Premier Photo Op and the $185,000 charter bills

Clark

Blackcomb Aviation corporate jet at YVR

On CKNW AM 980, during The Investigators segment on the Oct. 22 edition of the Bill Good Show, I revealed that Premier Christy Clark has spent $185,027.86 on 25 trips from March 18, 2011 through Aug. 1, 2012 on a charter airline owned by a prominent BC Liberal bagman.

It's important for politicians to get out and meet the people and know the land they govern. But, wondered NDP house leader John Horgan, is this just Premier Photo-Op on her permanent campaign?

“Ms. Clark has been campaigning since she started her run for the Liberal leadership, and she's continued to campaign for the last year and a half. What we'd prefer to see is good government. Most citizens would prefer to see good government. Most citizens would rather have their premier focusing on the systemic challenges with our fiscal situation, addressing child poverty, addressing problems in communities right across B.C., that's not necessarily best done on charter flights in and out to raise funds or to raise political awareness. What we need is a government that will roll up its sleeves and address the challenges of the day and that does not require charter jets.”

Clark has flown 29,000 kilometres around B.C., as far north as Yellowknife and as far east as Regina on the taxpayer dime since the fourth day of her Premiership. I learned this through a series of Freedom of Information requests.

You won't find information about Clark's charter flights in the Public Accounts. But you'll find all the relevant documents below.

McLean

Clark often travels with a communications aide and another staffer. Sometimes a minister or deputy minister. Almost always a bodyguard is aboard. She even brought a lobbyist aboard a Dec. 1, 2011 flight to Kitimat that turned back to Vancouver because of nasty weather.

Blackcomb Aviation is owned by David McLean, the CN chair who was a well-known friend of ex-Premier Gordon Campbell. BC Rail was sold to CN in 2003 in a controversial deal that has yet to be fully explained to the citizens of B.C. (Learn all about it on this Investigators documentary.)

McLean has donated more than $250,000 to the Liberals since 2005. Blackcomb Aviation gave Clark $23,000 worth of flights during the 2011 leadership campaign.

Cabinet members are allowed to take charter flights if they're on government business, their destination is not adequately served by scheduled service and/or if their schedule dictates they cannot wait for a scheduled flight.

Clark apparently tested the limits of what government business is. On May 26, 2011, she went on a one-day trip to a town hall meeting in Cranbrook. This was during her honeymoon spring and she was planning for a fall election, which was eventually scuttled. Kootenay-Columbia Conservative Member of Parliament David Wilks attended the town hall meeting. So did Doug Clovechok, who was hoping to run for the Liberals in that election.

He was finally, officially nominated on July 31 at a party meeting in Golden. That was the middle day of Clark's three-day area tour. She was there and posed for photos with Clovechok. Blackcomb's bill was $7,741.99.

Clark made four trips in three weeks for $38,600 on Blackcomb Aviation during July 2012, including a one-day, $15,470.07 trip on July 19 to Regina and Edmonton. She met Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall during the first stop and Alison Redford, the Alberta premier, on the second. The meeting with Redford was called the "Secret Summit," because Clark was whisked in and out of the Alberta Legislature with no notice or fanfare. Along for the ride were deputy minister Neil Sweeney, aide Gabe Garfinkel and the bodyguard.

Such is life aboard charter jets, which use a private terminal on the south side of Vancouver International Airport.  

#LiquorLeaks and the Exel six-pack

Foreman

Exel, the BC Liberal-connected company thirsty to take over the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch, sent a six-pack of its big guns to the Vancouver head office and booze warehouse on Aug. 29, according to an LDB sign-in sheet obtained via Freedom of Information.

They were: vice-president Greg Foreman, director of operations Robert MacLellan, business development manager Stephen Dougans, director of human resources Mark Osborne, operations director Dave Martin and a sixth person, whose name I cannot read (reader tips are gladly appreciated).


Despite what it says, they were not guests of Pele. Sorry folks, the Brazilian soccer great that thrilled us all for a moment during the London Olympics closing ceremony (it was better in person, believe me) doesn't work at LDB. Whoever signed them in at the security office meant to sign "Pelle," as in Pelle Agerup, the B.C. government's senior director of procurement.

