Friday, September 30, 2016

BC ORL: 'Had I been focusing on this particular report alone ......'


Blair Lekstrom

[44]  Had I been focusing on this particular report alone, I would have been inclined to levy the penalty at $3000.  However, since the lobbyist is facing THREE separate administrative penalties which, together, will be the LARGEST penalty issued by the ORL to date, I have exercised my discretion to set the amount in this case at $2,000.

CONCLUSION

1.   The alleged contravention has been substantiated.  Under s. 7.2(2) of the LRA I find that the lobbyist contravened s. 3(1) of the LRA when he failed to file the return within the legislated timelines.

2.   For failing to comply with s. 3(1) of the LRA, the lobbyist has been assessed an administrative penalty of $2,000.

3   The lobbyist must pay this penalty no later than November 5, 2015.

4   If the lobbyist request reconsideration under s. 7.3 of the LRA, he is to do so within 30 days of receiving this decision by providing a letter in writing directed to the Registrar of Lobbyist at the following address, setting out the grounds on which consideration is requested:

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

Upon Reconsidering of Penalties

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

Blair Lekstrom:
Senior Advisor to the chairman of HD Mining Penggui Yan

Treaty 8 Water Supply reDRAFTED 5 years later Quick Process, eh???

Breathe ...... DEEP Days, Years even

Information Only 

Notification w/opportunity to comment (generally 10-15 calendar days subject to circumstances)
Normal  (20-30 calendar days subject to circumstances)
DEEP  Timeline determined through project specific assessment (5 YEARS)



BC Oil and Gas Commission Breathes new life into a 2011, old, DRAFT with the Treaty 8

September 22, 2016
Interim Consultation Procedure with Treaty 8 First Nations   September  2011



Summary of Compensation Payments made for Traplines and Improvements Thereon Related to Flooding of the Finlay and Parsnip River Valleys by B.C. Hydro

In 1968, B.C. Hydro built the Bennett Dam, west of Hudson Hope on the Peace River.  The impact of the dam was the flooding of the Finlay-Parsnip River area and the formation of Williston Lake, which is 1070 sq. km. in size and has a shoreline of 1770 km.  Large quantities of timber stands were flooded along with the Sekani reserve at Fort Grahame, known as Finlay Forks I.R. No. 1, as well as a nearby sawmill which employed 33 Indians.  About forty Indians lived permanently in Fort Grahame, while most lived in trapping cabins along the Finlay River.

In exchange for the flooded Finlay Forks reserve, two reserves, Tutu Creek and Parsnip were set aside in 1969 for the Finlay Forks Bank.  They are located fairly close to the new town of Mackenzie. 

Unfortunately the Indians were not happy with these reserves; Tutu Creek was never inhabited, and, while four families did move to Parsnip, it was abandoned a few years later.  Most of the members of this Band have squatted on Crown Lands at Ingenika because they much prefer the more isolated location.  The remaining members of this Band have settled at Ware and McLeod Lakes. 

Because of the flooding the composition and quantity of wildlife in the area has been greatly affected by the creation of the Lake according to the Department of Environment.  This has, in turn, impacted on the guiding and trapping area of the Indians.  The people of Ingenika and McLeod Lake now have to travel much further than in the past to reach the animals, and then find a reduced quantity.  Access to what is left of the traplines is very difficult.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Policynote The abysmal economics of LNG by Marc Lee

abysmal defined: extremely bad; appalling.

Policynote:  The abysmal economics of LNG

   by Marc Lee
Marc Lee is the Senior Economist at the CCPA’s BC Office. In addition to tracking federal and provincial budgets and economic trends, Marc has published on a range of topics from poverty and inequality to globalization and international trade to public services and regulation. Marc is Co-Director of the Climate Justice Project, a research partnership with UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning that examines the links between climate change policies and social justice. -

You don't need a degree in economics to conclude that surging supply amid weak demand will lead to lower prices.

Monthly Average Regional Gas Prices

Sunday, September 25, 2016

If Quaker Oats had bought ONE, not 19.11 acres of land in Vancouver in 1955, how much would our, or Donald's, share value be worth today

When I was a kid living in Kitsilano, my family purchased breakfast cereals from Quaker Oats and Kellogg Corn Flakes.  The limited amount of choice was a hold-over from the end of  two Wars, the Second and the Korean.

