Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Time To Take A Break From What Our Country Has Become



I've been trying to get away from the heat, and the crowds on the waterfront where I live, by heading out to the quietest and coolest part of the lake.

But while that works relatively well, there is something else I can't get away from no matter how far I go, or how hard I try.

And that's the stench of the Canadian political scene.



For this is what the Cons, dirty old men, and other toxic Trudeau haters, have done to our country.

And it stinks to high heaven.

But luckily it's time to head off for my annual return to the Scottish highlands I know so well.



Where the air is always clean and fresh, and even the Cons are half human.

And although I was dismayed to find out the other day that Donald Trump is expected to visit Scotland when I'm there.

As I wrote on Twitter that's not necessarily a totally bad thing...



But most of the time I'll just be taking it easy, recharging my batteries for the battles ahead.

So I'll have some time to blog, and you can also follow my adventures on Twitter.

Even though in the little highland town where my parents live, dolphin watching is one of the only exciting things that happen...



Along with the highland games that I participate in each year.

But after all the excitement, and all the nasty things that have happened recently in Canada and the United States.

The sound of the bagpipes, and the sound of the North Sea waves crashing on the beach is going to seem like heaven to me...



Have a great July everybody.

Try to stay cool, and get ready for the battles ahead.

For we really have to start cleaning up our country.

And taking out the trash...



33 comments:

Simon said...

Please note I am now on my way to Edinburgh/via London and will not be able to publish any comments until I get there. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

Don’t worry PM Touchy Trudeau will be here when you get back.....maybe.

Lol

Simon said...

OK, I’m back. I’m riding on a train heading North from Edinburgh. The weather is beautiful, and by this evening I hope to have answered all comments. Thank you for your patience....

Jackie Blue said...

Shut the fuck up, troll. If you're threatening the prime minister, you will be reported to the police.

Marmalade said...

Enjoy your Holiday, Simon.....

Jackie Blue said...

Can't wait until Simon gets back. I hope he's enjoying a much-needed break from the sacrificial bonfire at home. I'd love to hear his take on Kinsellagate, because it's spreading like a cancer and I'm getting worried.

Rumpelthinskin compared JT to Harvey Weinstein (!) and the bot/troll brigade is in full force. The hate mob wants him to resign and go into permanent exile -- and is already floating the idea of filling the spot with Freeland as interim PM (read: the next sacrificial lamb for slaughter). Like the cons wouldn't go after her even worse. And Putin's horde in particular.

All this over a non-story from 20 years ago that's so full of holes it could have come from a Swiss cheese factory -- and that this poor young woman wants nothing to do with, but finds that even she has been turned into a pawn by backstabbing hacks with an axe to grind. Seems the mob has chosen to forgive Barabbas the covfefe-grabber instead of, well, the other guy. As John Lennon once said: "The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me!"

Steve said...

No one is buying this 20 year old story. Donald Trump in real time allededly grabbed pussy and slept with Porn Stars and he is a conservative hero. We should just shut up and watch. JT should just consider the soucrce of the question and pull a Trump. Postmedia you are an American Company that is an arm of the Conservative Party and I am not going to play in your sandbox next question.

Steve said...

The Cons attack on immigrants is shameful. The talking point about JT Tweet and the idea that helping immigrants is 100% a Federal issue is nonsense. Yet it is an idea thats resonating.

jrkrideau said...

I understand that Justin once dropped a gum wrapper on a Montreal street when he was 11. The Cons are hoping for a life sentence for aggravated littering.

I wonder if the Cons might actually make some gains in the polls if they advanced sensible, well-thought-out policies?

Naw, Cons and sensible, well-thought-out policies just do not go together.

jrkrideau said...

I am not sure if this is on or off topic but our reviled ex-PM has been distinguishing himself by giving a speech before the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). These guys are seriously weird and nasty and highly dangerous.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-july-4-2018-1.4732996/stephen-harper-criticized-for-speaking-at-free-iran-event-hosted-by-dissident-group-1.4733009

Harper is confirming my opinion that he has the unerring ability to screw up in international affairs. The problem is that he, as an ex-PM is embarrassing Canada.

What next? Guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting of ISIS?

e.a.f. said...

Simon forget about us and have a lovely time. I'd almost suggest you let us have at it, while you're gone, but alas not all will keep within the guidelines, but it would be funny. The adult left the country.........

e.a.f. said...

