PWGSC selling Maritimes' RCMP HQ Bldg? With Others, More Gremlin Spoor -&- Lib Gets Wind Power Contract--Keep your friends close & LibGov(s) closer

Bumped up--important. See sections in green, at least.


PWGSC selling Maritimes' RCMP HQ Building?


What's going on? Who (What Liberals) are buying? Or are these for the other unsuspecting fellers?

Will they sell RCMP buildings so they can give their friends favorable government leases?? Dec. 11, 05

"Bill Casey says he can’t believe the federal government wants to get rid of the buildings housing the regional RCMP headquarters in the four Atlantic provinces.

"It just doesn’t make sense to sell these buildings and put those offices into rental facilities, especially when we live in a time of heightened security and new threats that we’ve never seen before," the Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit MP said Saturday.

"It also doesn’t make sense to do it at a time when the auditor general just came out and said the RCMP doesn’t have the resources they need to work with.

""Taking their headquarters and privatizing them is an idea I just can’t fathom."

Ottawa studies selloff of federal buildings

Process could create new era in private-public partnerships By Mike Levin - Business Edge (Mike Levin can be reached at levin@businessedge.ca), Published: 06/23/2005 - Vol. 1, No. 12

This article has become more interesting with the passage of time, IMHO

The divestiture is being overseen by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).
...327 government-owned buildings...PWGSC's internal audit...$3.3 billion [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] Francois Brazeau, outgoing director general for alternate service delivery at PWGSC, [. . . . ]

High up the priority list of possible actions are selling and then leasing back some or all of the properties; entering partnerships with private buyers; or forming a real estate investment trust (REIT) that would give unitholders a market-determined return on investment.

...40 years old...need renovations...high environmental standards...energy efficiency. [. . . . ]
...unprecedented in Canada...

In the early 1990s, PWGSC began outsourcing day-to-day management of its buildings. Taking the next step and outsourcing ownership is seen by Minister of Public Works and Government Services Scott Brison as the best way to make the assets more efficient.

[. . . . ] $2.2 billion to manage [. . . . ]

Brison . . .$925 million over five years.

[. . . . ] Dennis Devine, a vice-president with Royal LePage Advisors Inc. in Ottawa.

"Possible buyers. . . institutional investors like pension funds," . . .

The inventory is spread throughout Canada, and includes 112 buildings in Ontario, 30 in British Columbia and seven in Alberta.

Among the candidates are Place du Portage in Gatineau, which houses PWGSC's headquarters; Natural Resources Canada's Booth Street Complex in Ottawa; 4900 Yonge St. in Toronto; the Harry Hays Building in Calgary; Canada Place in Edmonton; the Government of Canada building in Red Deer; and the Sinclair Centre, Library Square and 401 Burrard St. in Vancouver. [. . . . ]

Brazeau .... PWGSC ....to commission a study. [Where have I heard that phrase before? I remember, the House of Commons.]

In April, PWGSC began soliciting [. . . . ] it is expected that a contract will be awarded before the end of the summer. [Which Liberal got this contract?]

[. . . . ] "I can't see how a REIT would make sense here because it's based on income growth, and (the government) is talking about long-term fixed rents," Charters says.

"The methods need a lot of due diligence. . . . need a pretty good leaseback. . . .

[. . . . ]...short-term cashflow...long-term use of public resources...gives up...control...

[. . . . ] strategic properties, ... maybe the private sector can do a better job. [. . . . ]

Distribution of Buildings
* Alberta 7
* British Columbia 30
* Manitoba 10
* New Brunswick 30
* Newfoundland 38
* Nova Scotia 28
* Ontario 112
* Quebec 56
* P.E.I. 10
* Saskatchewan 6
- Source: PWGS [ PWGSC ]

Thanks to Pack-Rats-R-Us for this. Is it just the normal work of the system? ***


There are many links and items worth reading on Newsbeat1 so I have listed some headers; however, some items are so important to Canadians that I have posted excerpts below.

Articles of Import:

* Pretty condescending way to treat the Canadian public- inferring that the Liberals would know how to spend your money better than parents

* Parents of slain teen say prime minister's proposed handgun ban will do nothing to stop youth violence-via jacksnewswatch.info

"Once steadfast Liberals, Huxtable and his wife Yvette, both Jamaican immigrants, now say Liberal crime policies help create teen gang violence. [. . . ]

Worth reading.