Agerup

South African-born Foreman, a part-time poet, is based in California, but shuttles to Alberta whenever needed by Connect Logistics. That's the Exel-owned company that has the Alberta liquor logistics monopoly. Exel wanted to expand across the Rockies and take over the B.C. LDB. Foreman, according to the "Project Last Spike" internal memo, was to become the new head of the B.C. LDB's non-retail operations if Exel's seven-year quest to win the business succeeded.

Aug. 29 was the last Wednesday before Labour Day weekend. Less than a month later, on Sept. 28, the government put a cork in the privatization of the LDB when it announced a new, two-year deal with the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union.

Did a sudden, favourable labour deal with the biggest provincial public sector union really kibosh the most-controversial privatization in years? Or was there something else lurking behind the scenes that scared the cash-strapped B.C. Liberals into sobriety on this file?

Exel visits LDB

Ex-union boss linked to Exel wins NDP nomination

George Heyman

Former B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union president George Heyman won the race to become the B.C. NDP candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview on Oct. 21 against Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs.

But what kind of MLA might Heyman be, if he can unseat B.C. Liberal incumbent Margaret MacDiarmid in the May 2013 provincial election?

MacDiarmid was the Citizens' Services minister who was the titular lead for the privatization of the Liquor Distribution Branch's warehousing and distribution, before she was shuffled to the Health Ministry in September.

MacDiarmid, to her credit, agreed to an interview with me. Liquor minister Rich Coleman, whose hands were all over the file, behind-the-scenes, did not.

Heyman was a key player in the years-long saga during his 1999 to 2008 tenure as BCEGU president. Under his watch, the BCGEU successfully thwarted the Liberals' 2003 bid to privatize LDB's retail and logistics. But, from 2005 to 2008, Heyman and BCGEU organizing director Jeff Fox held closed-door meetings with Exel Logistics' lobbyists Mark Jiles and Rob Madore. Exel expressed confidence it had support from the BCGEU in its Oct. 6, 2009 "Project Last Spike" internal memo. In a nutshell, the memo said the BCGEU was willing to sacrifice the warehouse workers in Vancouver and Kamloops warehouses in order to keep the workers who are employed across the province in the LDB retail chain. Current president Darryl Walker, who succeeded Heyman, denied that was the case.

Heyman, now executive director of the Sierra Club B.C., didn't want to answer any questions from me about BCGEU, Exel and LDB when I contacted him in June for this story in Business in Vancouver. 

“I prefer not to comment on BCGEU issues,” Heyman told me. “I've been gone a long time and am doing other work these days.” 

Now that Mr. Heyman has his sights set on a seat in the Legislature, he will have to comment on BCGEU issues. It is his claim to fame and his constituents have a right to know about what he did while the democratically elected head of one of B.C.'s most-powerful unions. 

Meanwhile, the latest #LiquorLeaks release (below, via Freedom of Information) offers a glimpse into how the bureaucrats managing the file were planning their summer and fall. Oct. 9-12 was supposed to be the evaluation committee's Phase three climax. A proponent was supposed to be recommended and approved by Treasury Board on or around Oct. 16. 

Of course, the government and BCGEU reached a surprise tentative agreement for a two-year contract on Sept. 27 that scuttled the tendering process. Even NDP critic Maurine Karagianis was in disbelief, speculating that something else drove the Liberals to end the privatization and that the BCGEU settlement was a convenient cover to hide behind.

Response - CTZ-2012-00133

When "swoosh" becomes "flush": Armstrong dumped

It only gets worse for the Premier Pariah of the Peloton, Lance Armstrong.

On Oct. 17, a week after publication of the comprehensive and damning Reasoned Decision by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Lance Armstrong stood down as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation and, swoosh, was dumped by his biggest sponsor, Nike. Both were inevitable. Armstrong did not continue the fight against USADA and its mountain of evidence.