Jackie, really such language from some one who writes so wonderfully well. Couldn't have said it better myself, with my favorite words yet.

Trudeau has apologized and the reporter excepted. It really is time to move along. Yesterday, Friday, the C.B.C was going on and on and on. Like he was 28 at a festival. Vassey K. had 3 talking idiots on and the carry on. OMG they didn't make that much noise when we started inquiring into murdered First Nation's women or murdered gay men in Toronto. the P.M. was at a festival and did what most 28 yr old males and females did at festivals. He stopped when he realized it wasn't welcomed. Media in Canada, get over it. its history and trying to dredge it up will only result in some one dredging up some things with the Cons. You have only to look at Jim Jordon giving Rosenstein a hard time in the hearings and the next thing we know old Jim there is denying he knew anything about the sexual assaults on young men at the Ohio State University. So to all those Cons who continue to carry on about this. Try to remember what you did 15 to 20 years ago and hope like hell no one else does either.

e.a.f. said...

My take on all of this is they are looking to see how much traction they are getting to see what they can run with during the next federal election. It is doubtful the federal Liberal Party will dump Trudeau. Yes, Freeland would make a decent replacement, but she does not have what Trudeau has, people like him, he's cute, he has a cute wife and kids, etc.

Try as they might, all the Liberals will have to do is drag out the Cons track record while they were in office and then tie Scheer and friends to the fascist/racists they hang with. In between some young Liberal staffer can go back and check into some of those Con's backgrounds. I'm sure there was enough groping, etc. to fill a new Valley of the Dolls. Hey they might want to "investigate" the marriages of some of those Cons. What did go on with Harper's wife and her RCMP minders? What about all those cabinet ministers? What did they do while in Europe, besides buy outrageously over priced orange juice. People in glass houses ought not to toss stones, anywhere, ever.

What many Canadians will remember is they get a monthly cheque from the federal Liberals for their kids. all they got from Cons were tax credits. those monthly cheques help out a lot of people. Don't know what its like in other provinces, but in B.C. its a realllllly big help. Wages are low and cost of housing is sky high.

Jackie Blue said...

I was over at Twitter for a little while, and Warren now rivals Michelle Rempel (who is apparently Lisa's BFF, interesting to note) for how much of the whole country he's blocked. He really is a piece of work. There is a woman, an activist for survivors of rape and sexual assault (she is a survivor herself), who has given presentations for both Liberal and NDP gatherings, but is not a partisan herself. She weighed in on the whole matter on a CBC Radio interview where she faulted the tabloid-quality Canadian media for disrespecting this reporter and making her collateral damage in their quest for ratings and political gain. As a result, there have even been several complaints filed to the CBC ombudsman over their unforgivable pursuit of headline fodder over truth. Good.

But now, Warren has since blocked this woman too after she pressed him on his own behavior, and accused her of being a "paid shill" for the Liberal Party. His followers -- and Ezra's Rebel cult (of course) -- then went and invaded her own Twitter feed, going so far as to accuse her of an affair with Trudeau! I think Warren needs to face an investigation of his own, before either the original reporter, her former supervisor at the Creston Valley paper, her current manager at the place she now works (who was also doxed), this activist, or someone else they can throw under the bus for political weaponization purposes, gets hurt or worse. If not the prime minister himself or someone else close to him.

I would actually categorize this as an example of revenge porn "by proxy," potentially subject to criminal charges. Does Canada have "revenge porn" laws? Or criminal harassment at least? Granted, it's not literally a nude photo of the woman, and the "revenge" was against Trudeau, not her, but Kinsella made like Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid and took away this reporter's own voice. She went nearly two decades without bringing this up, and herself said that she never again contacted Trudeau after the concert, not while he was an MP or after he became the PM. This was not Warren's story to tell, but he did, and shame on him for it. And undoubtedly re-traumatized her even worse, by subjecting her to the Internet equivalent of a Saudi-style stoning from brutes who called her a "starfucker" and a "groupie," than if he had just left the matter alone.

He has a axe to grind with Gerry and/or Justin? Take it up with either or both of them face-to-face like a man. Get in the ring yourself and fight! But no, instead this coward put an innocent woman through a "gang rape" in the court of public opinion over a petty personal dispute with his onetime political associates. No wonder Gerry and Justin wanted nothing to do with him: he's obviously unhinged! Helluva knight in shining armor is Sir Warren of Scamalot, aka Sir Loin of Beef. Chivalrous? More like chauvinist.

