Hydrogate revisited.

[NAB]

Over and over we hear from the squeaky clean (?) free enterpriser right wing about political "scandals" in the nineties under those nasty socialist NDP types. Here a $10,000 dollar sundeck, there the sale of a private property, around the corner a financial disaster that came to be known as the Fast Ferry Fiasco. Up the street that oh so horrible Bingogate, at least in the view of the hard right wingers who endlessly love to tout these things as massive boondoggles and evidence of deep seated corruption and financial mismanagement, ...even though they all came to light (and were dealt with) quickly.

Now under extreme right wing coalition philosophy we have Casinogate, BCRailgate, DUIgate, HSTgate, Drugate, and all sorts of other gates large and small, while the main difference I see is they do not come to light quickly, or even easily, ....as much of the publics' business is not done in public any more and, when it is, getting to the truth is spun, delayed and blocked at every turn it seems, and no one in the right wing political arena, or even the senior bureaucracy, held accountable.

Back to the 90's.. did anyone ever even hear of "Hydrogate" ? Was anyone even paying attention? How come it apparently didn't become a huge scandal at the time, and Premier Glen Clark and his NDP weren't held accountable for such things going on during their watch? Perhaps because the typical types of skulduggery many right winger business and political types get involved in are buried too deep and systematically kept out of the public view, even where public interests are involved?

And now what, if anything, is going on with BC Hydro that we don't know about and none of the candidates are talking about? Or will it be a "surprise" like the HST, .....and BC Rail, and, and, and,....? This one was routed out by the media, but one wonders how many other instances of conflict of interest in terms of public/private dealings there may be, potentially involving massive amounts of public money being channelled who knows where?

http://communities.canada.com/vancouver ... andal.aspx

"Hydrogate revisited: How a simple disclosure document unearthed a big scandal
The controversy over whether people who buy stock privately from private and public companies should be publicly disclosed is heating up."
Excerpts:
""Under questioning by Lee, John Laxton, chair of BC Hydro at the time, claimed he didn’t know who was behind the companies. I was skeptical. Laxton was directing the share sale, and he had hired his son-in-law, Richard Coglon, to act as IPC’s filing solicitor. They were intimately involved in every facet of the company’s affairs. How could they not know?


Sure enough, after we published several probing articles, Laxton delivered a confession to the Sun newsroom, admitting he and his son-in-law were behind the B.V.I. companies.


His explanation was that the share offering was foundering. To rescue it, he decided to buy shares on his own account. But because then-B.C. premier Glen Clark had expressly prohibited him from buying shares due to conflict-of-interest concerns, they had disguised their share purchases through offshore accounts.""


Nab

[Smurf]

Some of these people need to be held responsible for their actions. Is what he did not criminal. it must be nice to be in positions where you can do what you want including giving yourself the pay raises you wish, having inside knowledge on things and never have to be responsible like the average citizen would. One thing these people know is that most scandals come and go with little or no action.

[NAB]

We seem to hear so much these days about how difficult it is to achieve disclosure under this government. Is that part of the shield and, if so, what exactly is really being shielded from public view?

Nab

[Merry]

I remember reading somewhere that there are those who believe that "the Public's business is no business of the Public", and unfortunately BC seems to have more than it's fair share of authority figures who think this way.

It's common knowledge that white collar criminals in Canada often receive not much more than a slap on the wrist, yet there appears to be little political will to remedy the situation. I think the Federal Government's suggeston to create a Federal body to oversee all securities trading is a step in the right direction but, as usual, it is being stymied by those at the Provincial Level who fear a loss of their own power.

I'm sick and tired of all the 'elites' in this country who make decisions based on their own personal situations, as opposed to what is good for the country as a whole. How I long for some leaders to emerge who put love of country ahead of love of self. But, in this greedy, selfish world of ours, I'm begining to think it 'aint ever gonna happen! However, we can always hope.

[Gone_Fishin]

And now what, if anything, is going on with BC Hydro that we don't know about and none of the candidates are talking about? Or will it be a "surprise" like the HST, .....and BC Rail, and, and, and,....? This one was routed out by the media, but one wonders how many other instances of conflict of interest in terms of public/private dealings there may be, potentially involving massive amounts of public money being channelled who knows where?

