Police raid BC ministers' offices

[MrPrax]

Monday, December 29, 2003
A Victoria police officer looks out from the legislature during Sunday's search, part of an investigation stretching back 20 months.

RCMP raided the offices of two senior B.C. cabinet ministers Sunday, seizing files, correspondence and computers as part of a far-reaching criminal investigation.

The ministers, Finance Minister Gary Collins and Transportation Minister Judith Reid, were not the targets of the raid, said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Ian Lawson. He said police were investigating ministerial staff who work in their offices.

"It does not involve any elected officials," added Solicitor General Rich Coleman, calling it a "criminal investigation of people who may work in the (legislative) buildings."
http://tinyurl.com/36tl5">More

Maybe Gordo will be Number Four?
Canadians are so smug and like to IGNORE their own seedy corruption, one can say that BC ranks as one of the MOST corrupt jurisdictions ANYWHERE in North America and could easily give some of the best US stalwarts a run for their money...
More of the same for the future Host of 2010 Winter Olympics!

[Ekova]

1. Your link doesn't work.

As a smug Canadian I should point out that we don't ignore our own "seedy corruption" as should be obvious by the RCMP raid. I'm sure that B.C. will be pleased that you've opened their eyes with your vast generalizations.

Merry Christmas.

[Wonk]

3. Fixed link here

link

on edit: more

[daleo]

2. I suspect there is plenty of corruption in both countries

I don't know about B.C., but I have long felt that there is the potential for vast corruption in Alberta, given the large amounts of oil and gas money available, along with the lack of effective opposition in either the legislature or the media.

Perhaps corruption could become an Olympic sport, then we could get to the bottom of this.

[chenGOD]

6. Perhaps corruption could become an Olympic sport...

It's tough to tell who would win that one. THe current US administration is doing a marvelous job of being about as corrupt as possible, but I don't feel that an average US adminstration is quite as corrupt as the Bushites. THe US would definitely see some serious competition from East Asian countries. South Korea in particular has ome serious corruption being exposed right now. I'm sure Japan would be well up there, but they haven't done any serious investigating into the depths of corruption/cronyism there.

[HEyHEY]

4. Ignore?

Canada has a good history of taking down their corrupt officials.... Example Brian Mulroney, though the cops messed it up they still arrested the prick and were prepared to send him to prison.

[Spazito]

5. I was listening to CBC around noon and it looks like it deals with...

trading marijuana for cocaine in cross-border trade, serious stuff! Will be interesting to follow this for sure.

[bubblesby2002]

7. Another smug Canadian here.......

I was just speaking with a friend of mine who happens to work in the BC government: they believe there is some connection with a Victoria policeman who has been under investigation for some time for "obstruction of justice" etc, etc. The investigation is apparently going back years and years. And it is NOT the government ministers who are being investigated - it is people high-up in their office staffs. However, even though elected officials are not involved, maybe they should be investigated for stupidity - i.e. not checking out the people who work for them.

[iverglas]

8. hey, they're Liberals ...

... did anybody think they weren't corrupt??

The little bit I've read indicates that one of the two political appointees in question was a Liberal bagman.

There are indeed some Canadians hereabouts who cling to the fiction that Liberals are "liberals" (in some nice sense), and encourage our USAmerican neighbours in this delusion. I ain't one of 'em.

Of course, I'm damned smug about *that*.

.

[HEyHEY]

9. Well, I always knew they were pricks...but not drug dealers

:-)

[bubblesby2002]

17. Liberals

Just got back. And man are you correct about their corruption. The BC Liberals are made up of a conglomeration of old Social Credit, Reform, Alliance, Conservative and they are right right right wing. They would fit in with the current Republican administration.

I certainly did enjoy the news today though. It made me flash back to when the "fair and balanced" BCTV reporters camped out on Glen Clark's lawn (the NDP ex-premier). When I saw the picture of the RCMP coming out of the parliament buildings, all I could think about was how the NDP were treated by the media and whether the "Liberals" would be treated the same way.

[HEyHEY]

10. Welcome to DU!

That's the third new Canuck DUEr today...theres lots of us buggers on here.

I'm a British Columbian too!

[chenGOD]

11. SHould I state that I'm also a Canadian (albeit expat)?

Born and raised in Edmonton, currently residing in Seoul, South Korea.