But the only person who respected the Magdalene reporter's wishes at all was, ironically but unsurprisingly, Justin Trudeau himself. Who I don't doubt was in turn re-traumatized in his own way, because it forced him to revisit the reason why the fundraiser took place: his brother's tragic death, the twentieth anniversary of which is coming up this November. Which means Kinsella is such a craven vulture he basically dug poor Misha out of the ground to have a whack at his older brother.

This bastard belongs behind bars.

e.a.f. said...

Interesting post. used to read Kinsella's blog but then he started not printing opinions he didn't agree with. First it once in awhile and then, it started big time. Any time you disagreed with him or took another position, the comments weren't printed. Don't do tweeter, so not up to date on things as you are, but am very happy to hear it wasn't just me.
Warren Kinsela would not print anything negative about Christy Clark the former Premier of B.C. who ran, in the opinion of many, the most corrupt government in Canada. Besides her blatant disregard for children, the disabled, and seniors, money laundering in B.C. via the casinos was a real running industry. Yes, that is how the drug money was laundered in B.C., via the casinos and nothing was done. O.K. they disbanded the gang unit of the RCMP. Christy Clark's government was named B.C. Lieberals but they were just Cons and had a number working for them. Kinseela just refused to print any of it when the topic came up regarding one of his wife's friends who was charged by the Ontario government and then came to work in B.C., along with a lot of federal Conservatives.

they guy really must not like Trudeau, but perhaps he is having some sort of mid life crisis. About the time I stopped reading his blog, some much of it was like press released regarding him. My take on it, Warren is pissed Trudeau doesn't worship at his feet. As I've written before, Kinsella was a young many playing politics with other men whose time has come and gone. Now there is a younger man in office and he brings his own young team.

Kinsella had his own punk band when he was young,. its time for the man to grow up. No one is that interested in him I'd venture to say. If Kinsella is hoping to ride another wave of political warfare within the Liberal party, he will have to find a new horse, because right now, my take on it is, the federal Liberal party is fine with Trudeau. its just Warren and a bunch of Cons and idiots on CBC.

If the CBC spent as much time on the murders of gay men and violence amongst young people in Toronto as they do on assaulting Trudeau, the media, CBC, and us, would be ever so much better off.

Jackie Blue said...

Kinda off-topic but: with Harper stirring up shit with Iran and doing "consulting work" for scum like Orbán and possibly recruiting among the Trump goons, I think it's time for Andy to face his own inquiry as to why he, by his own admission, "was for Brexit before Brexit was cool." (Brexit was never "cool" except among racists, traitors, and trolls.)

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-connects-ousted-uk-foreign-secretary-russia-meddling-america/

Chris Wylie testified before the Canadian Parliament early on in the Analytica affair, and has now revealed that Boris Johnson played a role in helping Russia sabotage the U.S. elections. Does anyone know exactly who Andy met with on his jaunt to Mother England, all the while the Conservatives were hemming and hawing about Indiagate for projection?

What we do know is that Andy's been stirring up shit in Québec, chumming around with the werewolf Nazi biker gang and raising the usual Islamophobic stink about "terrorism." One wonders if he's looking to foment a Québexit back on the home front, using all the same tricks in the toolbox and anti-immigrant sentiment about "culture". Hamish Marshall, meanwhile, needs to be brought before a Parliamentary inquiry of his own. This is not normal electioneering. This is fifth-column cyber warfare and Canada is in the crosshairs.

lagatta à montréal said...

Simon, you need to see an interesting Scottish initiative, as you enjoy the unusual heat: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/in-the-community/national-link-programme/

Jackie, in Québec our culture is very important to people here, and not only among anti-immigrant bigots. And many immigrants and néo-Québécois take an active part in Québec culture.

Harper is an utter hypocrite of course, and will not shy from anti-Québec slurs when he is in other areas. But that is scarcely news.

Anonymous said...

Help! Heeeeeeelp! They're not going to drop the kokanee grope story until Trudeau resigns! Great time to leave the country Simon...

lagatta à montréal said...

I don't think this story has legs at all. Neither do activist friends in his riding (who approve his genuine embrace of LGBT+ issues but are disturbed by the pipeline acquisition). The serious and serial creep around here is the Québec Liberal Gerry Sklavounos - the Québec Liberals are generally to the right of the federal kind, and suspected of serial corruption). Sort of like the BC Liberals.

