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

Of Times of India and Taxpayers of British Columbia: The Sequel

The B.C. Liberal government did its best to keep Times of India Film Awards information away from you and me during its successful re-election campaign.

On Jan. 22, via Freedom of Information, I asked for records about the controversial April 6 B.C. Place Stadium Bollywood awards. I wanted the contract and the business case. Jan. 22 was the day Premier Christy Clark announced TOIFA and, coincidentally, when thousands of film industry workers gathered at North Shore Studios to promote the Save B.C. Film campaign.

After the government invoked a delay, I finally received some of the records from the Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Ministry on May 13 -- the day before voting day. I reported on the documents on The World Today with Jon McComb on CKNW AM 980. I got some more documents from the Finance Ministry on May 17, three days after election day.

I have published those records below. I am disappointed to say that there are still more questions than answers. You will see that the government has withheld most of the information.

Below you will see a Financial Impact Assessment dated Oct. 9, 2012 and the Nov. 27, 2012 Treasury Board approval from Finance Minister Mike de Jong (who danced for the crowd of 35,000). Notice in de Jong's letter to Pat Bell that the funds came from contingencies. With four months remaining in the fiscal year, de Jong was already dipping into the rainy-day fund for non-essential spending. This is the same Finance Minister who claimed on Nov. 28 that he was controlling spending.

The contract with Times of India subsidiary BCCL International Events Private Ltd. was dated Dec. 12, 2012 and the government previously claimed it was worth $9.5 million, but there are no dollar values visible. Which begs the question: how much did this event really cost British Columbians?

Organizers failed to sign any mainstream, Canadian national advertiser as a corporate sponsor. There simply was not enough time. BCCL eventually found a title sponsor. Lux Cozi is a Kolkata-based underwear company that you might say has some dirty laundry. Chairman Ashok Todi was charged by Indian authorities in connection to the 2007 death of his son-in-law. Todi, who has not been proven guilty, and daughter Priyanka were on-stage in B.C. Place Stadium. The awards are scheduled to air on Sony Entertainment Television in India on June 16.

In the contract, the government required BCCL to create an "online virtual data room" -- a glorified website -- containing records about its services. But the very next line in the contract says that any records held by BCCL are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This is a new trick that I hope Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham will deem illegal.

The government has the power to show you and me as much or as little as it wants. In this case, it chose secrecy. It conveniently chose to cloak this very expensive event behind the closed doors of cabinet because it knew this was not for the benefit of all. How can we believe the information contained in the government's propaganda?

It is obvious that the Clark Liberals wanted to avoid questions about TOIFA spending after Ontario media outlets got the line-by-line list of costs for the 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards via FOI. Despite that, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty parlayed IIFA into his re-election. McGuinty's chief of staff was Don Guy, who was part of Clark's 2013 campaign backroom.

Remember: there was no involvement by the Canadian Tourism Commission nor the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. This was not about building bridges between the vibrant South Asian community and the rest of B.C. This was not about multiculturalism. This was about the Multicultural Outreach strategy -- the expenditure of public funds to benefit the ruling party's bid to perpetuate its hold on power.

For $9.5 million, how many more cops could have been investigating unsolved murders and rapes in B.C.? How many homeless people could have been housed? How many cancer patients could have been treated? How many more scientists could have been in labs, trying to solve diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? 

Times of India Film Awards contract by BobMackin

TOIFA-FIN-2013-00029

The trials and tribulations of TOIFA

When it's all over, will the inaugural Times of India Film Awards in Vancouver be considered a quick win or a case of haste makes waste?

The British Columbia government gave an arm of the Times of India Group a $9.5 million, sole-source contract last December to manage, conceptualize, plan and produce the event. It budgeted another $1.5 million on a fashion show and business conference, among other things. The budget was $11 million. What will be the final tally?

The government doesn't want you or me to see the contract and business case before TOIFA. It could be released under Freedom of Information after mid-April. I'll keep you posted.

I reported on CKNW AM 980 on Jan. 25 that there had been a solid bid submitted for the International Indian Film Academy Awards, but talks broke-off between the government and promoter Wizcraft. Here is the bid book for the proposed June 21-23 IIFA festival, which would have been a regional celebration of Indian culture. It would have also been after the provincial election.

Lux boss Ashok Todi

With only 10 weeks between the Jan. 22 announcement and the event itself, TOIFA failed to land a big-bucks Canadian title sponsor. Big, mainstream, national brands weren't willing to open their wallets for a first-time event at such short notice.

I revealed on the Simi Sara Show on CKNW AM 980 that TOIFA did find a title sponsor, Lux Cozi, which is well-known in India. And not just for the underwear it makes and markets. Listen to The Investigators podcast here.

In a nutshell: Chairman Ashok Todi was implicated in the death of a 30-year-old man who married his daughter, Priyanka, in 2007. Rizwanur Rahman's body was found beside train tracks in Kolkata. Murder charges didn't stick, but Todi and six others (including his brother and three cops) were accused of "abetting suicide."

Tourism Minister Pat Bell's office referred questions to TOIFA spokeswoman Laura Ballance about Lux and Todi. Ballance wouldn't comment because the matter is before the courts.

When I get the contract via FOI, I will be curious to find out if the government really signed it without including a clause requiring it be consulted on the types of sponsors, to ensure they are aligned with the values of B.C.

