GoldBricking BC Budgets: Will Premier Bill Bennett's BCRIC Shares be worth more than Premier Christy Clark's Prosperity Fund?

Two Premiers, Two resourced based Public (Government) funds being used in the hope of recovering their political parties (BC Social Credit Party and the BC Liberal Party) from certain defeat ...... and along the way, damn the Taxpayers.

Premier Bill Bennett's Gold BCRIC-ing Version I  (value today ZERO)

The British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation, or BCRIC (pronounced "brick") was a holding company formed under the government of William R. Bennett.
The company took over ownership of various sawmills and mines that had been bought and bailed out by the government. The name was eventually changed to Westar Group Ltd.

The most famous aspect of the company were the five free bearer shares, dated August 7, 1979 that were distributed to all British Columbians, to promote investment in the province, and earn back a profit to the buyer. British Columbians and investors were encouraged to buy more. The company expanded, and bought numerous mining and logging installations. etc....

Unfortunately, because of significant investment in a North Sea oil play by a subsidiary, Westar Petroleum, as well as bad timing in a mining investment by another subsidiary, Westar Mining, the company ran into financial trouble. Investors saw their thousands of dollars dwindle to pennies.  Wikipedia

 Premier Christy Clark's Gold BCRIC Version II .... The Prosperity Fund

There's an old saying "Out with the Old, in with the New".....  Christy Clark's handlers, speech writers, cartoonists???, have used the word "New " to describe the "New Prosperity Fund" as if there was a predecessor, an older Prosperity Fund, that failed.

Strikingly familiar is how closely the Prosperity Fund and BCRIC promised to bring on a NEW ERA, just like the New Era of the HST.  Sky High spending without creating debt, that's what the BC Liberals are promising.  $56 Billion is the absolute tops.

Premier Christy Clark announced Tuesday the establishment of a new British Columbia Prosperity Fund to ensure communities, First Nations and all British Columbians benefit from the development of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

"The safe recovery and export of our abundant supply of natural gas presents an opportunity for prosperity unlike anything we have ever seen before," says Premier Clark.

"British Columbians can secure tens of thousands of new jobs for decades to come by developing this clean energy resource, and protect this new wealth for the benefit of all of us today, as well as our children and their families, tomorrow."

Billions-of-dollars in new revenue will be dedicated to the B.C. Prosperity Fund. A key priority will be to eliminate the provincial debt over time, reduce the cost burden on B.C. families through further tax reductions, and make long-term investments in the services that people depend on, such as health care, education, employment and vital infrastructure.   Castanet News BC

Perhaps Christy Clark's true goal in May is to have a bridge or a building or a mountain or a NEW Deas Island Tunnel/Bridge named after her so as to attain the same status as the Bridge that bears the name of Bill Bennett...... in Kelowna, by then Premier Gordon Campbell on the eve of a Provincial election in 2005.... buying votes perhaps.

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Tales from the Crypt: The British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation

by David Climenhaga on February 12, 2009

Snip   .... Perhaps thinking that the B.C. government’s involvement made BCRIC shares a little like Canada Savings Bonds, members of the public – mostly small investors without a great deal of sophistication about how markets work or who works the markets – gave their money to these Big Businessmen whose names escape me to invest and create wealth for them.

Alas, almost unbelievably, the Big Businessmen – despite the fact they had beautiful suits, great haircuts, Rolex watches, snazzy foreign cars and lots of MBAs working for them – made some very bad miscalculations! They sank some of the money – quite a bit of it, as a matter of fact – in North Sea oil at a time petroleum prices were going down, down, down. (Rather like right now.) They dropped more money down a mineshaft that turned out not to have a bottom. Whoops! Sorry, folks! Small investors who had put thousands of their hard-earned dollars into the Brick saw their investments drop like the company’s namesake. Before long, their thousands were worth only a few pennies.

By then, of course, the company, with its nearly worthless shares, wasn’t called BCRIC any more. It had a convenient new inoffensively corporate name: Westar Group Ltd. No need to remind folks that this was Mr. Bennett’s brainchild!   Snip

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From BC Business:

Christmas came early in 1979 when Premier Bill Bennett gave away 12 million shares of B.C. Resources Investment Corp. to British Columbians.

“As the son of one of British Columbia’s most iconic leaders, Bill Bennett not only emerged from his father’s shadow – he built his own legacy. He will be remembered as one of our greatest and most influential leaders. - Premier Christy Clark

“This government, with the most revolutionary proposal that’s been brought to public life in the last 30 years, has brought in an initiative through the B.C. Resources Investment Corporation to involve all our people in individual ownership where they will have a right, say, of collecting dividends and of buying more shares. I think this experience with ownership will encourage them to buy more. Not only are they getting free shares . . . they’re also being encouraged for the first time, on a ground-floor basis, to invest in their own company rather than send money to buy it from the government.” – Premier Bill Bennett, B.C. Legislature, March 30, 1979

Today the shares can be found in sock drawers and lining budgie cages throughout the province

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Google Search Criteria 

british columbia resource investment corporation

AND

Second version of the same criteria but under the heading of  BLOGs

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UPDATE:

Vancouver Sun's Craig McInnes  February 25, 2013

Fantasy gas fund built on shifting sands

Putting faith in LNG is like counting your chickens before they hatch - or banking on a future that may never arrive.