The groping story is a non-issue. And I say that as someone who is far less favourable to the Liberals than our friend Simon is. (Obviously I mean that I favour the NDP and points left, not the Cons). We could all be fooled, but Trudeau comes across as a decent fellow.

Steve said...

I wasThinkingabootthe Donald and Doug blowback without considering the wind Scheer.

e.a.f said...

actually after writing this went over to Kinsella's blog and questioned why he was attacking Trudeau and ignoring all the money laundering, crime and corruption which went on in B.C. with his pal Christy Clark, of the B.C. Lieberals/Cons. You bet, he didn't print it. Now it is his blog of course and he doesn't have to print anything he doesn't like, but it wasn't as if I was swearing, making untrue statements, just asking why he never had a word to say about all the money laundering during Christy Clark's reign of corruption in B.C.

he of course has another post up, I noticed, about how Trudeau could loose the next election, citing a CBC poll counter. You'd think he was running someone else against Trudeau either from within the party or working for the Cons or the NDP. whomever he is working for, it sure isn't the federal Liberal PArty of Canada. He is still plugging along on his band of more than 30 years, but hes no Gord Downy.

Anonymous said...

https://twitter.com/TrumpBabyUK/status/1017302541439127553

Trump Baby @TrumpBabyUK

My people are telling me I cannot visit my OWN golf course because some sex-pest megalomaniac has booked in already. Not OK! I put Scotland on the map and this is how I'm repaid (so outrageous)...no respect and HUGE insult - CANNOT be allowed!

jrkrideau said...

@ Anonymous9:58 PM
Blast, I had to read that three times before it sunk in.

Well done.

Anonymous said...

Trump claims he was in Scotland the day before Brexit vote. The evidence says otherwise.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-claims-he-was-in-scotland-the-day-before-brexit-vote-the-evidence-says-otherwise-c129ac7d8621/

Jackie Blue said...

It's a year on out, but PLEASE CANADA DON'T LET IT HAPPEN!!! The NATO summit was a disaster, and the equally calamitous U.K. visit was where Trump really let his unapologetic racist flag fly. He meets with Putin tomorrow just as Mueller is closing the noose, the GOP is panicking and covering their asses by preparing an impeachment of Rosenstein, and word on the street is Trump is getting ready to fire Mueller and plan it for Hannity's time slot just like he did the Supreme Court announcement!

Shit is REALLY about to hit the fan, and when it does, some of us are going to need someplace to stay for awhile -- and it better be under the watchful eye and compassionate heart of Justin Trudeau!!!

e.a.f. said...

the B.C. Lieberals were actually more Con. than Liberal. Christy Clark hired the laid off Alberta Cons and HarperCons. The B.C. Lieberals were formed after the B.C. Socreds flamed out. The B.C. Socred Party were Cons. in my opinion.

As to corruption I have found Quebec corruption much more acceptable, it was plan old out there corruption, involved Mafia bosses Construction companies and Unions. I can live with that.

What we had in B.C. was much worse. The B.C. Lieberals were shovelling money off the back end of trucks to their friends. billions which once came in from natural resoruces started going out to the companies which once paid royalties. If an RCMP UNIT seemed to have some success, they were canned. money laundering, via casinos and our real estate market was rampant It stank on ice.

People in Quebec can still afford to live in their province. In B.C. not so much. A dump in Vancouver will cost you $2M and I do mean dump, its a bull doze special, all complements of the Christy clark government.

e.a.f. said...

Given Simon is in Scotland and we're back here, how did you like the Congressional hearings yesterday? Loved the moment the female Congress person asked the man if he needed his meds. The Republicans were disgusting and we can only hope the Cons do not plan on bringing that type of politics to this country. However, given Harper's wanderings and Scheer's "friends" we can't be too sure. It does look ever so lovely when they played Rosenstein announcing the charges against the dozen Russians on half the screen and the other half had Trump with the Queen. Like Rosenstein couldn't have timed it any better. I'm sure we will hear from Simon when he gets home all about the public's reaction to trump.

Jackie Blue said...

Even in opposition, and now provincially with Drug Fraud and Jason the hockey-masked swamp creature Kenney waiting in the wings, the cons already have brought Trump/GOP style politics of hatred and fake news to Canada. I am not normally a religious person, but I actually pray that they don't ever get to do the same forming a government at the federal level. Every idiotic "scandal" they've come up with about Trudeau (right down to this poor man's Gingrich-quality version of Monicagate) is the equivalent of a Benghazi or a tan suit or a Dijon nothingburger, all the way back to the birtherism about Fidel Castro and the wannabe "pizzagate" dud about Pierre's charitable foundation. Are they off their meds? Perhaps they're on some kind of controlled substance that they may or may not have purchased in the parking lot of the LCBO from Druggie Dougie or one of his esteemed business partners...