Nab

That's pretty funny that you take an NDP scandal, and try to reach forward 15 years to pin something on the BC Liberals.

You're running out of material.

[steven lloyd]

And now what, if anything, is going on with BC Hydro that we don't know about and none of the candidates are talking about? Or will it be a "surprise" like the HST, .....and BC Rail, and, and, and,....? This one was routed out by the media, but one wonders how many other instances of conflict of interest in terms of public/private dealings there may be, potentially involving massive amounts of public money being channelled who knows where?

Nab

That's pretty funny that you take an NDP scandal, and try to reach forward 15 years to pin something on the BC Liberals.

Ya, ‘cause the Liberals have nothing to hide:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=29649

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=29570

[Gone_Fishin]

And now what, if anything, is going on with BC Hydro that we don't know about and none of the candidates are talking about? Or will it be a "surprise" like the HST, .....and BC Rail, and, and, and,....? This one was routed out by the media, but one wonders how many other instances of conflict of interest in terms of public/private dealings there may be, potentially involving massive amounts of public money being channelled who knows where?

Nab

That's pretty funny that you take an NDP scandal, and try to reach forward 15 years to pin something on the BC Liberals.

Ya, ‘cause the Liberals have nothing to hide:

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=29649

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=29570

As usually, Captain Deflection steps in with unrelated topics, looking to fatten his BCGEU contract.

[steven lloyd]

As usually, Captain Deflection steps in with unrelated topics, looking to fatten his BCGEU contract.

Yup - ya got me pegged. That's exactly what I'm thinking

[NAB]

And now what, if anything, is going on with BC Hydro that we don't know about and none of the candidates are talking about? Or will it be a "surprise" like the HST, .....and BC Rail, and, and, and,....? This one was routed out by the media, but one wonders how many other instances of conflict of interest in terms of public/private dealings there may be, potentially involving massive amounts of public money being channelled who knows where?

Nab

That's pretty funny that you take an NDP scandal, and try to reach forward 15 years to pin something on the BC Liberals.

You're running out of material.

Running out of material Fisher? I'm barely getting started LOL

Nab

[sooperphreek]

ndp got their just deserts when the meldown happened and i think the karma was full circle with how they dealt with the socreds and vanderzalm. the best was sihota leaking private cell calls to the news who ate up the sensationalism.

[NAB]

Just bringing this down from the OP to refresh what this thread is really about. In many ways I think we have a comparable, perhaps even worse, new "Hydrogate" emerging from the Campbell years. Somehow BC Hydro's latest programs like the Smart Meter program and rate increases were ordered exempted from oversight by the government watchdog agency has me very curious about who exactly ordered that, under what authority, and why. Any ideas on that point Al C?
Nab

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/howestreetfiles/archive/2011/01/22/hydrogate-revisited-how-a-simple-disclosure-document-unearthed-a-big-scandal.aspx

"Hydrogate revisited: How a simple disclosure document unearthed a big scandal
The controversy over whether people who buy stock privately from private and public companies should be publicly disclosed is heating up."

In January 1996, Vancouver Sun reporter Jeff Lee and I were investigating IPC International Power Corp., a private subsidiary of BC Hydro that was developing a power project in Pakistan.

IPC had filed forms with the commission disclosing that it had privately sold several hundred thousand shares to three mysterious companies in the British Virgin Islands (B.V.I.).

The registered agent for the B.V.I. companies was Michael Sampson, director of Integro Trust Ltd., one of dozens of firms that help people set up companies in offshore secrecy havens. (Integro was also the trustee that helped Alexander set up his Jersey accounts.)

""Under questioning by Lee, John Laxton, chair of BC Hydro at the time, claimed he didn’t know who was behind the companies. I was skeptical. Laxton was directing the share sale, and he had hired his son-in-law, Richard Coglon, to act as IPC’s filing solicitor. They were intimately involved in every facet of the company’s affairs. How could they not know?


Sure enough, after we published several probing articles, Laxton delivered a confession to the Sun newsroom, admitting he and his son-in-law were behind the B.V.I. companies.


His explanation was that the share offering was foundering. To rescue it, he decided to buy shares on his own account. But because then-B.C. premier Glen Clark had expressly prohibited him from buying shares due to conflict-of-interest concerns, they had disguised their share purchases through offshore accounts.""