[HEyHEY]

12. cool...how's it haning?

[iverglas]

13. that must be a western Canadian expression

eh?

;)

[HEyHEY]

14. What is this "eh" you speak of?

;-)


A great example of BC legislature prickness is the Brian Salming bullshit. Salming was not allowed access to the legislature during session because he works for a very left-wing paper called Terminal CIty.

They used an old story he wrote in college about the head security gaurd (I think) jerking off holding a pic of the queen. to say he wasn't a real journalist.

[chenGOD]

15. What I find funny...

A lot of Canadians think that many BC politicians are laid-back down to earth post smoking hippies; and that ALbertan politicians are very uptight people. Well in my own personal experience (having lived in Victoria for a year and half), I would say that Albertan politicians are more in touch with the "common" man. I've been drunk with more than a few of them in some bars in the university area of Edmonton. But I never did see a BC politico in the bars in Victoria.

Don't really know the point of this point, eh.

Maybe it's to say, go have a beer you hosehead!!!!

[iverglas]

16. great story, never heard it

Never heard of Terminal City, either. What a Central Canadian I am.

http://www.terminalcity.ca

http://kootenaycuts.com/archive/?2854
"The inside word on Salmi and Moonbeam being ejected from the <legislature?>"

<Speaker of the Legislature> Richmond's inspired comments to a Vancouver Sun reporter included the following one on Salmi's attire: "He had a sweatshirt on and the rattiest pair of running shoes you ever saw."

(Salmi, in turn, denies the "rattiest" bit: The Nike shoes, bought in London, England, are a mere six years old.)

But Richmond also objected to a 1994 satirical column by Salmi which the speaker referred to as "disgusting."

... Richmond claimed that freedom of the press is not an issue in his discussions with Salmi and Atwater.

"My question to them was simply were they prepared to show some respect for the institutions of parliament?" Richmond said in the November 27 statement.

Just what on earth does that mean? Richmond offers no clue.

Does it entail refraining from writing satire? Withholding criticism of the bizarre and secret way in which the legislature's $40 million annual budget is unloaded?

Or does it apply only to writing, as Salmi did, a fictional account of how one member of the legislature's staff masturbated?

The "not a real journalist" comment harkens back to the various labels applied to the Canadian journalist who got into that spot of bother in Afghanistan during the US blitz. I saw him on a panel (about media ownership concentration) a while later. He described how he had been upgraded rapidly, through several ranks, from being a "war tourist" to being a freelancer to being a real journalist as soon as Daniel Pearl was captured.

Google cached version of out of date UBC article:

But as more information became known, they realized the captured journalist was Ken Hechtman, a self-proclaimed war correspondent with no reporting experience who quit his day job and flew to the frontline in Afghanistan.

Sympathy and concern turned into ridicule and criticism. Hechtman had become Canada’s Geraldo.

... Hechtman’s capture, however, stirs controversy whereas Pearl’s invokes concern. Veteran journalists feel self-proclaimed correspondents who drop into hot zones with no experience, such as Hechtman, tarnish the reputation of official journalists representing mainstream news agencies.

That's one view. Straightgoods gives another:

http://www.straightgoods.ca/Features.cfm (links to articles)
... but damn, my subscription has expired so I can't quote any.

Although even Straightgoods seems to have downgraded him after he was captured: Google cache of another outdated article.

This morning, rookie Mirror news editor Patrick Lejtenyi was quoted in CP saying "he's not really a journalist" and "it was really kind of like the first assignment that he's done. He just wanted to go."

Similarly, Ish Theilheimer, publisher of straightgoods.ca, the other outlet to print his stuff, went from calling Hechtman their "Afghanistan correspondent" Tuesday to calling him in an email this morning a freelancer and pointing out "we know Ken by e-mail only, a good and intrepid writer and reporter, clearly working on his own hook."

Why won't Theilheimer and the Mirror say: "He's our guy, he's our reporter; as it's against every convention of war to imprison journalists, we want Canadian and American forces to take every action to get Ken released now"? Only François Bugingo, with the local chapter of Reporters without Borders, has done the right thing: "We're looking for a contact to negotiate his release."

Anyhow, enough wandering the net. We all know that lefties aren't real journalists, right?

.

