Canada Kicks Ass
Reason for Revolution: The Seditious Actions of the Gordon C

REPLY

1  2  Next



Robin Mathews @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:36 am

<strong>Written By:</strong> Robin Mathews
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-09-18 08:36:55
<a href="/article/233655368-reason-for-revolution-the-seditious-actions-of-the-gordon-campbell-bc-governm">Article Link</a>

The history – for at least the last five years – has been of resistance from nice public organizations, nice unions, a love-in Legislative Opposition, nice researchers and nice freelance journalists working on the issue, getting nowhere, losing ground each day, and being made to look like grade school dummies by the relentless manipulation and corrupt practice of the Gordon Campbell mob and its corporate puppeteers, Canadian and U.S. A few times people and groups have stalled the political thuggery. But the Campbell juggernaut has pushed past all fair and decent dealing – gaining, not losing, power.

The corrupt deal in B.C. must be stopped soon by whatever means works. British Columbians must use every weapon – including a General Strike and beyond – to stop the thug group around and working intimately with B.C. premier Gordon Campbell to hand the public wealth of B.C. to rapacious, oppressive, private corporations dragging B.C.s key energy resource into a system largely owned and controlled and mismanaged in the U.S. where the hugest portion of profit will flow.

The mystery is why Gordon Campbell and his cabinet are not dogged, confronted, and forced into public focus every day. Each time they move to pass legislation stripping British Columbians of democratic rights, or to sell out B.C.’s water, the Opposition should stop the legislature from operating. That is the Opposition’s democratic obligation: to focus the attention of British Columbians when government power is destroying the Province and the democratic rights of Canadians. The Opposition MLAs should block debate and the passage of all legislation. The rotten press and media of B.C would be forced to tell the reason for the opposition’s obduracy, thereby exposing the lying and secrecy of the Campbell government. That is what democratic opposition is about.

Unions should refuse to work, should stop the economy – a democratic weapon available to them. In France the workers did just that recently. French government passed legislation to begin the destruction of French unions. With students and other supporters, the French unions took to the streets and closed institutions until the French government withdrew the legislation completely. That is a recent example of democracy in one of its finest hours.

What is the core of the theft in B.C.?

Having promised not to privatize B.C. Hydro, the most valuable water generating electric system in North America, Gordon Campbell is destroying it.

One. By his 2002 B.C. Energy Plan B.C. Hydro is prevented permanently from developing further electrical generation and is being forced to buy from private generators.

Two. Campbell is burying B.C. Hydro in billions of dollars of debt through advance energy purchase agreements with those private corporations.

Three. Campbell has opened all B.C.’s hundreds of rivers to virtual gift-takeovers by a network of ugly, often foreign, often U.S. corporations.

Four. He has passed legislation – Bill 30 – which prevents all B.C. Municipalities from having any power over zoning of electrical generating facilities erected by private (many foreign) corporations on B.C. rivers. In effect, he has strangled the democratic rights of B.C. Municipalities. .

Five. Campbell has forced B.C. Hydro to out-source a third of its staff to Accenture, a highly dubious Bermuda-based operation. All metering, billing, and financial services of B.C. Hydro have been handed to Accenture by the B.C. government. Accenture came into being from its original life as Arthur Anderson Consulting which was so implicated in the Enron scandal it was virtually destroyed and had to disappear. Its reappearance is as Accenture. It is now a major “partner” in the B.C. water generated energy system.

The government agreement with Accenture is kept secret from the voters of British Columbia, kept so by legislation, denying British Columbians their democratic rights.

Six. Campbell forced a second split in B.C. Hydro to create the B.C. Transmission Corporation. Its purpose is to make B.C. Hydro accessible to all (private) producers so it can become an instrument (of the often U.S. “private” owners of B.C. rivers) to ship electricity to the U.S.at inflated prices – which will become the prices British Columbians pay.

Seven. Unknown to most British Columbians, B.C. Hydro - instead of increasing its electrical generating capacity – is paying out well over $400 million per year to purchase from the burgeoning private operators. That is a totally unnecessary situation.