It comes as no surprise that all the cons' cumulative Trudeaughazis are literally Xeroxed almost verbatim from the Republicans' playbook about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The circus freak show with Strzok and Page was WWE theater to amass a highlight reel for Fox News. Fox isn't as popular in Canada, but Scheer and his goons, his Manson girls like Rempelthinskin, their grandstanding is all just the same stage acting to cut up film for their respective Rebel-spinoff YouTube channels and Sun 2.0 itself. We know the cons have been in bed for years with the Koch brothers and other U.S. oligarchs, and that the Rebel took money from the Mercers to spew the kind of Islamophobic hatred that radicalized the shooter at the Quebec City mosque (not to mention the Analytica formula that Marshall and the "Ontario Proud" guys are mimicking just the same). And that's not even counting the National Enquirer CEO, who is best buddies with Trump, sitting on the board of Postmedia (whose own op-ed hacks have in turn "trickled down" to the CBC). It all reeks of right-wing Yankee meddling and swamp monsters all the way down.

So not only is the integrity of Canada's elections something to be concerned about, but the out-of-control wildfire of far right propaganda that has the potential to make some other wannabe Oswald go off his rocker and make good on the countless threats his ilk have already made against Trudeau and/or members of his family. You guys need a Mueller up your way to investigate Levant's associates and his activity going back some 25-30 years, Bernier's allegations of fraud against Scheer, whatever the hell Warren Consellout is up to that (projection being what it is) is probably of a prurient nature himself, and especially Harper's "consulting firm" that's been hanging around with Russia-linked thugs like Orbán and now, radicals in Iran. If Sharif in Pakistan and Sarkozy in France can go up the creek for nefarious and treasonous behavior, then Harper and everyone in his circle are long overdue for a visit from the horse-riding cops of the apocalypse. Lock them up.

Perhaps with Mueller and the British authorities now looking into Brexit, and the Tory government in shambles with May's career all but drowned in the Thames and her legacy that of a female Chamberlain, it's only a matter of time before the other gumshoe drops in humble and forgotten Canada, and the cons are forced to cut and run like Farage and Johnson and the whole sorry lot. Including that Rebel scum Tommy Robinson. Their cult would riot, no doubt, wailing that Trudeau is a dictator on a power trip, but the minute they decide to go flooding into the streets on their Rascal scooters with their loaded phallic substitutes in tow, all he has to do is cite historical precedent for what he plans to do to shut them down:

"Just watch me."

Anonymous said...

Hi Simon, Hope your having a great vacation and we hear back from you soon.
JD

e.a.f. said...

Jackie Blue, nice article. outlines the issues well.

In my opinion, you're correct about the political machinations being conducted in Canada. It most likely emanates from Russia to begin with. Putin now has the U.S.A. under control and he wants Canada next. Much of this can be traced back to the Magnitgsky Act which was sponsored by Senators Carkin and McCain. No wonder Trump hates McCain so much.

When Canada passed its version of the Magniksy act, Putin warned Canada it, "would suffer significant damage". Russian/Putin placed 12 Canadians on their list and at the top was Chrystian Freeland. She objected rather loudly to the invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.

The Magniraky Act and the various versions of it makes the movement of illegal Russian money difficult. Once placed on the list for human rights violations these people are banned from one country or another and their assets seized. That makes it difficult for Russian oligarchs to keep their money moving.

Putin needs Trump as President. He is the only one dumb enough to permit him to "interrogate" American citizens like Bill Browder, who Putin wants to kill for proposing the Magnitsky Act. Removing Trudeau from the leadership of the federal Liberals would be a gain for Trump, because we know the Cons aren't smart enough to protect our country against the tariffs Trump is implementing, or much of else. A weakened country is then a great target for Russia.

Some suggested Christina Freeland would make a good replacement. The suggestion, in my opinion, was a clumsy attempt to divide the Liberal party. Ms. Freeland didn't take the bait.