I put Premier Christy Clark's "plan" for a multibillion-dollar "Prosperity Fund" in the same category of wishful thinking. We don't have a single commitment yet for a major LNG export plant, yet we're already spending the money.

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Petroglyphs at waters edge, Threatened with Oil

Oil from Alberta;

Liquid Natural Gas from British Columbia...

......... leaving the Ports of  Prince Rupert (which has had three groundings of freighters in late 2012)  AND Kitimat.   The latter is expecting 10 major projects to get underway within a year.

There's been plenty of concerns raised with Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline, from Watershed destruction, to fisheries, to the removal of 1,000 square kilometres of islands in way of Douglas Channel.  The Captains of industry will stop at nothing to gain riches.

Ecological Reserves....  are in Harms Way, so too is this:

Google Search Criteria    Alaska petroglyphs, Babbler Creek, Sitka

The rock art of the Northwest Coast. - Summit - Simon Fraser ...

summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/4415/b13752807.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
by DM Lundy - 1974
This thesis examines Indian petroglyphs and pictographs (carvings and ... of Alaska south to the Dalles of the Columbia River. ..... At Katlian Bay, (in the mouth of the bay) north of. Sitka. Kennedy 1974. At the village of Sitka, in Kalinin ... Reported located at Craig Boat Harbour, Kennedy 1974. .... Located on Babbler Point.

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These images, like most on the shores of Alaska and British Columbia, are at the water's edge... reached by canoes, originally..... power boats today, Oil and LNG tankers tomorrows.

Ten Proposed Projects for Kitimat 2005 - 2015 as of July 2011

There's only so much real estate to go to, for these companies, to set up shop in "Kitimat", but at least they're keeping the illustrators busy, and the Canadian Coast Guard as well.    The source for these ten proposed projects for the District of Kitimat is here.  This series of 10, is under the title of Investment Summary on Page 37, and it's from the year of 2010. 

The two previous years, 2009 and 2008, show their projections as well....steadily increasing in value as time is wasted by talking.

If, all ten Projects go ahead, will there be enough space between passing vessels at Hartley Bay?   Will the swells from the passing vessels destroy their aqua crops?

UPDATE: November 6, 2013    Annual Report 2012  Page 34 of 63

Financial Statements (Kitimat (B.C.))

Annual Report
2010
2009
2008

1   $2.5Billion  Rio Tinto Alcan Kitimat Modernization Project
A rendering shows what the $3.3 billion dollar Kitimat Modernization Project could look like when completed.

Aluminum, yummy, great location.

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2   $3+ Billion  Kitimat LMLNG Liquefaction and export Terminal at Bish Cove displayed on #4

Apache Canada Ltd., EOG Resources Canada Inc., Encana Corporation
Kitimat LNG is poised to take advantage of Kitimat's many strengths including its strategic location serving the Asia Pacific market. The National Energy Board in Canada has approved KM LNG Operating General Partnership for a license to export liquified natural gase from Kitimat, BC. The company will be allowed to export a total of 200 million tonnes of LNG over 20 years once production at the facility commences.

<-----Sun is setting to the West. Apache/Encana Tank Farm is sitting on shores without any islands running interference.....No Douglas Channel either, looks GREAT!!

 If Northern Gateway #6 below is to the LEFT....how can Apache/Encana be to the RIGHT ????----------------> 

All the tanker traffic, 250 vessels just for Northern Gateway alone, 365 days in a year....

Water doesn't mix with oil.....that's a fact!    

Water and LNG has never been tried!

Therefore, do 320,000 DWT Tankers carrying Enbridge's OIL, mix well with Tankers carrying LNG in close spaces?    Will these tankers only operate in clear weather within our coastline fjords that don't appear to exist in renderings?... with two tugs for each vessel inbound/outbound

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3   $1.285 Billion  Pacific Trail Pipeline.  

Where will the pipeline be constructed?
The project consists of an underground pipeline system between the existing Spectra Energy transmission system near Summit Lake and the propose LNG export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia.  The pipeline will be approximately 463 kilometres long.

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4  Douglas Channel Gas Service Ltd., on behalf of Douglas Channel Energy Partnership, proposes to construct and operate a small-scale natural gas liquefaction facility on the west side of Douglas Channel, south of Moon Bay.   Note: #2 Bish Cove is on the same chart.

Larger Map size here

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5  Channel West Partners Ltd ...construction of a Liquified Natural Gas facility at Emsley Cove as seen on the above image.... bottom left hand corner.

