Friday, November 7, 2008

Ladner is Finished


Peter Ladner's bid for the Mayor's chair is finished.

It is over.

Buried irrevocably by the Olympic Village story.

Gregor Robertson and the Vision team will hanmer this story until it loooks like ground round.

Gregor Robertson will win and we will have a new City Council that will rival the outgoing council for "Worst in Living Memory."

I voted for Peter, and his friends and family and NPA die-hards will vote for him and that's it.

Sayonara, auf veiderzein, ciao, baby, ciao.

Ladner will shoulder all the blame for this very, very bad act by a sitting government, but he shouldn't.

Sam Sullivan and Gordon Campbell and the federal government and all the councillors who were there at the scene of the crime should take the blame as well.

If there were any justice in the world, Raymond Louie and Tim Stevenson and Elizabeth Ball and all other Council participants in the October 14th in-camera session that gave away the store to American hedge fund crooks would be gone too.

But they won't be.

Raymond will be re-elected and so will a few other incumbents.

Given what has come to light in the last 48 hours - thanks to Gary Mason, a Globe & Mail national reporter, and not one local scribe - the current Council ought to resign en masse.

A few weeks ago, in a closed meeting, city councillors unanimously agreed to "help" Millennium Development Corp., which is building the Olympic village. The city will lend up to $100 million to Fortress Investment Group, a Wall Street hedge fund manager, which in turn will be lending about $700 million to build the athletes' village on the south shore of False Creek.

Fortress, its stock price now trading at under $4 from its 52-week high of $19.50 -- it dropped 12 per cent Thursday -- has also been given $190 million in loan guarantees from Vancouver taxpayers. Two taxpayer-funded entities -- which like to see themselves as corporations, but are in essence supposed to represent the public interest -- refuse to say how high the financial risk is for taxpayers.

The nearly $300 million in loan guarantees, if fully drawn down and reneged upon, would represent about 30 per cent of the city's annual budget.

The above in italics are taken from Miro Cernetig's column in this morning's Sun.

Nobody at City Hall is willing to utter Word One on this story. Not Ladner, not Louie, not the City Manager, Judy Rogers.

Louie, by the way, is vice-chairman of the city's finance committee.

So let me by absolutely clear about this...and I am confident that I speak for taxpayers and home owners all across the City of Vancouver:

I DO NOT WANT ONE PENNY OF MY MONEY BEING LOANED OR GIVEN TO A WALL STREET HEDGE FUND CRIMINAL!!!

For any spurious purpose, including the Olympics or the Special Olympics or the Western Surrey Regional Fly Fishing Tourney.

To Make matters worse, everyone concerned is dummying up. Won't say a word. Covering the poo in secrecy, claiming the privilege of "being in negotiations."

Yes, but in negotiations with my money and yours.

These fools have hit the absolute Zero Sum base of Irresponsibility.

This morning, as I write this, I am in a hotel room in Whistler.

God willing, I'll get back safely to town this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, as I steered through the dodge-em, hodge-podge of the relentless construction on the Sea-to-Sky Boondoggle Highway, I found myself despising Gordon Campbell even more than ever.

Half of Vancouver's roads and city streets are an unholy mess. The transit system is easily the worst in the known world. We have the unremitting, growing problems of addictions, homelessness, wait-times for medical attention and so on into the dark Liberal night.

But millions have been found and allocated for this stupid road - on which there were about 12 people travelling mid-day yesterday - to aid and abet the glory of a two-week event so that Wee Gordie can have his emotional wet dream in public. I can't wait for his teary moments. And when they come, I will count each tear drop at a Million or So Dollars per.

Thus, follows the South East False Olympic Village site.

Thus follows VillageGate.

Thus follows the end of Peter Ladner, the anointing of Gregor Robertson, the beginning of a dreadful new City Council and the indebtedness of Vancouver taxpayers to some creep in New York who's laughing all the way to his several banks.

This the Sucker Play for The Ages.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, is Mr. Peanut running? If he is, I'll vote for him!

Anonymous said...

Look at all the money being spent on this colossal 'wet dream'. Yet, my 82 year old mother, in long term care, who's total monthly income is $1,100.00 must pay $54 a month BC Medical!

Evil to those who do evil!

RossK said...

But Mr. B.....