Quaker Oats had a marketing scheme that offered the kind of real estate investment that a Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946) would never be interested in unless it was in Vancouver (downtown) .....  the Dawson City property did eventually end up being a GOLF COURSE  ... so maybe Donald Trump did acquire the majority of the 21,000,000 shares while he was still a kid.  The golf weather in Scotland (11 degrees C.) isn't that much different that Dawson City (4 degrees, C.), right?

Wikipedia:
Quaker Oats bought 19.11 acres of land in the Yukon Territory of Canada for the price of $1000 USD and printed up 21 million deeds for one square inch of land. On advice of counsel, Quaker Oats set up and transferred the land to the Great Klondike Big Inch Land Company to make the company the registered owner and manager of the deeds.

Starting on January 1955, 93 newspapers across the United States ran advertisements that read "Get a real deed to one square inch of land in the Yukon gold rush country" and, "You'll actually own one square inch of Yukon land". The promotion was tied to the Sergeant Preston of the Yukon radio show which Quaker Oats was sponsoring at the time.


 The promotion instructed people to mail a form along with a box top from either Quaker Puffed Wheat, Quaker Puffed Rice or Muffets Shredded Wheat to the Quaker Oats company. In turn, a 5 by 8 inch deed to one square inch of land in the Klondike was sent back. In February 1955, Quaker Oats was blocked from trading the deed for a box top by the Ohio Securities Division until it received a state license for the "sale" of foreign land. To get around the injunction, the company stopped the trade-in offer and instead put one of the deeds in each box of cereal produced.

Since none of the deeds were actually registered, the documents were never legally binding and owners of these deeds were never actual owners of any land. The deed excluded mineral rights on the property.

Now where did I leave those Quaker Oats deed documents?

OH, right beside the goldbricking BCRIC shares offered by Bill Bennett's Social Credit Party before they sold off False Creek for a cool $50 million and then taxpayers had to dole out $60 million to clean up the pollution caused by the original owners who's lands were expropriated by Bennett for Transportation Expo 86.   Expo 86 did cause the high price of real estate here in Vancouver.

And the Prosperity shares, funding promised by Premier Christy Clark???? as being derived from LNG revenue, is being delivered by dipping into the MSP funding revenue.


Saturday, September 24, 2016

W.A.C. Bennett Dam's Crisis of Holes, discovered in 1999

The Sixty-Story Crisis by Anne Mullens

 Unlike a tsunami, the destruction wouldn't simply peak and stop.  The pent-up waters of Williston Lake would just keep coming, seeking to return to its natural elevation.  The waters would flow for weeks, scouring away communities like Old Fort, Taylor, Peace River, Fort Smith and beyond.
What is not mentioned is the NEW ten year project of Site C dam being built at Old Fort aka Fort St. John.

W.A.C. Bennett dam is billed out as being able to withstand a 7.6 tremor.   Do those calculation included the holes, weakening, of the structure's integrity?




Safety Upgrades to W.A.C. Bennett Dam

 W.A.C. Bennett Dam RipRap Upgrades  Procedural Orders


O  R  D  E  R
WHEREAS:

A.      On November 13, 2015, British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro) filed the W.A.C. Bennett Dam Riprap Upgrade Project application (Application) and statement of capital expenditures with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (Commission) under section 44.2(1)(b) of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) and requests acceptance pursuant to section 44.2(3)(a) of the UCA;
B.      The W.A.C. Bennett Dam Riprap Upgrade Project (the Project) will address inadequate long-term erosion protection of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam (the Dam) located on the Peace River approximately eighteen kilometres west of the town of Hudson’s Hope. The Project involves:
         replacing portions of the failed rock armour layer, also known as riprap, on the upstream face of the Dam;
         development and operation of the Sand Flat quarry to source the required volume of riprap;
         transportation by truck of the riprap from the Sand Flat quarry to the Dam; and
         temporary stockpiling of riprap near the Dam;

C.      The Project cost is estimated at $137.1 million within a range of capital expenditures from $109.7 million to $171.4 million;

D.      Quarry construction is scheduled to start in 2016 and the Project is expected to be completed in 2021; and
E.       The Commission has determined that a public hearing is necessary for the review of the Application.

Snip

Quarry construction is scheduled to start in 2016 which allows for Dam construction to be completed in 2019 and reclamation of the quarry in 2020. The Project cost is estimated at $137.1 million within a range of capital expenditures from $109.7 million (-20%) to $171.4 million (+25%). BC Hydro’s customer rates would initially be impacted in 2018 and for the $137.1 million capital estimate would increase by a maximum 0.18% in 2021. The corresponding maximum rate increase is 0.14% and 0.22% for the -20% and +25% capital cost estimates respectively. 

