Dec. 23, 2006: BC Rail Memory Lane

Update and Correction - at bottom.

What would Christmas season be without something to read?

After posting yesterday (Dec. 22, 2006: Basi / Basis - Virk - Third Parties ) , I had occasion to look at the posts on Frost Hits the Rhubarb May 22, 2005 - May 27, 2005 and I was surprised at the amount of currently relevant information posted that week. The following is just one excerpt. See that post for the links, sections highlighted, etc. This is intended just to give an idea. FHTR


Frost Hits the Rhubarb May 22 - 27, 2005

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_05_22_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Search, bearing in mind that computers are stupid so try different versions, for example:

Chretien / Chrétien
BC Rail / B.C. Rail

Example: CN is a Crown Corp.; yet, while receiving public money, the Canadian citizenry are not privy to much information. Read the excerpt that follows with this in mind: which of the following are involved?

* ports,
* LNG terminal(s),
* pipeline(s),
* shipping
* business expansion in BC,
* Canada-China business and business networks,
* expansion of business preparatory to the 2010 Olympics. . . and afterward?

and one would be remiss in not mentioning

* friends in government


The Big Question: Who are providing the private money mentioned here and who benefit?

[.... The following is from the BC / British Columbia Provincial Legislature ]

Hansard: 2004 Legislative Session: 5th Session, 37th Parliament -- B.C. RAIL SPENDING ON MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS MAY 18, 2004, Volume 25, Number 16, [ Page 11199 ] -- Additionally, you might want to follow that link for these; .... "Impact of government policies on airport authorities" and possibly "Destination ImagiNation competition"

J. MacPhail: Three days until this place shuts down until the fall, three days until the government can hide from questions on B.C. Rail, and I'm sure they're all relieved. But before the cabinet heads off for the barbecue circuit for the summer, maybe the Premier can tell this House how much money B.C. Rail is spending right now to spruce up operations before the Premier hands it over to CN for 990 years.

Hon. G. Campbell: As you know, Mr. Speaker, the B.C. Rail investment partnership agreement is before the competition board. At the time when that is complete, everyone will have all of that information. .... In terms of what B.C. Rail is doing, it's trying to keep an ongoing operation that works for its shippers, and that's what we would expect it to do as we go through this transition period.

Mr. Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition has a further question.

J. MacPhail: Well, isn't that interesting? An ongoing operation. Here's what we know. The government has spent $14 million, much of it on lawyers and spin, preparing for the handover of B.C. Rail to CN, the new owner. But until today we didn't know that B.C. Rail is also spending $1 million a month on upgrades, including brand-new B.C. Rail trucks and vehicles before CN takes control. In fact, these vehicles are labelled as non–revenue generating, but they're shiny, they're new, and they're big.

Again to the Premier: can he tell the House why B.C. Rail is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a taxpayer-financed gift to CN in the form of brand-new B.C. Rail trucks and vehicles?

Hon. G. Campbell: I'm sure the member opposite would understand this. When there's a transaction that takes place, B.C. Rail has an ongoing operation and maintenance of its fleet. That's part of what the agreement would obviously have expected. You wouldn't have expected B.C. Rail to close down while we worked through the completion of this agreement. But let me say that within the next few days, I'm sure this agreement will be completed.

Within the next few days, there will be a billion dollars of private sector investment that will come into British Columbia. Within the next few days, we will begin opening up the north to opportunities, to passenger rail service, to gateway service in Prince George, to a new Prince Rupert terminal and port that will open up huge opportunities to Peace River farmers. Tourism will benefit. Northern communities will benefit. Regional communities will benefit.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you this. The B.C. Rail investment partnership is going to make a huge difference in the future of British Columbia.

[1420] Jump to this time in the webcast" [Go to the site for this. NJC]

J. MacPhail: This is the government that said this deal would be done by March 31, 2004. This is a government that doesn't have a clue what's happening at B.C. Rail right now.

Here's the expenditure document for April 2004. According to this April 2004 status report…. It's about B.C. Rail capital spending. It was leaked to the opposition.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please, hon. members. Let us hear the question.

J. MacPhail: In the first four months of this year, B.C. Rail has spent $675,000 on brand-new vehicles for its yards, vehicles that are listed as non-revenue vehicles — pricey present to CN, a company that I'm sure can afford to buy its own shiny new trucks. It's just one more example of the B.C. Liberals keeping costs secret about how much this B.C. Rail deal is costing taxpayers. They're predicting that they will spend $1 million on these shiny new trucks. Again to the Premier…

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

J. MacPhail: …are these brand-new rail yard trucks and vehicles part of the contract of sale with CN, or did the government buy these for CN as another taxpayer-financed token of appreciation for helping B.C. Liberals break their election promise?

Hon. G. Campbell: You know, I think the member opposite clearly doesn't understand that capital upgrade and maintenance budgets are part of an ongoing operation. The ongoing operation of B.C. Rail is obviously critical as we move forward. [If you are virtually giving away BC Rail, why would this be necessary? NJC]

Let me just say to the member opposite that the great thing about the B.C. Rail investment partnership is that the taxpayers won't have to pay a million dollars a month to upgrade equipment. The taxpayers won't have to invest in an upgrade of the system, because the private sector will be doing that. The private sector will be creating jobs in British Columbia.