Bell already put his foot in his mouth when he proclaimed in the Legislature on March 5 that TOIFA was "sold out." That was not true. Thousands of seats remained empty for the Pacific Coliseum concert on April 4. Organizers admitted they sold 4,800 in the arena, which can hold 17,000 for a full concert. There were more than 500 entries on Craigslist from people hoping to unload their tickets to the April 6 awards ceremony at B.C. Place. TicketMaster still has a wide selection across several pricing categories. Various websites have popped up, offering discount tickets. One of them is TOIFA Events. It is unclear whether they are officially TOIFA-authorized.

Clark on her 2011 India tour

TOIFA has claimed it changed the configuration to expand capacity at B.C. Place from 20,000 to 35,000. A 22-page sponsorship prospectus drafted in December shows that the April 6 event was always planned for "35,000 ticket holders and invitees."

One of those who will be there is Premier Christy Clark, in her $750, custom-made sari from Surrey.

Need more? Here is my latest from Business in Vancouver from April 5. And, in The Tyee, a look back at Music '91, a post-Expo 86 tourism promotion throughout B.C. in 1991 that was supposed to help the ruling Social Credit Party, but instead backfired.

Here's hoping the TOIFA awards show is a success, but I can't help but wonder: is history repeating?

Did you receive tickets to TOIFA from a source other than TicketMaster? Do you have questions about the legitimacy of your tickets? Please contact me. 

TOIFA Supporter and Hospitality Package by BobMackin

Toifa Sponsorship Experience by BobMackin

Of Times of India and Taxpayers of British Columbia

A lot is at stake on the first weekend of April in Vancouver, and I'm not referring to Canada's Davis Cup quarterfinal tie with Italy at Thunderbird Arena.

Instead, this post is about the inaugural Times of India Film Awards, which feature a concert on April 4 at the Pacific Coliseum and the gala awards at B.C. Place Stadium on April 6. Thousands of tickets are available, even after Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Minister Pat Bell said in Question Period on March 5, during an exchange with the NDP's Raj Chouhan, that it was "sold out."

The British Columbia government was bidding to bring the International Indian Film Academy awards to Vancouver in June 2013, but negotiations broke down with producer Wizcraft International of Mumbai in May 2012.

Elephant in the room: Clark clutching the TOIFA trophy.

So Premier Christy Clark created a pre-election Bollywood awards show under the guise of promoting B.C. as a tourist destination for Indians with a broadcast on Sony Television in India. It was announced Jan. 22 -- just 72 days before the event.

I took a critical look at the $11 million-plus, taxpayer-subsidized event on The Investigators on CKNW AM 980 on Jan. 25. Here is the podcast.

Depending on how you look at it, TOIFA is the scandal-plagued BC Liberals' last hurrah before an election they're expected to lose or a desperate, multicultural outreach ploy to gain votes from the 260,000-plus Indo-Canadians in B.C. Not surprisingly, no mainstream, Canadian brand has sponsored TOIFA; sophisticated companies tend not to invest in unproven properties, especially when faced with such little advance notice.

Only five companies well-known within the Indo-Canadian community have come forward. The values and structures of the deals have not been disclosed. Toronto's 2011 IIFA had 18 months lead-time and was able to compile an impressive sponsor roster, topped by CIBC, one of Canada's biggest banks.

As much as Bell and Clark try to downplay, distract or deny, they refuse to show British Columbians in a timely manner whether due diligence was applied to this venture before Treasury Board approved. I asked, via Freedom of Information, for the business case and contract. If it exists, the government won't give it to me before the awards. (See the bottom of this post.)

I did get confirmation, via a separate FOI request, that the government made a sole-source award of a $9.5 million contract to BCCL International Events Private Ltd., the Times of India Group's events arm. That contract was effective Dec. 12, 2012. (See below.)

What does this mean?

Quite simply, we may never know how our money was spent. Times of India Group is a private, foreign company. As such, it is outside the FOI law. The government's contractual sleight of hand is a likely legacy of the 2011 IIFA event in Toronto, where the CBC and other media outlets eventually got detailed spending reports via FOI.

The news only gets worse for TOIFA, after the Surrey Board of Trade issued a March 28 news release slamming the promoter for failing to schedule an event in Surrey, where 30% of residents are South Asian. The bid book for IIFA (which you can read here) included letters of support from Mayor Dianne Watts and Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman. Suggested events included a Bollywood film festival at Surrey's Strawberry Hill cinemas. I broke the news about the imminent Surrey snub on March 6 in Business in Vancouver.

Blaming the Times of India Group for the snub doesn't add up. The BC Liberals let the contract and hold the purse. As the saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Might Clark and co. have punished Surrey for turning down the Gateway Casino application to city council the weekend before the TOIFA news conference? According to Vancouver Desi, Surrey's Sikh community played a key role in the anti-casino lobby. A March 2 TOIFA fashion show was held at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond -- a casino in a municipality other than Surrey.

TOIFA has also stirred anger within the Indo-Canadian community. Vikram Bajwa, a disenchanted BC Liberal in Surrey, has announced plans for a protest outside TOIFA events to oppose the taxpayer-subsidy.

Much more to come on TOIFA...

Have you obtained TOIFA tickets from a source other than TicketMaster? How much did you pay? Did you get them for free? Please email me and tell me your story. 

Times of India, Taxpayers of British Columbia

Times of India Film Awards -- The Cliffhanger