Some people had millions of reasons to say "congrats Christy"

After winning the May 14 provincial election by surprise, Premier Christy Clark's email box runneth over. There were those unhappy with the result. And there were those who were ecstatic. Read the whole bunch here. 

Many of those wishing Clark well had millions of reasons to do so. They had either done business with the government or had benefitted from millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies. 

Jain (left) and Clark at TOIFA

Jain's diction:

A May 17 letter from Vineet Jain, the managing director of the Times of India Group is an ideal example of the latter.

Jain sat beside Clark at B.C. Place Stadium during the Times of India Film Awards on April 6. He was smiling ear to ear for good reason. Clark gave his company a $9.5 million no-bid contract to produce the Bollywood awards extravaganza.

Jain wrote: "TOIFA was a rewarding, enriching and memorable experience for everyone involved -- celebrities, dignitaries, guests and the people of British Columbia and I commend your vision and conviction in making this possible." 

BC Liberals called it a trade promotion; the rest of us called it a re-election ploy. It would be nice to know where all our money went and who in Canada and India benefitted. Despite Freedom of Information requests, the Liberals aren't in a rush to show us. Maybe the auditor general or another agency will step in to try and extract the answers. 

Flag on the field: 

B.C. Lions president Dennis Skulsky's email starts: "Good morning Premier Clark, Wow it sounds good and feels good to say that." Then he deserves a 10-yard penalty for misspelling the Premier's first name ("Christie"). Skulsky, Lions' owner David Braley and others from the CFL club were donors to the Liberal campaign. The government earmarked $2.7 million through B.C. Pavilion Corporation for the Lions to buy the rights to the 2014 Grey Cup. 

Blacktop politics:

Repeat after me: Roads and bridges and tunnels. Promise them and build them. Even if your predecessor did the promising, make sure you show up and look good at the ribbon-cutting. B.C.'s tradition of blacktop politics to win voters' hearts with their own pocketbooks is a surefire formula and allows B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association president Jack Davidson to keep his members happy. On Sept. 20, Clark announced the Massey Tunnel would be replaced with a bridge... but she didn't tell us how much it would cost or how it would be financed. 

Ni hao:

China's Consul General Liu Fei offered greetings from the Chinese government, including Gov. Zhu Xiaodan of Guangdong Province. 

Cheers: 

Pacific Western Brewing owner Kazuko Komatsu sent her congratulations. Her company's products include Pacific Pilsner, Cariboo and Scandal Ale. The Prince George company is a well-known donor to the BC Liberals (and wrote some cheques to the NDP, too) and even got a huge tax break that ruffled big and small brewers. 

You can't be sure:

Shell Canada president Lorraine Mitchelmore's congratulations letter was gutted by government censors. "Not responsive," says most of the letter. 

Mr. Sincerity: 

Then there is this letter from B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair. Close your eyes and imagine a grown man at a computer keyboard, with a tear running down his cheek, landing in his moustache. 

Sinclair and the BC Fed were with Adrian Dix and the NDP every step of the way and helped fill the party coffers. Then it all went wrong on May 14 and he had to write a face-saving, pride-swallowing letter on behalf of his members (who didn't all vote NDP). 

"On behalf of the B.C. Federation of Labour, I would like to congratulate you on your successful campaign to be elected to a second term as the Premier of British Columbia," wrote Sinclair. 

Well, it really is her first term. Clark was chosen by her party in February 2011 to serve the remainder of Gordon Campbell's 2009-won third term.

Christy's Congrats by BobMackin

#LiquorLeaks turns into a #LiquorFlood

Another day, another booze controversy in British Columbia, where it seems as if government liquor policy is drafted on the back of a napkin at a loud bar after a couple rounds of bending elbows.

Prince George-based Pacific Western Brewing (purveyors of, ahem, Scandal Ale) has threatened to lay-off staff and shut down for a month if it hits the 160,000-hectolitre threshold where a tax penalty kicks in. This could ruin Christmas for members of the brewers' union and their families. But the threshold was raised to 400,000 hl, based on this Nov. 14, 2012 Liquor Distribution Branch memo. This could, according to some reports, save BC Liberal-donor PWB $10 million a year.

Liquor minister Rich Coleman claims the memo was sent out in error. Knowing how Deputy Premier Coleman micro-manages his vast cabinet portfolios, I find this exceedingly difficult to believe.

PWB is not only a client of Patrick Kinsella's Progressive Group lobbying shop, but it was also a supporter of the long-running, but ultimately unsuccessful, Exel Logistics push to privatize LDB. The following is from page 6 of the Business in Vancouver-revealed, Oct. 6, 2009 "Project Last Spike" memo by vice-president Scott Lyons to his superiors:

Exel reached out to the following key industry participants to sell them the value of this initiative to their business, and they are onside:
Tim Crowhurst, Executive Director Import Vintners Association of BC -
Kim Hackstad (sic), Executive Director of ABLE (Pub Association)
Lorne Valinski, Executive Director Spirits Canada-BC Division
Mark Von Schellwitz, Vice President, Canadian Restaurants Food Services Association
Kazuko Komatsu, President and CEO President of Pacific Western Brewing Company (left, with 1998 Order of B.C. medallion)

But there are bigger stories, folks.

First of all, the entire online library that once was for the eyes only of LDB bidders has been liberated from government files via Business in Vancouver (and the intervention of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner). Warning, it is twice as long as War & Peace. You might call it Hops & Grapes or Drunk & Sober. Here is the story and the link, in the first paragraph, to the entire set of documents. 

Secondly, did you know that the government kissed and made up with Telus over the $40 million B.C. Place Stadium naming rights fiasco? Instead of a consolation prize -- making the "Future Is Friendly" company the official or exclusive supplier or sponsor of telecommunications and technology -- the government cut a very big cheque and paid Telus a handsome sum of your money for the goods and services installed at B.C. Place. Except, neither the government nor Telus wants to tell us how big the payment was for this supply-only deal. Read about it here.

If the government was proud of saving money, it would have issued a news release in August when this happened.

It didn't save money and it didn't issue a news release.