* Protecting Canadians? Looks like they handcuffed the Mounties and left the criminals free to prey on Canadians

"The registry was a bureaucratic nightmare which was so over-budget and underperforming that .... not many in the media seemed to notice? [. . . . ]

This latest announcement is basically an admission of understaffing ....even more demands placed on the services of the RCMP after 9/11 -air marshalls, intelligence, infrastructure protection which required even more officers.Throw into the mix the fact that . . .

[. . . . ] some enterprising journalists should find out how [. . . . ]

Links with the above

If they were fully staffed why the need for additional officers?If they were truly interested in protecting the public they would have added 500 officers/yr for 5 years but it's all smoke and mirrors anyway.In fact they should have been added just after 9/11.It's not like they didn't have the money available or anything.

Ron Moran, CEUDA's National President, says, "If the Liberals want to be taken seriously about stopping crime and murders from handguns in Canada, they have look at the flow of those guns across the border; they have to make our border more secure. Simply making handguns illegal is almost pointless when the border is so porous and unarmed. All we hear from them is they've spent in the neighbourhood of $9 billion on security since 9/11, but who's kidding who?"


* The gun ban announcement was nothing more than a drive by photo op to pretend they were doing something.........Jack sees through the BS -- "and he should know"

* Income Trusts "here's something Martin and Goodale could do: They could voluntarily disclose the records of all phone calls made from the finance minister's office that day"

* The gun ban announcement was just a cynical ploy designed to create a wedge than get the criminals off the streets. After 12 years the track record of -- "start colouring the air purple"

Important!

* Good thing the Auditor-General was on the ball to highlight these items

http://
newsbeat1.com/2005/12
/good-thing-auditor-general-was-on-ball.html

CTV article -- Auditor-General -- baggage handlers

http://
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/
CTVNews/20051210/baggage_handlers_051
210/20051210?hub=Canada

Newsbeat1's link has a Gremlin [ It is done with the addition of a 'hard return' ] so I have included a corrected link:

Auditor-General's 2004 Report

http://
www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/re
ports.nsf/html/20040303ce.html

Criminal associations are a significant threat to air transport security.

3.143 Increasing level of criminality. . . . [. . . . ]

3.144 . . . . based on our analysis about 5.5 percent of clearance holders hired between January 2001 and May 2003 had criminal records.

3.145 . . . . The risks of drug smuggling and other criminal activity were not necessarily regarded as grounds for denial of a clearance.

3.146 . . . . Police and Customs had identified 247 individuals with clearances to restricted areas who were involved in criminal conspiracies, almost all of them in Toronto and Montréal . . . . A single criminal may bribe or coerce entire work teams to facilitate smuggling. Those involved rarely know what is being smuggled.

3.147 The RCMP's assessment of clearance holders . . . . At the two airports where police and Customs had no active investigations, clearance holders included individuals who may have significant criminal associations.

3.148 . . . . none of the 405 clearance holders in our sample had been assessed by Transport Canada for criminal association.

3.149 . . . . about 4,500 persons or 5.5 percent have possible criminal associations that warrant further investigation and possibly withdrawal of some security clearances. This represents a serious threat to security at airports.

3.150 . . . . RCMP identified 16 businesses operating at airports that were linked to criminal activity such as providing travel arrangements for organized crime, facilitating identity fraud, and selling stolen passes. The firms were associated with biker gangs, organized crime, and drug trafficking. . . . .

*****************************************************
(Then there's this little gem.-)

Intelligence lessons learned from critical incidents are incomplete [. . . . ]

[Plenty of information here too.]

3.71 The lessons-learned report (30 August 2001) noted . . . several significant issues remained unresolved. The report was based on separate lessons-learned reports submitted by individual departments and agencies. However, some agencies had not produced reports. For example, we found that while the Passport Office was significantly involved in the Ressam affair, it did not conduct a lessons-learned analysis.

Minister of Transport? . . . Jean Lapierre [La Pierre?]
Minister Responsible for the Passport Division . . . Minister Pierre Pettigrew? [ Or is that DFAIT which would be Minister Bill Graham? Check. ]

End of Newsbeat1 excerpts and links



Memory Lane -&- More Gremlin Spoor

This concerns bad links -- from the Dept. of Foreign Affairs & Int. Trade (DFAIT)

The Header: Media Bias: CSIS Downsized-Needs Funding, 'Planting' Spin? Bud, Budget: Security-Military vs Politics, 'Honour' of Women, Operation Last Chance & More

News Junkie Canada Feb. 21, 05 and Frost Hits the Rhubarb

http://
newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com/
2005_02_21_newsjunkiecanada_ar
chive.html#110901816847393776

Sub-headings:

Are Liberal Supporters 'Planting' Stories with the Media on the Cost of the Gomery Inquiry? Any ulterior motive?

