimat Clean has not completed comprehensive environmental studies for their massive proposal. Unless Canada's Conservative Government totally abdicates environment reviews, 67-year-old Mr. Black has a long road to travel.

However, I don't think it is a road he intends to travel. The scheme is almost certainly an act of theatre from the same Liberals who brought us the Concerned Citizens for BC and its deceitful attacks on Opposition Leader Adrian Dix.

Tax issue the Harper Gov't prefers not to address

2013-04-17T21:49:00.001-07:00

Read Committee studying offshore tax evasion will not question revenue minister at The Globe and Mail.

This story comes from the USA but Canadian companies employ similar schemes of tax avoidance. In fact, most of the companies listed here have large Canadian operations. One of the reasons that companies doing business in British Columbia wanted to maintain HST is that, under that system, they avoided nearly all sales taxes.

Many had already managed to avoid income taxes through off shore affiliates and shelters but they wanted to eliminate local consumption taxes as well. The $2 billion of BC sales taxes those businesses will now pay under reinstated provincial sales tax cannot be sheltered by offshore phantoms.

That makes multi-national operations and their Liberal Party surrogates unhappy.

The entire article, Corporate Tax Dodgers: 10 Companies and Their Tax Loopholes, was published by Institute for Policy Studies, republished by Common Dreams,, a fine site available by free subscription.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 10 CORPORATE TAX DODGERS [IN U.S.A.]

Bank of America
Had $17.2 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Reported it would owe $4.3 billion in U.S. taxes if profits are brought home.

Citigroup
Had $42.6 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Reported it would owe $11.5 billion in U.S. taxes if profits are brought home.

ExxonMobil
Paid just a 15% federal income tax rate from 2010-2012, less than half the official 35% corporate tax rate – a tax subsidy of $6.2 billion. Had $43 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes.

FedEx
Made $5.7 billion from 2010-2012 and didn’t pay a dime in federal income taxes. Got a tax subsidy of $2.1 billion. Received $10.3 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

General Electric
Made $88 billion from 2002-2012 and paid just 2.4% in taxes for a tax subsidy of $29 billion. Paid no taxes in 4 years. Had $108 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $21.8 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Honeywell
Made $5 billion from 2009-2012 and paid just $50 million in federal income taxes – a tax subsidy of $1.7 billion. Had $11.6 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $16.7 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Merck
Made $13.6 billion and paid $2.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009-2012. Paid an 18.4% federal income tax rate, half the official 35% rate – a tax subsidy of $2.2 billion. Had $53.4 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes. Received $8.7 billion in federal contracts from 2006-2012.

Microsoft
Saved $4.5 billion in federal income taxes from 2009-2011 by transferring profits to a subsidiary in the tax haven of Puerto Rico. Had $60.8 billion in profits stashed offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. taxes; reported it would owe $19.4 billion if profits are brought home.

Pfizer
Received $2.2 billion in federal tax refunds from 2010-2012 while earning $43 billion worldwide even though 40% of its sales are in America. Had $73 billion in profits offshore in 2012 on which it paid no U.S. income taxes. Received $3.4 billion in federal contracts from 2010-2012.

Verizon
Made $19.3 billion in U.S. pretax profits from 2008-2012 but paid no federal income taxes during the period; instead got $535 million in tax rebates. Total tax subsidy: $7.3 billion. Received up to $6 billion in federal contracts from 2011 through 2023.

One value Premier failed to learn: truthfulness

2013-04-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

In Sunday's thirty minute TV commercial, Christy Clark said that leadership involves,

"holding true to the values you were raised with..."

If I were one of the people that parented her, I would feel a sense of failure, values wise, since she has little commitment to truthfulness. For example, she claimed Sunday her goal was to leave a debt free province.

"You don't leave your kids with debt. It's just the wrong thing to do."

That statement is fatuous. Worse than fatuous, it is an intentional untruth; a lie.