Millenium's man, Mr. Malek, just told The Tyee's Monte Paulsen that his hedge-funded firm, who's backers have apparently already pulled out of the ponzi scheme, are now (thanks to you and me!) in an 'enviable position' to take their sweet time selling all those gorgeous waterfront condos that you and I will never be able to afford to buy into.

Ain't being a sucker grand?



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My take, for anybody interested, is here.


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Anonymous said...

With some luck, a good communications plan, some strategic planning tossed in, perhaps we can get rid of Gordo & his travelling troupe of fraudsters before the next election. Falcon was on Bill Good today (take that any way you want) and babbling about all the conventions that will come here. Neither of them seemed to know tourism in Canada is down 40% this year and that there is a massive global recession/depression underway. Lord, Jehovah or whomever, spare us from any more!

Anonymous said...

Let's see David....
Last time you voted for Sam Sullivan. This time you voted for Peter Ladner.
MMMM??? I enjoy your blog each day, and I was almost ready to trust your political judgement. I guess that when the chips are down, those pesky NPA genes just keep bubbling to the surface.

David Beers, The Tyee said...

Hi David

Great post, with the usual take no prisoners Berner thrust.

But it's not true no other media have been on this. At The Tyee, for example, I believe I got the ball rolling on this scoop by reporting Ladner's admission that city hall was underwriting a 'struggling' Olympic village:

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Housing/2008/10/23/VanHomelessnessDebateReport/

and then our reporter Geoff Demibicki followed up with this:

http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Labour-Industry/2008/10/27/endowment-fund-athletes-village/

The Globe's Gary Mason got the (as yet unidentified) source that allowed his editor to go with his piece without a single named source. But city hall has stonewalled all other attempts, I can assure you.

Anonymous said...

Add to this that former head of the Vancouver NPA, lawyer Paul Barbeau - who just happens to be a director of Armeco Group, who just happens to be a partner with Millennium - was on the radio today assuring everyone that he will not profit from this in any way. No sirreee.
And guess what? He has not spoken with any elected representatives about this issue.

And Sam even denied that a secret meeting ever took place. Oooops.

And our Gordfather was involved up to his carbon taxed assets with Millennium from the beginning.....
And what about the $400 million dollars owed to builders of the Millennium project in West Vancouver?
The way this City is being run - we will probably never know.

Peter Ladner could act with integrity and come clean with the details of the terms of this 'loan'. But he refuses.

If this 'deal' is such a boon for taxpayers - why the door slammed in our faces?

Wow. It's just like the Canada Line project. Ladner learned a thing or two while on the TransLink board. Secret meetings are the way to go if what you are doing will raise alarm bells. The Province is all over this one too.

Miro got it right. They threw Pruedence out the window....and the people are being forced to swallow a very large pill.

NPA has had it's day. Enough.

Anonymous said...

David, Stan Lowe in Victoria is in charge of criminal prosecutions.
Obviously a complete investigation of this entire mess is badly needed. Stan can be reached at 250-387-3840. Dial 604-660-2421 for a free call to Victoria. Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Hi David,

Terrific post, but I also must agree with David at The Tyee (who are a wonderful news source) that Mason was not alone...my own column covers this issue today.

Also, to the poster under the moniker 'anonymous'...

I know Paul Barbeau. Paul Barbeau is a friend of mine. The fact that he was President of a shelf company, as the lawyer of record, to a different company owned, operated or controlled by Millennium is an old story that appeared in the Province in Feb 2007. Barbeau, as lawyer for Armeco, held the corporate records of the company in his office, not any differntly than the corproate records of any company are held by any other lawyer.

Also, Barbeau was the lawyer for Armeco for 15 YEARS PRIOR to any decisons being made by anyone at Millennium to invest anywhere.

Additionally, Barbeau would have had to not only convince all of council, but city staff as well AND be clairvoyant enough to become solicitor of record a decade and a half prior to a decision being made by his clients--to benefit!!!

Not one of them, not one, has ever had such a conversation.

Paul Barbeau has unimpeachable integrity and the fact he's being dragged into this is as unfortunate as it is lazy journalism.

The real issue here is Judy Rogers and Sam Sullivan. someone should ask them why the need to do the deal NOW???

How come no one is asking??

Anonymous said...

And I thought Chicago, New Orleans, and New Jersey were tops in the corruption game. Well, besides being 'the best place in on earth', perhaps we're vying for the most corrupt -- it does me proud.

Mo.