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Planning chronology for Massey Tunnel replacement March 21, 1991 to August 2016

The March 21, 2016 Fact Sheet was preempted by the March 16, 2016 Fact Sheet

No mention of just how much money has already been spent exactly, while the BC Liberal dithered since 2001 in PLANNING a replacement.


January 17, 2008 mentions a $14 billion????? costs for transit, not just Metro Vancouver, but includes Canada Line and Rapid Transit.  Just how much of the $14 billion has been spent, and where in the plannning?
March 21, 2016  Fact Sheet Planning Chronology
Dollars mentioned TWICE,  TOLLS never mentioned

July 15, 2004       $22.2 million for tunnel Structural work

January 17, 2008   $14 billion transit plan including Canada Line and Rapid Bus improvements

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

Globe and Mail   January 15, 2008

British Columbia's future suddenly includes $14-billion in new public-transit systems.

The province yesterday unveiled a program of construction that will send new automated SkyTrain transit into the rarefied campus of the University of British Columbia, plant a new light-rail system in the northeastern suburbs of the Lower Mainland and lead to dedicated bus lines in Vancouver, Victoria and the booming Okanagan city of Kelowna.

Premier Gordon Campbell sketched out the largest public-transit announcement in B.C. history yesterday before an audience peppered with Lower Mainland mayors who have been clamouring for various pieces of the program for years. .... Snip


One of the most dramatic pieces of the plan is a $2.8-billion subway-style line running 12 kilometres across central Vancouver into the booming University of British Columbia by 2020 .... Snip


The package also includes the long-awaited Evergreen Line, which would run streetcar style from suburban Burnaby through Port Moody to Coquitlam - a project deemed a necessity by mayors in that part of the region. 

Mr. Campbell said he can pay for it all without hiking taxes. He noted that the province will not use a carbon tax - rumoured to be part of next month's provincial budget - to cover the cost.

"We are covering off all these costs as we go into the future," he said. "I can't tell you how we will get all of the dollars in 2015 and 2017, but I can tell you we have the resources in place to set this plan in motion. We intend to do that."   .... Snip


Google Search Criteria   $14 billion transit plan including Canada Line and Rapid Bus improvements


OPEN HOUSE results for George Massey Tunnel Replacement



Sunday, September 18, 2016

Christy Clark: 15% tax on Foreigner BUYERS of residential property. Why not penalize the Foreign SELLERS with a 15% tax too?

Why did the BC Liberals penalize only Foreign Buyers?

Why not apply the 15% tax on Foreign Sellers as well?
 
“I can’t speak to the truth of those specifics, those concerns considering the source, but I will say that the reason we brought in a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers is because we want to make sure housing is available for British Columbians to be able to buy at a reasonable price.”  -  Premier Christy Clark

Saturday, September 17, 2016

VPLibrary yields 1988 Hydro poll to plot privatization plan: Glen Clark Energy Critic



The moment that the internet came along, public libraries stopped clipping newspaper articles.  The place to go today to see the demarcation line on time is the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library, fifth floor, north east corner.

Outside the house, Clark said a whole section of the poll concerned privatization.  The government has announced that it is selling the gas, rail and research and development divisions of Hydro.

Clark, who obtained a copy of the poll, said it asked:

"Would you like to see private sector businesses or companies more involved in designing, building operating generating stations and the electricity distribution systems in BC. or no?'

Clark said the question  went beyond  what has been proposed for privatization -- and hinted at "a radically new plan which involves selling new plan which involves selling dams, selling electricity generation stations, new dams being constructed by the private sector, private facilities, essentially selling everything in British Columbia except the wires."

Energy Minister Jack Davis said the principal finding of the survey was that "Hydro was seen as big and perhaps even competent but inscrutable, hard to deal with, difficult from a customer point of view and that Hydro had to become more human, if you like."


BC Hydro's 'Last Spikes' rail sale has job promises AND retains the Right-Of-Way just like BC Rail's 900 year lease with CNR:

Itel Rail Corp. will consider building a car maintenance shop in B.C. to serve its new shortline and its parent's lease car fleet.  A similar shop approved for an Alabama location will cost $4.5 million US and employ 65.

While Itel will acquire track bed rights to the year 2064, CP Rail will have running rights over a key 12 - km section of Hydro line IN PERPETUITY, in return for a $6.3 million payment.

The 12-km section of line, south of the Fraser River, is used by CP Rail trains delivering coal to an export loading terminal at Roberts Bank.