Despite the USADA lifetime ban, which effectively strips Armstrong of his achievements, Tour de France officially still considers Armstrong the all-time champ with seven wins and Armstrong still has an Olympic bronze medal from Sydney 2000. It is only a matter of time before the Tour de France and the International Olympic Committee revoke those awards. (Coincidentally, the IOC announced on Oct. 16 that it would be outfitted by Nike beginning in 2013.)

On the Livestrong website, Armstrong said: "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship."

It is important to note, that the statement did not include any denial of the doping code infractions released by USADA. Armstrong will remain on the board of the charity, which I say will most certainly have to rebrand. Look for a new name and new colour scheme.

Nike's terse, two-paragraph statement blames "seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade."

During that decade, Lance Armstrong came to Metro Vancouver to shoot a TV spot. Under the headline "Cycling champ wheels in for commercial: Lance Armstrong rockets over Port Moody trails for international shoe giant Nike," The Province ran a story on Oct. 20, 2001 about crews shooting Armstrong while he rode the trails of Belcarra Regional Park in Port Moody. The ad was supposed to begin airing in November of that year.

Armstrong appeared in this 2001 Nike TV ad that portrayed him as a clean athlete. Nike gave him a platform from which he could fight back against his critics. It was part of the Armstrong cover-up campaign.

The end of 2001 was a turning point for Armstrong. He had three Tour de France titles at the time. Tyler Hamilton left the team. Floyd Landis joined. A decade later, Hamilton and Landis would eventually admit they were guilty of doping and broke the code of silence to accuse Armstrong of being the ringleader.

Armstrong also came to Vancouver in September 2007 for a weekend of cancer-fighting, fundraising charity rides. Armstrong appeared in front of the media before setting off from the University of B.C. on a Sunday ride with Premier Gordon Campbell and hundreds of others. Here's my story from the Sun Media wire.

It was his first time in front of microphones and cameras since his ex-teammate Floyd Landis lost a bid just three days earlier to overturn disqualification of his 2006 Tour de France win.

I asked Armstrong about his thoughts on the matter. "I'd love to answer the question, but I'm out of that business. I'm here to fight cancer."

In hindsight, if Armstrong truly cared about his sport and if he truly had been a clean athlete, he would have said something. Anything.

Now we know he was on more than just his bike.

Greek Coke: moved to a new beat

How's this for irony? 

Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company -- recession-battered Greece's biggest company -- is moving its headquarters to Switzerland, according to an Oct. 11 announcement. 

The sponsor of the Olympic movement since 1928 is moving from the country where the Olympics began to the country where the International Olympic Committee is headquartered. 

The move was eerily foreshadowed during the London Olympics. Inside the Games broke an Aug. 17 story about how Greece wasn't even on the map displayed at the Coca-Cola-sponsored pin-trading centres at Olympic Park and Hyde Park. 

There were no Coke logos at Ancient Olympia on Oct. 21, 2009 when I attended the dress rehearsal for the next day's launch of the Vancouver 2010 torch relay. 

Pep vs. Pops: Will Cummins be goins?

High noon came and went on Oct. 10. John “My Way Or the Highway” Cummins is still the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party and he says he’s not going anywhere.

Fourteen people resigned by the deadline and, he claimed, 381 had signed up since Sept. 3. But a posse of four, three from the Lower Mainland and one from Vancouver Island, want a new sheriff in town. Ooh-hah. Wah-wah-wah.

The PEPPy 4’Oclock Four -- Ian Pyper, Ariane Eckardt, Dr. Allison Patton and Rick Peterson -- held court with the media at the Pan Pacific Vancouver at 4 p.m., to publicly tell Cummins they are staying put, but he should refrain from buying green bananas. The party’s going nowhere with him at the helm, they say, and it’s time for the former fisherman to cut bait and sail away while there is time. Only 30 weeks remain until the May 14, 2013 provincial election and they want him to quit as the $4,000-a-month leader by Friday, almost three weeks after the party's lone, underappreciated MLA, John van Dongen, quit. 

Who are the four? 