Eight. Those private operators are The Independent Power Producers of B.C., many neither independent nor “of B.C.”. Unrestrained, they will make multi billions selling to U.S. buyers in a system that will force up nearly all living costs for British Columbians

Nine. To mask his ultimate intention, Campbell has wooed and won some Native groups and some real or “convenient” environmental groups. All of them can have their “participation” and ownership rugs pulled out from under them – precisely as Campbell has undermined B.C. Hydro – whenever it is convenient for the huge U.S. corporations wanting to own B.C. power.

Ten. The Campbell government is doing everything it can to prevent resistance from British Columbians, passing legislation to cut off citizen groups and municipal rights and trying to shut up organizations or institutions it can’t erase – like the Squamish-Lilloet Regional District which is a key obstacle to the complete meltdown of the citizens rights in B.C. that Campbell is determined to destroy.

That is the “what”. Why is it happening?

British Columbia is up against a global development that is ruthless, rapacious, and without conscience. The corporations in North America which are trying to corner all electric generation as a privately owned commodity intend to grab B.C. water resources for themselves. Who are those people? Where does their power come from?

When Dwight Eisenhower left office as U.S. president in 1961, he warned the population of “the military industrial complex” that was growing in power and threatening democratic life and institutions. That is a power that now is made up of George W. Bush, his circle, private U.S. corporations, and a wealth guzzling military which is an intimate part of the structure. Each part feeds the other and each dedicates itself to the illegitimate control of the wealth of the planet – ignoring, circumventing, or destroying democratic institutions. The U.S. has a military budget almost larger than all the other military budgets in the world. That military is used to coerce the rest of the world and – within the U.S. – to provide luxurious contracts to private corporations from the taxes paid by U.S. citizens. War and the repression of other states, and the seizing of foreign wealth is an on-going activity of the U.S. “military industrial complex”.

The U.S. War in Iraq, just for instance, was on the drawing boards long before 9/11 because the re-designing of the Middle East planned by the U.S. military industrial complex requires control of Middle East oil and of Middle Eastern markets. It is not an anomaly, therefore, that the shiny new constitution of “liberated”? Iraq declares that almost all Iraq enterprise can be privatized, can be owned outside the country, and that no Iraq government may impede the export of profits.

The U.S. has moved closer to fascism in recent years than, perhaps, ever before. It engages in illegal wars, violations of international law, the maintenance of secret foreign prisons, illegal military tribunals, widespread spying upon its own people, torture, and wholesale, manufactured falsification of significant world events.

The reactionary government of Stephen Harper is in a love affair with that increasingly fascist U.S. government and – in effect – with the U.S. military industrial complex. The Gordon Campbell B.C. government is a sub-office of that general structure, determined to replace the democratic power of British Columbians with the fascist power of “North American capital”, “of an integrated economy”, “of an unimpeded free trade area”. Whatever phrase is used to describe the goal of the Campbell government, it is – in simple terms – to rob British Columbians of their heritage in a publicly owned resource with public service as its mandate and to destroy democracy in the Province in order to imbed unchallenged and uncriticized private corporate rule in its place.

The history of B.C. Hydro’s dark days can be written briefly. In the premiership of Bill Bennett (judged guilty of insider trading on the Stock Market when premier) the gas section of B.C. Hydro was sold off on condition that it remain a B.C. Company headquartered in B.C. It became (as a private company) B.C. Gas and then Terasen.

A few years ago Gordon Campbell slipped into other legislation the release of Terasen Gas from B.C. ownership. Very soon after it was sold to Richard Kinder, a Texas, ex-Enron executive. (Observe how companies that have been in deep legal trouble in the U.S. provide key figures in the B.C. Hydro story.)

Kinder is said to have made two billion dollars in one year from Terasen. He quickly brought into its ownership the Carlyle Group – famous for arms manufacture and trade, and famous for being owned and/or closely linked to the George Bush circle, Saudi Arabians (the bin Laden family), and some ex-CIA people. The U.S military industrial complex is obviously deep into B.C.’s gas operation and is moving as quickly as it can to take over B.C. water. Its every move is aided and facilitated by the Gordon Campbell government.