CP Rail will maintain the segment of former Hydro line and Itel traffic will be able to operate over it FREE of charge.

A CP Rail spokesman said one motive for making the purchase is avoidance of the complication of having Itel involved in the coal haul, with the risk of unrelated labor problems.

In 1987, Hydro drew $200,000 in usage fees from the Roberts Bank coal traffic traffic.

Overall, Hydro's rail division had revenues of $21.5 million and net income of $2.2 million in 1987.

Itel will take over the rail division's 212 employees and honor existing union contracts.

Hydro RETAINS title to the rights-of-way to be controlled by CP Rail and Itel.

Hydro's chairman and chief executive officer Larry Bell said the rights-of-way have huge potential as transportation corridors and, once LOST through the surrender of freehold, would be impossible to regain.

Itel's short-listed rival for the Hydro line were Essex Terminal Railway Co. of Windsor, Ont., and two Vancouver-based companies, Pacific Northern Rail Contractors Corp. and Seanix Technology Inc.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Caption writers Required for BC Liberals eg. Christy Clark: "I'm serious Rich, this rose will look better on Kevin Falcon"

Don't you just love it when Rick Mercer asks the public for input to his Photo Challenge.  'Take a photo of a politician, crop it, and add a caption.'

Jonathan Hayward, Canadian Press supplies photos, not captions.  The Vancouver Sun ran the photo in Vaughn Palmer's column today.  For all intents and purposes the image would be better if the caption were left blank.  Open to public input.

Is Premier Clark planting a rose ON the chest of Rich Coleman, or has she surreptitiously REMOVED it.


B.C. Premier Christy Clark will be able to turn to Rich Coleman for input as the deputy premier and cabinet mainstay announced he'll run in the next provincial election.   JONATHAN HAYWARD/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Vaughn Palmer:  (Premier Christy) Clark knows the drill plying experience as cabinet maker 


Rick Mercer ...... Example:

"Rich, just between you and me, the BC Liberal Party isn't so desperate this year that we need to solicit a cash infusion from the Pacific Western  Brewery up in Prince George while your Ministry was in negotiations with them.   Remember all that bad Press in 2013?  You had to return the donations!"

Public Response:   
..... After Coleman gets embarrassed accepting the gift, he tries to slough it off, saying he returned it and should have checked that party donations were not solicited from those doing current business with his ministry.

Did he not know he was doing business with Pacific Western Brewery, when he was working on changes to the law to accommodate them?  How is this not political skulduggery, or at least brazen deception?

Big Beer was contacting other Liberal MLAs, trying to get Coleman’s favourable Pacific Western decision reversed. Hey, they put their trust in the Liberal politicians and they got screwed. Now they know how the rest of us overtaxed debt-inflicted victims feel.

Example:

"Rich, way too much colour on you.  Look at me.  LOOK.    AT.   ME.   The Public can see the subliminal Party coloured scarf (not permitted in the Legislature) and the donated Flower on my lapel.  I'll put your flower in my drawers for safe keeping."

Example:

"Rich, I hate to mention this to you, at a time like this, but I'll have a talk with Speaker Linda Reid about moving the camera angle.  A profile photo of you, is not good."

Example:

"Just a minute Mike (de Jong), I want to straighten Rich out, one way or another."


Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Premier Christy Clark's First of Five Conditions on Petroleum through BC Waters is 'Oil Spill Response, Best in the World'. Currently its Zero $$$

 Oil Spill Program Funding for Vessel, Pipeline, Barge and Rail in Task Force Jurisdictions

Partners: Alaska, British Columbia, British Columbia, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington

Page 2 of 3   Note: Page 3 is blank

World Class Oil Spill Response
Program Funding 2016
British Columbia relies wholly upon Ottawa to regulate Petroleum transported through our boundaries, coast to coast.

Non-petroleum products ask the Federal government again


Crude Volume transportation methods

British Columbia has only one piece of data provided in one category (2014)  Kinder Morgan should help that number

                     
Petroleum Dispersant use?

BC  Allowed use of Dispsant?  Yes  Legislation received Royal Assent (02/15) but Regulation may take up to 5 years aka 2020     20/20 eyesight by Environment Minister Polak?

Overdue Environmental Court Penalties  For the Years  2009 - 2014  Total owed $220,579

Enbridge......  Gateway Facts
World-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery systems for B.C.'s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks and cost of heavy oil pipelines and shipments.

World-leading practices for land oil-spill prevention, response and recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines.

