tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400574.post3790950918930164790..comments2024-03-28T04:04:03.006-07:00Comments on Paying attention: Lots of questions on Port Mann projectUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400574.post-63211470964554047382009-02-07T15:20:00.000-08:002009-02-07T15:20:00.000-08:00.Looking on the bright side of life, I gotta say t....<BR/>Looking on the bright side of life, I gotta say that B.C. citizens have been earning their Ph.D.s in political flim-flammery ever since we started losing our hydro system, our rivers, forests, fish, our railway, ferry systems, ferries, jobs, and our faith in the political process. What with poor CanWest collapsing, they can't fool us anymore. We can identify a scam at first whiff.<BR/><BR/>So trashing a bridge in order to build another bridge in the current world-wide economic crash sure looks, walks, talks like a scam. <BR/><BR/>Thank you, Dr Willcocks and all other PhD.s. And for a little post-doctoral refresher, here's something Dave Schreck said on "Strategic Thoughts today: <BR/><BR/><I>You might remember Campbell's promise not to expand gambling. In 2000-2001 the government's take from gambling was $414 million; in that fiscal year its income from MSP premiums was $895 million. This year the Campbell government expected to receive $1.1 billion from gambling (up 265%) and $1.57 billion from MSP premiums (up 75%). Campbell forgot to tell you about his plans for gambling and MSP before the vote in 2001.<BR/><BR/>The same shell game will be played in the 2009 election as was played in 2001. One thing will be said during the campaign and something completely different will be said the day after. [He said he wouldn't sell BC Rail, either.]</I><BR/><BR/>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400574.post-6893700119971885732009-02-06T22:22:00.000-08:002009-02-06T22:22:00.000-08:00A timely P3 article in yesterday's G&M by Andr...A timely P3 article in yesterday's <A HREF="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090205.LPICARD05/TPStory/National" REL="nofollow">G&M</A> by Andre Picard - it ends: <I>As Canadian comic and aspiring politician Greg Malone has said bitingly: "P3s should be called P12s - Public Private Partnerships to Plunder the Public Purse to Pursue Policies of Peril to People and the Planet for all Posterity."</I><BR/><BR/>The Auditor General of Ontario's report on the Brampton Civic Hospital P3, by Auditor General Jim McCarter, that Picard bases his article on can be found in .PDF form <A HREF="http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en08/303en08.pdf" REL="nofollow">here</A> [23 pages / 370KB].Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400574.post-81466067340079882372009-02-06T18:23:00.000-08:002009-02-06T18:23:00.000-08:00The government's motives may be even worse than si...The government's motives may be even worse than simple partisan politics. By locking transportation projects behind a sort of Chinese Wall, they prevent public examination of financial matters. Unregulated business, as the USA has learned, is a breeding ground for fraud and theft. Based on nothing more than the sale of BC Rail, we cannot trust the BC Liberal Party and Gordon Campbell's government.NRFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10313572676780364282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1400574.post-25314682172509760962009-02-06T17:26:00.000-08:002009-02-06T17:26:00.000-08:00Private partners can justify their profits (and th...Private partners can justify their profits (and the cost to the government of shifting the risk) only on the basis that the risk that is transferred is worth it to the government. <BR/> <BR/>The fact is that in P3's, given the nature of the products, the government cannot, for public policy reason let the projects fail, so the government really cannot shift the risk, and therefore the amount paid to cover the private partner's profit is unjustified. <BR/> <BR/>The government's real motives are simply to move government debt off the books for partisan political reasons. It is a scam not dissimilar to the banks securitizing debt and selling it to obscure the reality of their balance sheets. We all know how well that has worked out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com