[FHTR comment:] Who are the private sector players? Make an educated guess; then start digging.

There is more posted during that week which is relevant currently.



Update and Correction: If you check further on the Frost Hits the Rhubarb May 22, 2005 post, note my error in this:

"Canadian taxpayers have just gifted resident of France, Ismaili from Pakistan the Aga Khan and his organization with $30-million for his Ottawa 'centre for pluralism';..."

Correction: The Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili Muslims, has been reported to have been born in Kenya. It was his grandfather and/or father who left the Gujarat, India, to live in Kenya, Africa, some time after Partition of India and changes in India's tax laws. That was connected to Ismaili tithing, I understand. Subsequently and reported variously, the Aga Khan has studied in or lived in or had citizenship in France, Switzerland, the UK. I have read of some past connection of the Ismailis to Iran, as well. Check further.

It was my error from checking when I was tired; then, I compounded it. With individuals having such wide-ranging, international backgrounds, it is not possible to assume a Khan came from Pakistan, nor from one the Muslim areas of north India.

Dec. 22, 2006: Basi / Basis - Virk - Third Parties

Somewhere, among the turkey dinner, the cocktail parties, the schmoozing ... lies the shadow ... the ghost of Christmases past


Check for the words "money laundering". It is too late to do more but I seem to remember the words. Maybe it is only because this affected banks and a securities company , not just BC Rail and the BC government. Note the alternate spelling of Basi / Basis. FHTR


Website: The Legislature Raids

Header: Why did R.C.M.P. and Victoria police raid the B.C. Legislature on 28 December 2003? Why is the public left without answers to that question? Let's share what we know.


December 19, 2006
New delay raises fears of a Fall trial
Fraud trial hits another snag , Mark Hume, Globe and Mail BC edition, 19 December 2006

bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/2006/12
/new-delay-raises-fears-of-fall-trial.html#links


December 18, 2006
Vancouver Supreme Court Criminal List. Charges 9 and 10. And in December 2004, after charges laid, Attorney General Geoff Plant telephones the media.

Vancouver Law Courts
Public Access Supreme Court Criminal List , Date: 18 December 2006

bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/2006/12/
vancouver-supreme-court-criminal-list.html#links

Note: there is an alternate spelling for Basi / Basis ... and that this begins with Count 9.

Also, in "disclosing confidential government documents and confidential government information" ... who were the "interested third parties" mentioned?

[....] Two counts against two of the men in more detail:
Count 9

Udhe Singh (Dave) BASIS and Bobby Singh VIRK, between the 1st day of April, 2002 and the 28th day of December, 2003, at or near Victoria, or elsewhere in the Province of British Columbia, did by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, defraud Canadian National Railway Company, Canadian Pacific Railway, CIBC World Markets Inc., and the Government of British Columbia, of an amount exceeding $5,000.00, by recklessly putting at risk the bidding process for the Freight Division of BC Rail in disclosing to interested third parties confidential government documents and confidential government information including Cabinet confidences, contrary to Section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.

Count 10

Udhe Singh (Dave) BASIS and Bobby Singh VIRK, between the 1st day of January, 2003 and the 28th day orf December, 2003, at or near Victoria, or elsewhere in the Province of British Columbia, did by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, defraud(1)Macquarie North America Ltd. and OmniTRAX Inc.,(2)a consortium which included Canadian National Railway Company, Canadian Pacific Railway and the Vancouver Port Authority,(3)TD Securities Inc., and(4)the Government of British Columbia, of an amount exceeding $5,000.00, by recklessly putting at risk the bidding process for the Port Subdivision of BC Rail in disclosing to interested third parties confidential government documents and confidential government information including Cabinet confidences, contrary to Section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. [....]

Digression: For more on this, check past posts on Frost Hits the Rhubarb and / or News Junkie Canada from December, 2003, 2004 or 2005. If time allows, I'll check and update later. Also, there were posts on FHTR lately, which mentioned TD Securities Inc.
Note: misdated

Dec. 21, 2006: Banks Globalization Mergers
Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006.

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12
/dec-21-2006-banks-globalization.html

I believe there was also mention of banks and TD Securities Inc. here:

Dec. 11, 2006: Propinquity -- Toronto Dominion / TD and more on international banking

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12
/dec-11-2006-propinquity.html

End of Digression



To return to "The Legislature Raids"

Christmas is that time of year news hounds find a plethora of news that may be overlooked ... Christmas is such a busy time ... but that is when some news topics just expand ... akin to "They just growed and growed, like Topsy."

There is good information on this website which expands into BC Rail and more, if you link, but I wanted to bring to your attention this:

Anne Cameron, on hearing of the Tsawwassen land deal , Dec 10, 06

bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/2006/12/
anne-cameron-on-hearing-of-tsawwassen.html#links

[....] The FlimFlam men have come to town and they've been made welcome. It's Doctor Do NoGood's travelling snake oil show, come one come all. Dig in your pocket, buy a bottle of this elixir, drink it and do not notice your wetlands are being drained, your forests shaved, your children dumbed down and your politicians are hand-in-glove with the corporations. All the way to the top.