CSIS Downsized 700 Agents - Report of Manpower & Funding Problem, Spinning Defeat of Bills to Split Foreign Affairs & Int. Trade

FHTR week of Feb. 20, 05 to Feb. 26, 05

http://
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_02_20_frosthitsthe
rhubarb_archive.html

Auditor General's Report on Foundations

[. . . . ] Accountability of Foundations -- Main Points

http://
www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/
reports.nsf/html/20050204ce.html

. . . . Paul Martin's government wanted to place two departments, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, under the control of one minister. Would that minister have been Bill Graham, Pierre Pettigrew or someone else to run the combined department?

[Spoor Sightings: Bad Links -- Adding a hard return [ < + br + / + > ] at the end of a link produces it -- see below what is orange.]

" target=_blankCSIS Downsized 700 Agents - Report of Manpower & Funding Problem, Spinning Defeat of Bills to Split Foreign Affairs & Int. Trade or the " target=_blankoriginal article

http://
newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com/
2005_02_21_newsjunkiecanada_ar
chive.html#110901816847393776 [< + br + / + > ]

http://
www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?dis
play=story&full_path=/2005/february/21/bills/&c=1 [< + br + / + > ]

Corrected Links:

First Link -- CSIS Downsized 700 Agents -- refers to an article in the Toronto Sun with a misleading title

http://
newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com/
2005_02_21_newsjunkiecanada_archive.html
#110901816847393776

[. . . . ] The second link is even more intriguing:

The Defeat of Bills C-31, C-32 'a shot across the bow' to 'arrogant' Libs Hill Times, Feb.21, 05, Kate Malloy and F. Abbas Rana

http://
www.thehilltimes.ca/html/
index.php?display=story&full_path=/
2005/february/21/bills/&c=1

The governing Liberals' surprising and embarrassing defeat of last week's bill to split Foreign Affairs and International Trade was a "shot across the bow," from opposition parties to [. . . . ]

Mr. Solberg, his party's high-profile finance critic, said it was his understanding "that things came out of the" Foreign Affairs Committee that caused the critic and the leadership to say they didn't want to support the bills.

Said Mr. Solberg: "As far as I understand, the way it worked is when the bill was first introduced we said, 'Well, it looks like a housekeeping bill and we're comfortable with it and we'll probably support it. Then you get into committee, you discover things that you don't like about it and discover information they deny they initially have and I think at that point, it's completely justifiable to say, 'No, we realize now there are problems with it, we don't want to support it. That's my understanding of how it's all worked out."

Other Memory Lane Headers from Feb. 21, 05 that might prove useful to someone are below:

Bud Talkinghorn: Confederacy of Dunces, Tale Told by a Ditherer, Feminists' Horns of a Dilemma, PM-Gay 'Marriage', Question Period

Rape as Pillage, Theo Van Gogh Murder a Terrorist Attack, The 'Honour' of Women, Socialist Welfare Policies and Immigration

The Budget, The Real Power, Mr. Rossignol's Report -- Political Considerations, Mr. Dithers, JC and the Military -- & Cracks

[Search: Auditor General Sheila Fraser , foundations in , Quebec tail wags dog on foreign policy -- Rudyard Griffiths says domestic reality is paralyzing minority Liberals , helicopters , Canada's search-and-rescue helicopters , Sikorsky , Cormorant ]

Police Chief or Politician? Men-Women Inequality, DoD on China, Operation: Last Chance, Insurance, Cronyism-Wheat Board? Never! -- Looking for a police chief most perfect -- THE REPLACEMENT Search hampered by growing list of must-have characteristics

[Search: the hiring of Avis Gray, Alcock's one-time campaign manager, by the Canadian Wheat Board ] -- CIA Translation of Secret Chinese Military Manual – Details Here -- War on Terrorism -- [ government meddling also -- Search: insurance industry to keep these poor drivers ]

Shotgun: "Toronto Star Does Not Declare Bias"-- Reliable Sources-Kurtz-PowerLine on Bloggers

Friends . . . Close

Liberal insider gets wind-power contract -- worth $475 million

. . . the government awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a company whose partners include a Liberal party insider.

Mike Crawley, president of the Ontario wing of the Liberal Party of Canada, is a partner in Erie Shores Wind Farm.

From NOV. 25, 2004 - Province unveils renewable energy projects [link on CBC site]

On Wednesday, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan announced that Erie Shores was one of a number of companies hired by the province to sell it electricity from generating systems powered by wind, sun, water and methane gas. [. . . . ]

---