Christy Clark's government has added more provincial debt than any government in history. No other administration compares when it comes to plunging citizens more deeply into debt. Additionally, the BC Liberals have managed to roll up more than $55 billion in debts at BC Hydro that don't actually get counted as debt. In fact, if we project the trend line for long-term energy purchase contracts that oblige BC Hydro, the amount may already exceed $80 billion. We don't know because, while annual reports show the obligation in notes to the financial statements, BC Hydro's last quarterly report (Dec/2012) makes no mention of the amount. That number will stay hidden until after the election.

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money

2013-04-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

Was the Royal Bank of Canada hurt by public consternation about exporting jobs, importing foreign workers and telling tall tales about the actions? Only slightly, and only briefly, as their stock price reflects:

That does not mean that individuals cannot apply continued pressure on the Royal Bank and their CEO, who earns a quarter million dollars a week while terminating Canadian workers gaining 1/500 of his remuneration.

A group of construction union pension plans have threatened to pull $1 billion in investments and funds if RBC does not abandon plans to outsource jobs by using temporary foreign workers. Lee Loftus, president of the B.C. Construction Trades Council, said,

"A billion dollars is chump change to them, we understand that, but we certainly think that a billion dollars is a substantial amount of money in the B.C. economy and if they are not going to manage our money right, we will find others that will."

According to its most recent investment inventory list, the BC Investment Management Corporation could withdraw another $1 billion from investments in RBC. The agency invests on behalf of public sector clients in British Columbia including the pension plan investments of more than 500,000 people.

Individuals acting together can make a difference. There is no better place to initiate ethical investment policies than with public pension funds. After adding shares in eight of its nine tobacco stocks in fiscal 2012, bcIMC had more than a half billion dollars invested in cigarette manufacturers. It also holds massive investments in other corporate pariahs, including SNC-Lavalin and twelve of the twelve corporations rated worst in ethical performance among multinationals by Swiss research firm Covalence.

One "news reporter" is feeling sad

2013-04-15T15:20:00.002-07:00

"The Liberals could come out with an announcement heralding the sky for being blue and a good portion of the electorate would respond by criticizing them for ignoring the clouds."

Stephen Smart is the political correspondent who wrote the comment shown above, published today by CBC News online. By no coincidence, he is also spouse of Rebecca Scott, a Public Affairs Officer with the BC Government who was previously Christy Clark's deputy press secretary. She is a person likely to lose her job if electors do focus on clouds and miss the bits of blue sky.

After complaints, CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe said this in 2012 about the legislative reporter for CBC Radio and Television in BC:

"CBC's protocol can combine disclosure and recusal, but the pervasive appearance of a conflict of interest will continually challenge their reputations"

Those of us who thought Smart's position untenable, were told to judge his work. Well, I have done so and am still not satisfied. Additionally, I note zero disclosure that accompanies Smart's work. Whether he recused himself from any reporting is something only the CBC knows.

More "CRAP!" from the blogosphere

2013-04-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Contrary to the claims of retired newsguy Bill Good, blogs are not invariable distributors of CRAP! Instead, the good ones are sources of information and commentary that Bill Good and others in commercial news operations dare not discuss.

Creekside, by Alison, is one of the very good blogs; the sort that should embarrass the recipient of a bogus distinguished service award from his boss, who then makes that "award" the subject of countless promotional spots hoping to check his station's failing ratings.

Creekside impressed me with recent coverage of the Royal Bank's perfidious behaviour:

"...iGATE receiving RBC's Outsourcing Excellence Award back in 2008 when RBC only had 500 iGATE employees working for them.

"A few months later, RBC itself received a $25 billion dollar government bailout, or 'backstop' as we prefer to call taxpayer bailouts of corps in Canada, amounting to 63% of the bank's total value. RBC CEO Gordon Nixon took home $10M+ in salary and compensation that same year.

"At the time, RBC VP and head of Application Services Marjorie Mong explained :

'The key message to [RBC IT staff] was that offshoring was not about job cuts. It was about augmenting our workforce in a flexible way.'

Well, Bill Good, is it crap when bloggers suggest that loyal Canadians ought to get themselves down to the Royal Bank and remove whatever small part of the 'backstop' individuals can control?

I think not.