May 15, 2006: Gun Registry -&- Drugs

It's that time of the year ... and I think I recognized an oriole feeding in a lilac bush, the first one at the seeds I put in a feeder there.






I heard today CBC TV on its soapbox. Note the frantic tone as they interview the chosen leftists and Liberals, the select group they always have at the ready, those who are against any change related to the gun registry ... Would they lose money? Jobs? Or are they just plain negative about anything the Conservative government does in an attempt to find out where the money went and to save loss of more taxpayers' money?

PM Harper is probably going to shut down the long gun registry.

Preview of AG's Report -- on the Gun Registry -- computers posted by Sensaregreat, May 11, 06

CanWest News Service has learned that the problems identified in Auditor General Sheila Fraser's 2002 report on the gun registry persisted for some three years, and she will note that there were serious difficulties related to the handling of computer contracts. Fraser's upcoming report will lay the blame at the feet of both top public servants and their former Liberal masters when it is released next Tuesday.

[....] Also, the report will note that costs continued to grow because Ottawa was under contract with two competing computer firms for years before deciding to switch to a more advanced information technology system that could be adapted to the needs of the gun registry.

The decision to switch from the original IT firm, run by EDS Canada, to Team Centra, a consortium of computer firms led by CGI Business Solutions, was held up for almost four years thanks to long-delayed legislative changes to the firearms program, several ministerial reviews and the seemingly ever-changing requirements of the registry's computer system. [....]

Tories smell new scandal over gun registry costs -- Gun registry costs may heat up again Allan Woods, CanWest, May 12, 2006

OTTAWA - The former Liberal government "broke every rule in the book" when it signed a $273-million computer contract for the federal gun registry -- now the subject of a "stop-work" order -- and never reported the costs or terms of the deal to Parliament, a longtime Conservative gun-registry critic alleges.

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, who discovered the existence of the 15-year contract last fall, said that it was never reported to Parliament in government estimates on spending, or disclosed by the Treasury Board, which controls the government purse.

[....] CanWest believes Auditor General Sheila Fraser will report Tuesday that the former Liberal government kept the true costs of the gun registry from Parliament and that the problems identified in her initial 2002 audit of the controversial program continued for at least three years despite fierce criticism and the scrutiny of opposition parties. [....]

Watch for the audit. Would that be the contract involving the Champagnes?



Michael Enright / Gun registry posted by Brigand, May 14, 06, via newsbeat1

Costs of the gun registry

1995-96: $12.8 million
1996-97: $26.1 million
1997-98: $50.3 million
1998-99: $130.8 million, what a jump? [sic]
1999-2000: $131.2 million
2000-2001: $200.3 million, cash filled envelopes?
2001-2002: $136.6 million
2002-2003: $78.2 million
2003-2004: $106.6 million
2004-2005: $99.0 million
2005-2006: $85.0 million

Source: Canada Firearms Centre

Search: It is the gun registry with $2 billion in overspending. ... Frost Hits the Rhubarb: April 17, 2005



Film: Guilt by Association -- starring Mercedes Ruehl
re: US mandatory minimums

That the mainstream media appear to be against mandatory minimums had nothing to do with this film being shown within the last week on some cable channel or other, of course.

Memory Lane: Drugs and Fear

Drug courier with 60 kg of pot given house arrest Jane Seyd -- via here April 2006, " Gasoline: a terrible air freshner"

A drug courier from Bowen Island who agreed to transport 60 kilograms of commercially packed marijuana for an $800 fee was handed a nine-month conditional sentence Monday with five months of house arrest after pleading guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Judge Carol Baird Ellan of the North Vancouver provincial court [....].

Police estimated the value of the pot at anywhere from $211,000 to $290,000.

[....] Before handing down her sentence, Baird Ellan asked if Pembroke had helped police determine who was running the grow op. "It concerns me that there are so many people at the low-level or even the mid-level (before the courts) and who knows who it was who is behind it," she said.

But Goldberg said Pembroke had not given any information to police because she was afraid for her safety.

"That's the usual answer," said Baird Ellan. [....]

Harmless weed .......



What ever happened ... Basi & Virk, BC trial?

Spiderman in a Web of Intrigue -- The Basi-Virk-BC Rail probe may yield BC’s biggest scandal yet. If so, meet the Crown’s mysterious star witness: ‘Spiderman’ Erik Bornman. -- or here By Bill Tieleman, Published: May 10, 2005, TheTyee.ca

[....] “The biggest political scandal in Canada [ http://www.bcpolitics.ca/left_raidscandel.htm ] may not lie in Quebec, where the Gomery inquiry is laying bare a tawdry tale of misdirected funds, but in British Columbia, where a conservative judiciary is suppressing information about alleged drug dealing, money laundering and influence peddling,” wrote Mark Hume in the April 25 edition of the Globe and Mail. [....]

Scandal may dwarf goings-on at Gomery Mark Hume, Monday, April 25, 2005


More Memory Lane

Political Connections -- Warrants Raise Tough Questions for Libs Political Connections Archives, By Bill Tieleman, Publish Date: 16-Sep-2004

[....] Sandhu is cousin to and owned property with Ravinder Dosanjh, the Victoria police constable who has been suspended with pay because of what Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill has called Dosanjh's indirect links to the organized-crime investigation that led to the legislature raid. Sandhu is related to Amar Bajwa, according to the Vancouver Sun.

So, although the reasons for the raids at the B.C. legislature have become clearer, much remains a mystery, including the political damage this will do to the B.C. and federal Liberal parties.

But we do know that there are connections between a police investigation into drugs, money-laundering, and organized crime, two privatization deals worth more than $1 billion, and allegations of breach of trust and fraud by top provincial government officials who have extensive connections with the federal Liberal party and the campaign to make Paul Martin leader and prime minister.

It doesn't get much bigger than that.

This article contains the names and a short bit on each person involved ..... very interesting.



The Basi-Virk-BC Rail probe may yield BC's biggest scandal yet -- Spiderman in a Web of Intrigue By Bill Tieleman, Published: December 26 2005, Contributed by: BC Mary

Published on Boxing Day ... must have been read by everyone ......... but just in case you missed it, here is an excerpt

The Basi-Virk-BC Rail probe may yield BC’s biggest scandal yet. If so, meet the Crown’s mysterious star witness: ‘Spiderman’ Erik Bornman. The trial of Basi & Virk is promised for February 2006 ... so that a 3rd election will pass before voters begin to see the story unfold.

Erik Bornman’s nickname is Spiderman but the former top Paul Martin aide is now stuck in a sticky web of intrigue that includes the tainted $1 billion BC Rail privatization deal, drug trafficking, influence peddling and the impending high-profile trial of accused ex-BC Liberal ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk.

How did Bornman, a well-connected BC and federal Liberal operative, become the crown’s key witness against his former friends Basi and Virk in the trial arising from the dramatic police raid on the BC Legislature in December 2003?

Why are most media outlets all but ignoring Bornman and his extensive links to both the federal and provincial Liberal governments?

Search: entered a locked federal Liberal Party office , BC membership list , battle between Paul Martin and Jean Chretien , registered provincial lobbyists for OmniTRAX , active in BC government relations as a registered lobbyist for , a Request for Proposal and presentations regarding Roberts Bank

Have you heard anything about that Feb. 2006 trial?




Diversion

Photos: Mother's Day -- eaglets -- You may have to register first.

Note Panda's delightful kitty avatar ... but then, I'm a sucker for kittens and puppies so ...