Harper's visit to the W.H. could have been to conduct business with the W.H. but it could just as well have been to conduct business with Russia and make plans for future actions in Canada. Hacking upcoming elections would be number one. it happened in the U.S.A. and it may have happened also in the State of Georgia. Two of the 12 Russians charged by the Mueller team, are suspected of targeting Georgia, but the State of Georgia isn't interested in dealing with it. A group of election integrity activists are currently taking the State of Georgia to court.

These people who attack Trudeau, ought to be taken with a "grain" of salt. We don't know what their real intentions are, but in my opinion, it has more to do with replacing the federal Liberals and Trudeau with the Cons who will be much more malleable.

e.a.f. said...

Speaking of crime and corruption, Doug Ford hired el gordo, the former Premier of B.C. Gordon Campbell to "review" things in Ontario.

Almost his first act, as premier, was to engage in the largest mass firing of women (9K) in Canadian history. They were all unionized hospital employees who kept the B.C. hospitals clean. They replaced them with untrained, min. wage workers.

He "gave away" B.C. Rail, which went on to become RailGate. His friend/bag man/ CEO of CNR "purchased" it, leased for a thousand years. The left over land assets to were dispersed to "friends" at min. rates.

B.C. Hydro, Crow Corp, switched to "smart" meters for our electricity. That billion dollar contract went to a one person company of which the owner was not unacquainted with el gordo.

There was the lack of health care and education, but I must admit private schools did well with the B.C. Lieberals.

Next step was to enrich his "friends" and such by awarding IPP contracts. It enabled corporations to establish run of the river electricity dams which destroyed fish habitat. El gordo then forced B.C. Hydro to sign contracts with these IPP buying the electricity at 10 cents per K. and selling it for 3 cents a K. hr. with contracts for 25 to 35 yrs. it will cost Hydro billions.

As a result of all of that, many took up blogging and if any one wants to have a read you can start with Norm Farrell's blog, who has figured out where all the money went and goes, In Sight.ca

The late B.C. Mary had a good blog. Others who chronoled the misdeeds of el gordo include No Strings Attached, Laila Yuille; The Gazetter by RossK; the Straight Goods; How Bad is the Record. Many of these blogs will link to others who recorded the el gordo years.

All of this started with his election in 2001.

During this time period the RCMP raided the B.C. Leg. but in the end only two staffers were charged. the show trial of the century had one official after another develop memory problems. it got so bad, they made the two men a deal and that was the end of it.

We saw the start of the Casinos in a serious way and that led to the biggest money laundering scheme via B.C. government controlled casinos in history. We aren't kidding when we say, a hockey bag can contain $700K in $20 bills. We know it because we saw it. The disbanded the RCMP unit which was responsible for over seeing gambling. Loan sharks started operating out of the River Rock Casino, etc.

Don't forget el gordo was also invited to the Bildeberg Conference one lovely year. guess they wanted to know how you destroyed unions and ensured your friends didn't have to use unionized workers in the construction industry.

Now of course all of the above is my personal opinion based on my reading of blogs in B.C. which were never sued for libel/slander, etc. and news reports. So to the people of Ontario beware of your Premier's new hire. He knows how to hide debt, transfer government assets to "friends", etc.

e.a.f. said...

el gordo was good at defunding the province by lowering corporate taxes.

Leg. was passed so that forestry companies no longer had to reforest where they had cut on private land, just public land. Given 80% of Vancouver Island's private land is held by one company....you get the picture.

el gordo is good at hiding debt. He had two ferries built in Germany, not in B.C., with money borrowed from the German banks. Got an extra $750M, charged it as debt to B.C. Ferries, put the cash in general revenue and went to the next election saying the budget was balanced. He's also very good at organizing debt so it doesn't fall in the current year, its put over to future years and when its payable, but not in the current year. its like having a mortgage on the house, but saying you only owe $12k because that is all that is due this year.

All in all el gordo did well for his "friends', the public not so much. In the end he was "forced" to resign for lying to the public right before the provincial elections saying he wouldn't implement at combined GST. After the election that changed. Unfortunately some one found out he had made the deal with Harper before the election and harper had sent him something like a billion for the "transition". So off he went to London, complements of Harper, and we got back our two tax system.

My advise is watch your new Premier very closely and have a read of the blogs I mentioned, This could all well happen to your province. Hockey bags hold $700K in $20 bills. that is how they laundered money in B.C., via the casinos and then used it again to buy up real estate in Greater Vancouver.

lagatta à montréal said...

Simon, you must have heard about the latest horror in Toronto. Antonia Z who lives in that neighbourhood forwarded this:
#danforthstrong