Pyper is the Oak Bay-Gordon Head constituency president. Eckardt is president in Burnaby North. Patton, the Surrey White Rock president, is a naturopathic physician with biochemistry and psychology degrees from the University of Victoria. Peterson is an investment banker and investor relations specialist, an ex-Liberal who had his eyes on the Vancouver-Quilchena riding held by retiring Liberal Colin “Co-Father of the HST” Hansen. He is, most importantly, deputy chair of the Conservative finance committee.

Together, they're officially dissenting non-dissenters, who claim they aren’t out to depose Cummins. No, they're not challenging the results of the 71% vote against a leadership review, but won't hesitate to remind one and all that only a paltry third of the party's membership voted. Peterson is a leadership wannabe, but he claims he’s not. And the sky above isn’t coloured blue at noon on a cloudless day.

The Globe and Mail’s Sunny Dhillon asked Peterson about his obvious aspirations, after witnessing the passionate speech in which Peterson made sure he looked squarely into the lenses on the TV cameras, with immediate 6'oclock news ambitions. 

“That question is not relevant,” Peterson protested. He said he wouldn’t answer the question, then claimed he hadn’t even thought of the concept of leadership. 

Peterson’s time at the podium included a passionate warning of the oncoming “orange wave” represented by Adrian Dix and the NDP, “a tax and spend wolf in sheep’s clothing” who is “from the left-wing of a left-wing party.” 

Despite seven months remaining until election day, Peterson claimed there is plenty of time for 70-year-old leader Cummins to get out of the way so someone else could be followed. 

“I'm looking for change,” Peterson said. “I will not accept the status quo. John (Cummins) has the mandate to make change. I side with the CA presidents who are looking for change.

“You're all here looking for blood on the floor. Really what is going to happen is we’re all going to come out of this stronger.” 

Patton is a naturopath, but, for a moment, she was a telepath. 

Before I could finish asking about a photograph from the B.C. Blue blog of her standing between ex-finance minister Kevin Falcon and Premier Christy Clark at a barbecue last summer, Patton flashed an 8x10 glossy of the photo. 

She explained she was invited to the event at Conservative Sen. Gerry St. Germain’s ranch. She was representing the B.C. Naturopathic Association, which had come to know Falcon while he was health minister. 

“In terms of the photo itself, I thought it was kind of funny two top Liberals were endorsing a B.C. Conservative such as myself, and that's why I'm standing in the centre," Patton said. 

Patton and Peterson could be the future of the Conservative party. That is, if Cummins will get out of the way. 

UPDATE Oct. 11: The latest press release (below) from half of the Four O'Clock Four, explains the timing of the Oct. 10 news conference and some of the day's backroom intrigue -- including the bombshell that Cummins was offered $4,000-a-month for six months to step aside so that Rick Peterson could be installed as the leader!

Press Release

Our original press conference Oct 10th was scheduled for noon. Unbeknownst to us, David Wilder (80 year old retired lawyer, the CA Vice-President, Vancouver-Quilchena), had initiated negotiations with John Cummins’ group. He became aware of our press conference and contacted us and indicated that an agreement had been made with John Cummins; he was ready to resign and that the details of his resignation were being worked out. We found out that Mr. Wilder had met with Will McMartin, Al Siebring, John Cummins via two phone calls during the meeting and another unknown individual. Apparently someone else also accompanied Mr. Wilder. Mr. Wilder also informed us that he found Mr. McMartin to be one of the most unpleasant men he had ever met.

Mr. Cummins arranged for a statement with CKNW at noon and this was delayed twice to 1:00 and then 1:30 and so our understanding was that the delay was because he was going to resign. We were made aware that the terms negotiated with Mr Cummins were that he resigns by Friday with $4,000 per month for six months and that Mr Rick Peterson would become interim leader. According to further reports from Mr. Wilder, we discovered Mr. Cummins did not want Mr. Peterson to assume the position but that he wanted one of the women as Deputy Leader until he resigned by Friday. We accepted the terms of his resignation via Mr. Wilder. To our surprise by 4pm when our press conferences took place, Mr Cummins had made no indication of this arrangement.

Allison Patton, President Surrey White Rock CA

Ariane Eckardt, President Burnaby North CA

#LiquorLeaks wonders: who really corked privatization?