In any country concerned to protect its population Campbell’s foul betrayal of trust would be declared sedition. It would be called criminal theft from the B.C. people in favour of private interests (many foreign), inimical to the well-being of Canada and British Columbia. In any such country the people would organize to end the seditious activity, knowing that if they did not succeed by democratic means a call for armed resistance would arise. British Columbians have time – still – to use all democratic means up to and beyond a General Strike to stop the Gordon Campbell thugs. Before there is a call for armed resistance.

Will we seize the opportunity?

[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 18, 2006]

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Corrections and Additions, 8 pm September 19, 2006:

Accenture has sent a written request for a correction regarding Mathews' mention of Accenture in this story. In order to be fair, we are including both the correction requested by Accenture (verbatim) and also Robin Mathews' reply to the request for a correction (verbatim). We leave it to you as the reader to decide whether you think a correction is warranted.
- Editor

The following was received by Vive le Canada.ca from Accenture (note that Accenture also invites Vive readers to do an internet search to confirm its position):

In the story by Robin Matthews entitled “Reason for Revolution,” we would like a correction. Accenture is not and has never been engaged in the practice of public accounting. Accenture has had no involvement in Arthur Andersen's audit services, including audit services to Enron. Accenture LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP had been separate legal entities and had operated independently since 1989. In 1990, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission formally recognized Accenture LLP as an entity separate and distinct from Arthur Andersen LLP. In 2000, all remaining historical contractual ties between Arthur Andersen and Accenture were completely severed.

I would like a correction issued immediately to ensure the facts are accurate.

Thanks,
Media and Analyst Relations Manager
Marketing and Communications
Accenture (Canada)
[email protected]
To learn more about Accenture go to <a href="http://www.accenture.ca">www.accenture.ca</a>

The following was received from Robin Mathews in reply to a forwarded copy of Accenture's request for a correction:

I do not remember writing "public accounting", and if I did, a apologize, especially since any public accounting of Accenture's activities in B.C. can only be considered a joke since its relation with the B.C. government is, by legislation, secret. In addition, Accenture and Arthur Anderson Consulting, Ms. Sarah Thompson writes, "had been separate legal entities and had operated independently since 1989." If that is so,

(1) why was it necessary for Ms Thompson to add that in "2000 all remaining historical contractual ties between Arthur Anderson and Accenture were completely severed"? There were, then, "historical contractual ties" between the two until the implosion of Enron began or was about to begin.. What were those ties? Sarah Thompson of Accenture might also tell vivelecanada

(2) why the Gordon Campbell government put the BC. Hydro billing, metering, and financial services into the hands of Accenture and CHANGED the Energy and Mines Act to make the details secret. Will Ms. Thompson now reveal the full secret details of Accenture's takeover of those functions, information deliberately denied to the citizens of B.C. by legislation of the Gordon Campbell government?

(3) Will Ms. Thompson tell vivelecanada if it is true that the U.S. State of California considers Accenture an outlaw company and refuses it the right to do business in that State? (Consult <a href="http://www.ashluriver.info">www.ashluriver.info</a>).

(4) Finally, will Ms. Thompson of Accenture confirm or deny that service trucks bearing the B.C. Hydro identification are used all over British Columbia, operated - in fact - by Accenture employees doing the work of Accenture but bearing B.C. Hydro identification in order to hide the fact of the Accenture takeover? Shouldn't a company which Ms. Sarah Thompson considers of such estimable reputation wish to emblazon the trucks it uses in B.C. with the name ACCENTURE so all British Columbians will come to know and the love the Caribbean based enterprise that was too close for comfort to Arthur Anderson Consulting - an enterprise completely destroyed because of its implication in the Enron scandal?

   



epawlett @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:34 pm

"Will we seize the opportunity?"
Probably not Robin. When opportunities have been there...ie:
The H.E.U. action...the teachers..the B.C. Fed has shut it down. Too many have bought in to Gordos golden decade b.s.