 British Columbia receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of a proposed heavy oil project that reflects the level and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers. 

 Response from Enbridge on the last item:

Revenue and jobs for B.C.

B.C. can look forward to $1.2 billion in tax revenue, and $9 billion in government revenue over 30 years. Approximately 3,000 construction jobs and 560 long-term jobs. Northern B.C. businesses will benefit from over $800 million in goods & services purchased.

Monday, September 12, 2016

W.A.C Bennett Dam has its $121 Million SinkHole to contend with. How about BC Hydro's Buntzen Lake Sinkhole?

We were out for a walk today, Buntzen Lake's 10 kilometre loop trail.

We came across a situation that reminded us about an earlier POST regarding BC Hydro:
With a 8.0 tremor, would the Williston Reservoir create a Grand Canyon II in Alberta/Northwest Territories?


BC Hydro, again, at Buntzen Lake:

Would a sinkhole create a landslide which would create a tsunami that would breach BC Hydro's intake and drain Buntzen Lake altogether into Indian Arm, .... and knock out a FREE "supply of electricity for generations"?

Laila Yuile has W.A.C. Bennett Dam covered.  BC Hydro sinkhole #1

DANGER Unstable Slopes    Keep Back ..... from the fence????


Underneath the rock is daylight below, a lake too.  Watch where you step!!!!


49° 21.887'N 122° 51.252'W
Just how unstable is this section of the trail?  Can't we use the BC Hydro 'Power Road' above? Or is it just as dangerous for motor vehicles?

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



Metro Vancouver in background,   "Say Nuth Khaw Yum Provincial Park" [aka Indian Arm Park] in foreground

Sunday, September 11, 2016

One Metro Vancouver distracted driver was caught glancing at the time on his Cell Phone: $383 fine

The motorist must have been driving one of those cheap foreign cars, like Vancouver Sun journalist Pete McMartin's foray into the oil patches of north eastern British Columbia in his Fit car at Fort St. John's.  Fit, if you don't know it, doesn't come with, or without, a spare tire. Something to do with gas saving advertising.  If motoring is in Metro Vancouver, who needs a spare tire, there's always BCAA to call upon.  Without a spare tire guarantees Fit's advertising is correct when it comes to kilometres per litre.......  McMartin had a flat tire.  McMartin had to wait for the bus to arrive from Edmonton.  McMartin had to get in line with a tire shop which was already over booked for the month.

McMartin, being a reporter for PostMedia, magic happened in the line up sequence.

The Province newspaper Letters to the Editor category has all sorts of readers making suggestions on the motorist caught looking down at his cell phone, what else would he be looking down at????  a  NSMiBsHA problem          Irritable Bowel Syndrome, No.

The perp was caught by the police officer, and then gave the excuse that he was looking at the time on his cell phone, not looking to see if there were text messages, nor responding to a text message.


The Federal Government of Canada should make it mandatory for all cars to have dashboard-wind-up, non-electronic clock devices and maybe THAT would reduce the use of 'looking at the time on the cell phone' as a valid excuse for looking at a cell phone.

New £160,000 Bentley comes with the option of a solid gold Breitling clock for the dashboard - for £110,000 alone

Friday, September 9, 2016

Metro Vancouver WaterWorks fixed at Lost Lagoon, meanwhile up at Cleveland Bridge ....... the Damn Bridge

The sign says Dam, and it looks like a Dam .... but


The Damn Dam is a Damn Bridge looking West



The Damn Dam is a Damn Bridge looking to the East


The truck slowly making its way through the DAMN scaffolding was done without a flagperson, not that there was that many people in the area, but it was open to the general public...



The point is, why wasn't there someone helping the driver to maneuver between the opposing 'legs' of the supporting scaffolding when over on the west construction PARKING lot there was someone, assisting.



Low Tide at the Reservoir  September 2016


High Tide at Reservoir January 2017



Cleveland Dam Drum Gate Recoating Project



How does Cleveland Dam's "Best in Class" Park Deroche and WestCan Scaffolding Inc compare to Site C contractors?

And talking about dams, and Construction Safety Management Plan, eg. Site C Dam


Page 22 of 74
***************************

PS
Has anyone seen the inside of the source of the Capilano River, immediately downstream of the Damn Bridge?  Is it a gated community?



Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Elephant in the room? Dr. Brian Day's stranglehold contract on Worker's Compensation Board surgeries - privately held already

Cambie Surgery Centre, which now provides orthopedic, eye, plastic and other operations, most of the medically necessary work done for workers’ compensation board clients. - National Post

Currently, in the provision of health care in British Columbia there is a private service being provided by Dr. Day to WorkSafeBC aka WCB.