Channel West Partners Ltd. is a private Calgary based company engaged in the development of energy related projects in Western Canada. Our initial focus is to target projects which will monetize the abundant natural gas reserves in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.  The management team of Channel West brings a proven track record with expertise in project development, energy trading and marketing, pipeline development, construction and operations, environmental applications and regulatory filings, senior project management of world scale projects financing and financial modelling and First Nation negotiations.

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6    $5.5 Billion Enbridge Northern Gateway marine terminal and pipeline.  And then of course there's "Cheap Charts" to more or less set the records straight.

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7    $25 to 30 Million Sandhill Materials Inc. Marine Terminal  and Aggregate export operation. This company is probably hoping to develop their property before the Oil and Gas guys get the thumbs up,eh.

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8    $1.4  to $2.6 Billion Kinder Morgan Northern Leg Marine Terminal and Pipeline Project. et al.

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9   $150 Million Crab/Europa Hydroelectric Project by Ktamaat Renewable Energy Corp.  A run-of-the-river generating facility in the Gardner Canal area.  It would tie into Rio Tinto Alcan's transmission line at Kildala Arm....... talk to BC Hydro about their involvement of another high priced IPP, eh

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10   Pytrade and the District of Kitimat signed an MOU in January 2010 to install three Pyrolysis bio-fuel generators on a demonstration site in Kitimat.

1921 ".... the returned soldier...." Growing Strawberries and Raspberries in certian BC Coast sections

SMALL  FRUIT  SURVEY
A Report on the Cost of Growing
Strawberries and Red Raspberries
in Certain - Coast Sections of
British Columbia during
the season of 1921

Agricultural Department Circular N6.'39

18 pages in length

New source of document    2023-12-18:

Source: http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs_holmes/qp_mar_2012/513993/513993_adc39b_small_fruit_survey.pdf

There's a story out there where I heard Sunshine Coast lots are being made ready for farming instead of the land sitting idle.   Go Organic they say.

But then I thought about Vancouver and their Coach houses in the lanes and the "large" tracts of land between between the Coach House and the Primary House.... couldn't it be converted to raising Strawberries and Red Raspberries with the simplest of ingredients, and energy.

What better method than going back in history, when just after the First World War had ended and our British Columbian forested lands still existed, the land was being given away FREE, no strings attached, to returning soldiers.

   I detract...... but that's what was written in this pamphlet.

For the soldiers and their families they had to cut the trees down, remove the stumps using pry bars and dynamite, plow the land to be made ready for planting what they would need to survive on for the rest of year..... when nothing would grow.

"The growing of raspberries and strawberries appeared to be a type of farming which could be carried on successfully on a few acres of land, which demanded the labour of only one man with the help of his immediate family, which required little initial outlay for equipment, and which in general promised a good return in a short time."

Think about this.   There were no stores called Costco or Rona or Whole Food back then.  The population wasn't what it is today.  There wasn't anything called BC Hydro to provide lighting or run the toaster, nor was there a steady supply of Natural Gas to heat our homes.

Why this sudden thoughts on growing something, anything in the front or back yard..... not just flowers, but vegetables.....


Oh look the yellow forsythia and crocus are blooming which means it's the time to prune roses and fertilize the lawn but for this household, its time to go out and prepare the garden, and purchase PEAS!!!!!!!!! from the nursery.

If Kitimat LNG tanks, will Texada Island LNG take over?

 In case you missed the UPDATE to the West Coast LNG Project and Proposals, here is the UPDATE (below) and the Original.... here:

As to who owns what on Canadian soil at the proposed Kitimat LNG site

1/15/10 – Apache acquired a controlling 51% stake in Kitimat LNG, with Galveston LNG (SOLD out to EOG Canada) retaining 49%. 1/21/10 – Kitimat signs MOU with ‘major’ Japanese firm after MOU with Mitsubishi expired. EOG Canada acquires 49% from Galveston LNG Inc (May 2010). 10/27/10 – Korea Gas has begun commercial production at the Jackpine field in Canada, in which it holds a 50% stake. March 2011 – Ownership ships so that:
40 %Apache Corp., 30% EOG Resources Canada Inc., 30% Encana Corporation. KM LNG is the operator. 4/27/11 – Haisla Nation and LNG Partners of Houston have joined to propose an LNG export facility just north of Kitimat on Douglas Island in Bish Cove. The project will cost between 360 and 450 million dollars and will move about 125 MMcf/d. The project is scheduled to come online in 2013.

Texada Island LNG

On June 6, 2006 Westpac filed its official Project Description with the Prince Rupert Port Authority, formally beginning the regulatory review and environmental assessment process for the project. 8/1/07 – WestPac LNG Corp. has abandoned plans for a $350-million liquefied natural gas terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C. and has proposed a $2-billion LNG terminal and power plant on Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia. WestPac
LNG plans to file a detailed Project Description with the BC Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in early 2009. WestPac plans to put off filing its project description until the company has a better sense of new greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations that may come into effect.

It would be kind of "nice" to see something from whomever is running roughshod over the LNG line to Kitimat as to who the Shareholders are, now, and the background on them, and the same for any LNG site on the West Coast of North America.