The news broke on Sept. 28 at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention in Victoria.

Premier Christy Clark, addressing mayors and councillors from throughout the province, revealed that a settlement had been reached in negotiations for a new contract with the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union.

A one-liner in the news release said:

"As part of the agreement, the Negotiated Request for Proposal process for the privatization of liquor distribution was cancelled."

That's all. No further explanation. The LDB's warehousing and distribution arms would remain publicly owned. The broke BC Liberal government desperate to show a balanced budget in time for the 2013 election dropped the controversial privatization that it stubbornly defended since February.

A stunning turn of events. The bizarre procurement process that unfolded since the April 30 publication of the request for proposals drew comparisons to the bungled 2003 privatization of BC Rail. Three of the bidders' parent companies -- Deutsche Post DHL, Kuehne + Nagel and Schenker -- were caught price-fixing by the European Commission. Two of the bidders -- ContainerWorld and Exel -- had donated to the ruling BC Liberals. One of them -- Exel -- had been lobbying the Liberals for seven years and even contracted party insider Patrick Kinsella, who chaired Clark's 2011 leadership victory. (Kinsella de-registered on March 30, a month before bidding began.)

LDB made a $911.1 million profit on $2.89 billion sales in 2011-2012 and the government never showed any evidence to justify the planned privatization. People across the industry, from hard liquor to craft brewing, said higher costs would be the result of a private monopoly on booze hauling. The burden would be passed on to customers. Exel Logistics' "Project Last Spike" internal memo, dated Oct. 6, 2009, even said so.

Liquor minister Coleman

The very week that the BCGEU returned to talks, shortlisted bidders ContainerWorld, Exel, Kuehne + Nagel and Metro were meeting with the joint LDB/Citizens' Services evaluation committee. The bids were supposed to be refined, completed and considered by the committee. Treasury Board was supposed to approve the committee's recommendation and announce a preferred proponent on Oct. 16.

Walker was savouring the victory. The second time in less than a decade that the BCGEU had thwarted liquor privatization at the bargaining table. But was it so simple? Was the BCGEU solely responsible?

My request to interview Liquor Minister Rich Coleman was refused. Same went for my request to the office of Finance Minister Mike de Jong. His staff sent me this statement:

It became clear in the late stages of negotiation that this was an important element to close the deal. The NRFP remained a significant issue for the BCGEU. The fact that government reconsidered the NRFP shows our commitment reaching a settlement under the Cooperative Gains Mandate.

NDP liquor critic Maurine Karagianis doubts the official version.

NDP critic Karagianis

"They have heard very clearly that it was a bad deal for British Columbians, a bad deal for industry, a bad deal for consumers and they needed a way to get out of it," Karagianis told me, for my Business in Vancouver story on the day.

The day before privatization was kiboshed, the government was still communicating with the public about the merits of the process. A reader provided me a Sept. 27 letter he received via email, from Coleman and copied to Ben Stewart, the Citizens' Services minister. It contains nothing new. All the lines were culled from Coleman's script. Even this gem:

"In order to proceed, government must be satisfied that British Columbia taxpayers will benefit from having a private sector provider warehouse and distribute liquor in the province."

Why did the government send such a letter when it knew or ought to have known the privatization was over or on the death knell? Who put the cork in the privatization bottle? Why?

And why was a copy of the letter sent to Stewart? We were led to believe that Stewart was not going to be involved in this file because of the potential for the appearance of a conflict of interest. He has a blind trust ownership of Kelowna's Quail's Gate Estate Winery, which is a supplier to Alberta's Exel-owned monopoly Connect Logistics and to the B.C. LDB. The 2011-2012 LDB statement of financial information shows LDB paid Quail's Gate $2,273,529.

The privatization is over. For now. The questions? I won't stop asking them.

More #LiquorLeaks to come.

Rich Coleman, Sept. 27, 2012 letter

Showing the oaths

When she announced her open government policy in July 2011, Premier Christy Clark said she was encouraging public bodies to issue information on a proactive basis.