WCB Officers uses Day's privately run clinic, and other doctors clinics too, to shepherd WCB's employers' employees through the holding pens of public misery at hospitals.

 WorkSafeBC administers the Workers Compensation Act for the British Columbia Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour. WorkSafeBC has the legal authority to set and enforce occupational health and safety standards, assist injured or disabled workers, and assess employers and collect funds to operate WorkSafeBC.
'assist' mean By-Pass

Dr. Day is funding his legal challenge to privatize the health care of all Canadians using funds 'earned' from the BC Provincial Government coffers

A Double Standard of gold plated services by Premier Christy Clark?

WCB, or WorkSafeBC, should get in the waiting line with others.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

$10 fee for a photo with Premier Christy Clark and YOU

Michael Smyth of the Province newspaper is onto something when it comes to Premier Christy Clark's personal photographer/videographer expenses:
 .... photography: $923,374 to be precise, for the salaries and massive travel expenses of two full-time photographers to take still photos and videos for the government.

The BC Liberals are always making those that use government services pay inflated prices for those services.

eg.     Bob Mackin Exclusive: Health ministry "requested" seniors wheelchair tax
 The B.C. Liberal government didn’t just change policy to allow health authorities to impose a new, $25 a month wheelchair fee on seniors in care. Documents I received under Freedom of Information say that it ultimately asked Fraser Health Authority to charge the controversial levy.

Premier Christy Clark has had so many photos taken of her by government employees that a three dimensional cu-pie doll, dressed in three different attires per day, could be churned out for pennies, with the proceeds going to bankroll her election campaign.

Counting the attendance of the Press, Photojournalists and videojournalists ..... there's at least  $250 waiting in the wings with the funds going to bankroll wheelchairs for ten seniors for a month.

NEW, not improved, Education Minister

Its a well known fact that Premier Christy Clark and BC Liberal Leader Christy Clark are paid by taxpayers and BC Liberal membership, respectively.   It comes down to a blurring of the source of the photos, either being used for Government purposes or the BC Liberal Party politics of campaigning.

BC Liberal photographers just happen to be at a Government function, announcement, or is it the other way around, that the BC Liberal Party sets up the meetings, the photo ops just waiting for the vanguard of the Premier's office to show up.

Photo Ops, handing out awards to the public are great campaign material, but what if the participants in the photo ops, not the Premier or her Cabinet or Caucus members were told that anyone else included in the photo would have to pay the BC Treasury $10 per photo!  $10 per person in the photo!  Group photos, with ten people, excluding the Premier .... $100 to the BC Treasury.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcgovphotos/albums/72157663031227621

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcgovphotos/albums/72157658930598039

A signed copy by the Premier and the Cabinet and the Caucus would earn the BC Treasury a further $10 per person, and NOT the BC Liberal Party's war chest.






Saturday, September 3, 2016

Million Dollar Question: What moral advice would Photo Op Queen Christy Clark's photographer / videographer offer to a press photographer??

Moral: concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.
Author Anonymous:   Are you as moral as you think you are?

This test has only one question, but it's a very important one.

By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision.

Only you will know the results, so it stands to reason you should be completely honest with yourself.


THE SITUATION:

You are in British Columbia, Haida Gwaii to be specific.

There is chaos all around you, caused by a hurricane resulting in severe flooding.

This is a flood of biblical proportions!

You are a photojournalist for a major newspaper which contributes to the ruling party, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot career-making photos.

There are houses and people swirling around you, with some disappearing under the water.


THE TEST:

You suddenly see a woman in the water, fighting for her life, trying not to be taken down with the debris of a chartered flight.

You move closer.

Somehow the woman looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is.

It's Christy Clark!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take her under forever.


YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS:

You can save the life of Christy Clark or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful BC Liberal women.






THE QUESTION:


"Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?"
**************

Bob Mackin:  Air Christy Climbs to Half Million Dollar Mark
February 25, 2016
 Clark flies most frequently with three or four of her aides, such as assistant Andrew Ives, press secretary Sam Oliphant and videographer Kyle Surovy, plus an RCMP bodyguard, whose name is censored. All but two of the 17 Kelowna charter trips disclosed on documents between October 2013 and November 2015 have returned to Vancouver on the same day.


Mike Smyth: Premier Clark has spent nearly $1 million on photography
August 29, 2016