[bubblesby2002]

18. Thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for the welcome. i've been a "lurker" for some time and thought it was about time I spoke up.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

21. yet another Cunuck!

I just signed on today as well. Manitoba

[molok555]

19. BC politics is the black sheep of Canada

or at least they keep getting caught. BC can't seem to have a Premier untouched by scandal. I was out of the country for Harcourt/Clark's dealings, but well remember Vander Zalm. Now we have the drunk driver and his drug-smuggling/illegal fish-farming minions.

Jeez. Looks like Bennet was a friggin' saint!

[andy12]

20. Kindergarten corruption in BC compared to Quebec.

Come to Quebec, and ask why are they still paying for an Olympic stadium that is over 25 years old. Quebec is the mother of corruption in North America. This one in BC has has a huge Quebec connection with Paul Martin and Christy Clark the BC Education Minister. Since the material was found in a cabinet minister's office, the Supreme court of BC will have to review the info on the hard drives and paper. This will take months and I suspect will release the material right after the next federal election.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

22. Just minor

corruption in Manitoba. Some vote rigging by the former Filmon government, and MTS sale that some stuffed their pockets with.

[Wink]

23. I'm from Chicago, USA.

Illinois has an ex-governor up on charges of corruption. Our president* and his family have got to be the most corrupt clan since the Corleone's (sp). BC pol's are mere pikers compared to my city, state and country when it comes to corruption.

[Norquist Nemesis]

24. From Chicago too!

In good ole' DuPage County. Yep, corruption is status quo around here.

[Wink]

25. Suburbanite since I was a kid.

Perhaps you've seen my letters to the editor. I've probably had 34-40 letters in Suntimes, Trib, and Joliet Herald. I write under my real name, Paul Winkelmann. I'm in Will County now. We have our share of crooks and Republicans (whoops, that's an oxymoron).

[Norquist Nemesis]

26. Yes!

I'm fairly certain I have seen them! Small world. I actually grew up in central IL--in Charleston. We grew our share of crooks there too (remember Little Jim Edgar?). I think that's the real reason he didn't say yes to Bush in running for Fitzgerald's spot...those financial dealings were going on while he was SS too. He just didn't have a van full of kids that were killed during his terms.

[Wink]

27. Edgar was crook too.

They (the liberal media) try to make him out as some sort of sober goody two shoes. He was sober alright but good?....Not hardly. He ran away from the gov's office amid a scandal involving bribes from Waste Management (i think that's who it was). Anyway, he was a scumbag just like 99% of republicans. The only republican I can think of that wasn't crooked is Fitzgerald. I may not have liked some of his policies but the guy was honest. At least honest enough to challenge his party when he didn't like what they were doing. I am actually sorry to see him go. I'll get over it if Nancy Skinner gets his job. She's absolutely great. She used to be a radio host on WLS and man, she rips the hell out of the Repugs and especially Bushy.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. The Joliet Hardly News

You've written letters to the editor to that rag? What a piece of fish wrapping that paper is. You can't go 5 column inches without finding 3 errors in grammar or syntax and the editorial page exhibits the logic of asparagus.

Whereabouts are you from that you write to the Hardly News?
The Professor

[Minstrel Boy]

29. Follow up: "Targets of raids had ties to Martin"

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail:

The central figures in Sunday's RCMP raid on the offices of two senior B.C. cabinet ministers were being touted for top Ottawa jobs in Paul Martin's new government, sources say.

David Basi and Bob Virk, the two ministerial assistants who are of interest to the RCMP, were organizers in British Columbia's Indo-Canadian community for Mr. Martin's successful leadership bid.

The office of Victoria-based lobbyist Erik Bornman, who has close ties to the Martin camp, was also searched by police Sunday.

Mr. Bornman is a protégé of Mr. Martin's B.C. campaign chairman Mark Marissen, sources say. He served as the director of operations in B.C. for Mr. Martin's leadership campaign.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031230.wrais-liberals1230/BNStory/National/

[Screaming Lord Byron]

30. Has Paul Martin set a new record for days in office before first scandal?

[Spazito]

31. The police also went to Christie Clark's home too...

and took documents away. Clark's husband is big on the federal liberal scene. This just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Edited to add: Christie Clark is the Education Minister in the B.C. Liberal government (for those who don't know who she is)