Is it working? I'd say it isn't. Here's one test. The oaths sworn by members of cabinet and their appointment certificates should be posted publicly the day they are signed. Instead, they are still subject to a Freedom of Information request. Below are the swearing-in certificates I obtained for all members of the B.C. cabinet, including the Premier. 

The appointments were formally made and oaths sworn before Lt. Gov. Steven Point. Look closely at the certificates and you'll notice his first name is incorrectly spelled as "Stephen."

Lt. Gov. Point's first name is spelled Steven on the Office of the Lieutenant Governor website and in an Oct. 1 news release announcing the appointment of his successor, Judith Guichon.

B.C. Cabinet Swearing-In Certificates: Collect the Whole Set!

Exclusive: Stadium sinks staff sea cruise - mutiny to follow?

B.C. Place Stadium has a retractable roof. And an operations budget under apparent restraint. 

General Manager

Just three days after the first anniversary of its reopening from renovation and the day before a scheduled staff appreciation boat cruise, general manager Howard Crosley sank the scheduled excursion. Tickets for staff were $10 each and guests $35. 

On the morning of Oct. 3, staff received the following memo. While many of the workers had reason to talk like a pirate ("arrr"), others took a more humorous strategy. The theme songs to the Love Boat and Gilligan's Island were heard on the in-house walkie-talkie system during the Oct. 3 Vancouver Whitecaps 4-0 win over Chivas U.S.A. 

I'm still waiting for spokesman Duncan Blomfield to respond with comment. B.C. Pavilion Corporation is now under the presidency of Dana Hayden, the former Jobs, Tourism and Innovation deputy minister. Cabinet responsibility was recently shuffled to Rich Coleman, whose portfolio includes energy, mines, natural gas, gambling, liquor and housing. 

This could have been the first salvo fired in what could be a fall of labour strife. Stadium workers, represented by the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union, are negotiating a new deal. In 2011, they reached an agreement with management and avoided a strike that could have jeopardized the Grey Cup.

Will it be smooth sailing in 2012 or is a course being charted for choppy waters?

To All Staff: 

I know many of you were looking forward to the Staff Appreciation Boat Cruise scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, October 4th. The response has been very positive; however, due to fiscal constraints and budgetary considerations, unfortunately, it is necessary to cancel the event. We will look at another staff appreciation function to be held at BC Place in the near future. 

We truly appreciate your dedication and apologize for the inconvenience. 

Captain

Skipper

How do you get your ticket refund? 

• Wed Oct 3, before 1600, Admin Office, see Irene. From 1600 to 1730, before your game shift, outside Level 1 Break Room.
• Oct 4 and 5, 0900 to 1700, Admin Office, see Irene
• Sat Oct 6, 1600 to 1730, before your game shift, outside Level 1 Break Room
• Oct 9 onward, 0900 to 1700, Admin Office, see Irene 

Howard Crosley
General Manager

Boessenkool, Burns Lake & Booze: 3 Bombshells

What a week.

Alberta import Ken Boessenkool got pushed/jumped from his job as chief of staff to Premier Christy Clark. Boessenkool submitted his resignation on Sept. 23, the morning after the B.C. Conservatives were licking their wounds after 71% of one-third of the party voted against reviewing John Cummins's lacklustre leadership.

It turns out this was one of those "uh-oh, they noticed, now we've gotta do something" matters. 

Global TV's Jas Johal was tipped-off about Boessenkool getting in trouble at a Victoria pub on Sept. 7 after Liberal caucus members and Press Gallery members had a round of golf in Metchosin. Clark started the week with a press conference where she released Boessenkool's resignation letter, but hid behind privacy laws and would only call it an "incident of concern."

Boessenkool lost his nearly $200,000-a-year gig and, under B.C. government employment rules, he must not lobby the B.C. government for the next year. That could hurt him in the wallet, since Boessenkool was a former Hill and Knowlton executive whose client list included Enbridge, Taser and Merck. 

Boessenkool allegedly got drunk and groped a junior female staffer in the Bard and Banker pub. Clark claimed the Public Service Agency investigated Boessenkool. But in a startling lack of leadership, it was revealed that Clark did not suspend her chief of staff, but instead let him carry on as the ultimate supervisor of the woman who was the alleged victim. 