   



Diogenes @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:19 pm

Some reading and re-reading<br />
<br />
Campbell and his henchmen are merely front men for international corporatists <br />
Dig deeper and you will find the gold, the gold being whose who in the zoo<br />
<br />
<a href="http://home.freeuk.net/freenations/british-eurofederalists.html">http://home.freeuk.net/freenations/british-eurofederalists.html</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://thetyee.ca/Views/2004/04/19/Ten_Key_Questions_on_the_Next_BC_Election/">http://thetyee.ca/Views/2004/04/19/Ten_Key_Questions_on_the_Next_BC_Election/</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=104241082357595">http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=104241082357595</a> <br />
<br />
Alex Carey. Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda Versus Freedom and Liberty. History of Communication Series, introduction by Noam Chomsky. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997. . Introduction and notes. $15.95 (paper), ISBN 0-252-06616-2.<br />
<br />
&#8220;In Carey's view, U.S. corporate propaganda emerged because of the growth of democracy (specifically, increased popular franchise and the union movement) and the growth of corporate power, which clashed to create a climate where business leaders perceived a need to protect corporate power against democracy. Thus they developed both internal and external programs that identified free enterprise with cherished values, and government and unions with tyranny and oppression--a Manichean juxtaposition he refers to as the Sacred and the Satanic. Business leaders also co-opted social science to aid their cause, and they exported their free enterprise campaigns to other countries, including Carey's home, Australia. By taking corporate power out of the range of public discussion, Carey argues, propaganda has closed minds and society.&#8221;<br />
<br />
<a href="http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:VLxU182QGEcJ:www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/Vol2_1/clancy.pdf+Sir+Roger+Douglas+%2B+The+New+Zealand+Experiment&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=opera">http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:VLxU182QGEcJ:www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/ejrot/Vol2_1/clancy.pdf+Sir+Roger+Douglas+%2B+The+New+Zealand+Experiment&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=opera</a><br />
<p>---<br>We have met the enemy and he is us<br />
Pogo<br />
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.<br />
Plutarch

   



Individualist @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:43 pm

Robin might be interested in knowing that Thesaurus.com offers the following synonyms for "rapacious":

- aggressive
- covetous
- acquisitive
- ferocious

Although, to be fair, his repetition may be for effect. And writing while you're frothing at the mouth with anger undoubtedly poses a challenge to even as accomplished a wordsmith as Mr. Mathews.

Now what's a good synonym for "pretentious"?

   



RPW @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:30 pm

**pretentious**<br />
<br />
Yes, Gordon Campbell & Co. are certainly **pompous**.......<br />
<br />
Moreover, their **high falutin** ways, with their **puffed up** personalities, their **hoity-toity** manners,and their general **self-importance**, smacks of a **grandiosity** that has not been earned in any way.<br />
<a href="http://www.answers.com/pretentious">http://www.answers.com/pretentious</a><br />
<br />
But will British Columbians rebel? Not a chance! We're whiners. not do-ers...........<p>---<br>"Son, if you wanna get ahead in this world, never work for another man as long as you live."

   



Diogenes @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:53 pm

Now what's a good synonym for "pretentious"?
Individualist, individualist is an excellent synonym for pretentious

---
We have met the enemy and he is us
Pogo
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.
Plutarch

   



Crankster @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:44 pm

Isn't this old news? Haven't we always known that Campbell and his henchmen have a mandate to leave BC stripped to the bone and waving an American flag?
The sell off of resources is old news. The sell of off the common worker is old news. The complacency of the sheeples is old news as well.
All the campaigns and petitions will do squat unless we are of a collective mind not to let this happen.
To start bickering and warring over semantics lends nothing to the problem at hand.


---
A little peice of heaven is found in good deeds.

   



TROUT @ Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:47 pm

In my experience (mostly rural), Canadians are as meek and polite as little
mice until the second the gloves hit the ice. After that, necks get broken and
skulls get cracked.
Most of us are blissfully unaware of the situation described by Mr. Mathews,
and will probably remain so until the lights go out, or become prohibitively
expensive.
After that, things are bound to get REALLY VIOLENT.
In the meantime, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the sheep to look up.

   



Crankster @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:01 am

I don't no about'blissfully unaware'. More like shamefully turning away.

---
A little peice of heaven is found in good deeds.

   



Jay Spark @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:21 am

Bingo, Robin!