Instead of giving Boessenkool the heave-ho on Sept. 20, BC Christy heralded the poaching of star third-place Chilliwack 

by-election candidate John Martin from the Conservatives. Politics before people, that's the Clark way. 

The million-dollar question: Why didn't the police become involved in the Boessenkool incident?

Boessenkool was replaced by Dan Doyle, the BC Hydro chairman who was the executive vice-president of construction for VANOC. Doyle was CC'd on the famous March 24, 2009 John Furlong email, revealed by CBC in February 2011, that indicated there were major safety concerns at the Whistler Sliding Centre. 

On Feb. 12, 2010, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili flew off his sled near the end of his last training run, struck an unpadded pole and died. The track's construction was partly to blame. Almost $2 million more is being pumped in to correct the flaws. 

Furlong under fire for Burns Lake secrets

Vancouver 2010 Olympics chief executive John Furlong wasn't in London for the opening of the 2012 Olympics on July 27. His absence was odd, to say the least. Furlong and London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe both told me in 2010 how they struck a friendship, as Furlong advised Coe on the ups and downs of running an Olympic organizing committee. Furlong served as VANOC chief executive at the pleasure of Premier Gordon Campbell, now Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Campbell told CKNW's Philip Till in July that he hadn't spoken to Furlong for "months." 

On Sept. 27, Furlong was slammed with allegations in the Georgia Straight that he abused students at a Burns Lake, B.C. Catholic elementary school after he came to Canada as a teenager. The RCMP confirmed it is investigating. 

Furlong vehemently denied their claims, which are contained in eight affidavits obtained by Georgia Straight contributor Laura Robinson. He suggested he was the victim of a blackmail attempt. Furlong and his lawyer Marvin Storrow said they would sue for defamation. They refused to answer questions from reporters. 

Furlong, however, conceded that he had actually lived in Burns Lake. He said it was a "brief" and "uneventful" time. That was news to anyone who bought his book, Patriot Hearts, or paid to hear one of his speaking engagements. It was also news to his co-writer, Gary Mason. Furlong's memoir only indicates he arrived in Canada with his wife and two children 

in 1974 at Edmonton and settled in Prince George. 

Odd that an immigrant to Canada would omit any mention of his first impressions of his new country. Also odd that he would use the word "uneventful" to describe a period of his life in which he married his first wife who bore his first two children.

Read more from The Tyee here. 

BCGEU beats Booze Barn bid

And then the third bombshell of the week. The Liquor Distribution Branch privatization was cancelled 220 days since it was announced and 18 days before the successful bidder was scheduled to be announced. 

This one came wrapped by the government inside the new deal for the B.C. Government and Services Employees' Union. BCGEU president Darryl Walker said the prospect of thwarting the government's planned sale of warehousing and distribution came as a surprise to him earlier in the week. Read more in Business in Vancouver here.

The government appears to have made the right choice by putting a cork in the plan. It published no business plan to justify the privatization and conducted no formal industry consultation. The privatization push was driven by the persistence of BC Liberal-allied lobbyists in an environment of a cash-strapped government seeking solutions to balance the budget before the May 14, 2013 election. 

Every step of the way, I discovered more questions than answers. Freedom of Information delays, denials and censorship. And, of course, the minister responsible for liquor, who avoided all my interview requests. 

I have heard from only one bidder so far. ContainerWorld president Dennis Chrismas hired the Liberal-friendly Pace Group public relations company to send out a prepared statement. ContainerWorld opposed privatization at first, but then submitted a bid out of self-preservation. The province's largest pre-distribution warehouse in Richmond would have had an uncertain future if it didn't win the contract because the pre-distribution program was to be phased out. 

I will have more to say in the coming days and weeks. I'm confident there is a story behind this story. 

This had the appearance of another BC Rail-style scandal in the making. 

Starting with the title of the Oct. 6, 2009, internal Exel memo that flipped open the lid on this procurement plonk. 

It was called "Project Last Spike."