   



RPW @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:03 am

<I><U>"In my experience (mostly rural), Canadians are as meek and polite as little mice until the second the gloves hit the ice. After that, necks get broken and skulls get cracked."</U></I> <P>That's why they keep most of us locked up in our cozy little concentration camps called "cities". Much easier to keep us locked in when the "gloves hit the ice".........</P> <p>---<br>"Son, if you wanna get ahead in this world, never work for another man as long as you live."

   



BC Mary @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:08 am

Who couldn't feel a righteous anger? Thanks again, Robin.

About those meek British Columbians ... yesterday, 18 Sept. 2006, there
was supposed to be another significant meeting in BC Supreme Court
between Basi, Virk, Basi, their lawyers, the Special Prosecutor (on behalf
of us, eh?) and the judge. They were supposed to be deciding on
whether they had exchanged all the necessary documents to actually (for
chrissake, after almost 3 years) go to trial and, if so, to confirm the trial
date. This, after all, concerns our railway: BC Rail.

You've heard nothing from British Columbians, right? Because they're
apathetic? NO. It's because there hasn't been a hint, a clue, a syllable
reported on this in the public media. (If you've heard or seen something
about this courtroom scene, please let me know: [email protected])

It's not the fault of the average citizen ... a healthy democracy
depends upon a free, fully informed press. And that's something we
don't have, in our mainstream media. Because of that, we should feel
anger.

And so we owe Robin Mathews a huge bouquet for daring to keep us
freely informed ... this time on BC Hydro.

   



sthompson @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 12:13 pm

I have been contacted by Accenture's Media and Analyst Relations Manager, in Marketing and Communications, because Accenture would like a correction to some information in this article.<br />
<br />
In fairness I have contacted Robin and will wait for his full response before issuing a full formal correction.<br />
<br />
However in the meantime here is the information on why Accenture feels a correction is warranted:<br />
<br />
"Accenture is not and has never been engaged in the practice of public accounting. Accenture has had no involvement in Arthur Andersen's audit services, including audit services to Enron. Accenture LLP and Arthur Andersen LLP had been separate legal entities and had operated independently since 1989. In 1990, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission formally recognized Accenture LLP as an entity separate and distinct from Arthur Andersen LLP. In 2000, all remaining historical contractual ties between Arthur Andersen and Accenture were completely severed."<br />
<br />
More information on Accenture is available at: <a href="http://www.accenture.ca">www.accenture.ca</a><br />
<br />
Accenture also invites readers and users to do a web search themselves to confirm that the above info is correct.<br />
<br />
- Editor<p>---<br>Don't want to be an American idiot / One nation controlled by the media / Information age of hysteria / It's calling out to idiot America.--Green Day<br />

   



Diogenes @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:09 pm

I admire Robin Mathews for his words as much as any other man or woman that seeks truth and justice but in lionising one man the many are shut out. Google &#8216;the Karl Eisbrenner story - the Brouwer/Kuiper Case, dido Jack Cram, Rev. Kevin D. Annett, Percy Schmeiser, R.W. Nicholson, David Hunter Thomson of ourcourtssuck.com, The Zanetti sisters, Tina and Gina, International Indigenous Rights lawyer, Dr.(yup a real one) Bruce Clark, Renate Andres-Auger, a lawyer and Cree woman, Ornst Rusnak's* work, who also published as a hardcover nonfiction, the book titled "The Lawyer in the Prisoner's Box", detailing Mr. Rusnak's experiences in the Canadian legal system. Eddie Haymour, Lovey Cridge <br />
And ind some small way me.<br />
There are many of us Freedom Fighters, Vigilantes if you will that go on unsung<br />
<br />
BC Mary and Whelen Costen can be counted amongst us. There are many here as well who do what we can to bring issues to the fore.<br />
GUDONYA ALL!<br />
Dio <br />
<br />
* <a href="http://www.legalstructures.ca/who.html">http://www.legalstructures.ca/who.html</a><br />
<br />
and YES!there is cause for a revolution , if it only be in our thinking th<br />
<p>---<br>We have met the enemy and he is us<br />
Pogo<br />
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.<br />
Plutarch

   



Diogenes @ Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:14 pm

Well there is some spin in need of debunking.
They gotta have their legal beagles visiting these pages



---
We have met the enemy and he is us
Pogo
A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.
Plutarch

   



REPLY

1  2  Next