Steve is going to pour millions into a plan to assess the types and amounts of toxic chemicals being poured into the environment. That doesn't mean he's going to make them stop pouring, it just means a new bureaucracy, keeping track (more or less and probably more less than more more) of what it is has inflated the rate of childhood chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

But not to worry. Because both levels of government are going to "do something" about the starving homeless on Vancouver streets and have the streets clean before 2010 when the world comes to watch the privileged play winter games. And THAT is going to mean that small towns in remote areas have a surge in population as these poor b*****ds * are deported to areas where they won't be seen by the moneyed crowd when it arrives. It would be quicker and cheaper to just gas the bastards but if anyone noticed we'd be in warm water so we'll do our own polite version of ethic cleansing and send 'em to Spuzzum or Horsefly or Leaky Gumboot or Patched Elbow. Well, not Patched Elbow, that's in Saskabush.

YA BIN HAD!! YER STILL BEIN HAD!!

Is it an accident? Who profits? [....]

Forgive my bit of editing with the asterisks. Bud has. (*) I assume, also, that BC Mary also wishes all a Merry Christmas, and fruitful reading. Good stuff, BC Mary!

Dec. 22, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn - NATO

The impending death of NATO

To echo the left, "NATO stands for The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the world's policeman." I can agree with this summation, as far as it goes. However, the broader sense of American / European security extends beyond continental Cold War scenarios. Now ideological enemies have emerged out of the deserts of the Middle East. Such threats should be familar to Europeans, as they encountered them in the 16th century Islamic thrust into Europe--only stopped at the gates of Vienna. Then came the fascist 30's. Finally, they saw them again in the "iron curtain" that fell over Eastern Europe. By the way, "Iron curtain" was stolen by Churchill from a speech by Josef Goebbels. He said in early 1945, "The Soviets have dropped an iron curtain on Eastern Europe, behind which vast butcheries have begun". As an old Czech friend would testify from experience, that was entirely correct. This current totalitarian menace comes cloaked in veils, ancient grievances, and sharia law. It is wilful, dedicated and patient. It feeds off the wavering, quavering voices of its infidel enemy. It hates social progress, unless it may advance the cause. It can spot a weakling; one that will defeat itself.

The Taliban see the French, Italians and Germans cowering in the north of Afghanistan while their warrior brothers fight the Taliban in the south. They are legal experts in how to abuse the West's tolerance and "diversity edicts", especially,.how to manipulate the liberal media. They rightly assess the moral drift and rampant materialism that more and more characterizes the West. We have reaped the fruits of progress without any sacrifice in the last half century.

To amend Neil Postman's dictum, "We have amused ourselves to death" *

Our ideological enemies have not succumbed to such trivial pursuits. Theirs is the fanatical will to conguer, an animus which also possessed the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. These primitive peoples saw a Rome that had lost its moral compass and which then relied on bread and circuses to survive. These operas of blood and gore had nearly bankrupted the republic. More troops had to be recalled from the territories to finance them. A "Die Hard Nine" had to be produced every week. Flood the colosseum, cue the crocodiles. Eventually, rape by animals had to be inserted to appease the jaded mob--Christians turned into human torches just didn't cut it any more. The loaves of bread catapulted into the stands were still considered a nice touch, however. North Africa had to be denuded of lions to keep the show on the road. Meanwhile, the North Germanic tribes kept sharpening their swords, in anticipation of Rome's eventual collapse from within. Do you ever feel that you are living at the end of the Roman Empire?

Oh yes, NATO. It now resembles the first regiments of the Praetorian Guard to run, when the barbarians breeched their defenses. We are witnessing today a failure to thrive militarily. And the Germans, descendants of the ferocious Ostrogoths and the Einsatzgruppen, have become honorary Frenchmen. Maybe these cowards are saving their troops for the future battle on the home front.

© Bud Talkinghorn

* Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death. Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. by Neil Postman. Penguin Books, 1985



Related:

Please note the date, 2003, but it serves as background to the related articles below. Symposium: European Union and the Death of NATO? , By Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine.com December 12, 2003

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11281

Is the European Union slowly becoming a socialist monolith? Does it pose a danger to NATO? To discuss these and other issues related to the EU and the future of NATO, Frontpage Symposium is joined by Vladimir Bukovsky, a former Soviet dissident who spent twelve years in Soviet prisons, labor camps and psychiatric hospitals for his fight for freedom, and whose works include To Build a Castle and Judgement in Moscow; Joel Mowbray, a nationally-syndicated columnist and author of Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security; Charles Kupchan, a professor at Georgetown University and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century; and Radek Sikorski, the Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Executive Director of AEI's New Atlantic Initiative. [....]

Search: NY Times index: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

nytimes.com

Leaving NATO, Marine General Still Seeks Troops for Afghanistan -- NATO’s 26 members and 11 partners have about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 11,000 Americans.

"The violence in Afghanistan is more than just the Taliban,” he said. “It comes from the drug cartels. It comes from the crime and corruption. It comes from tribe-on-tribe violence." , Thom Shanker, December 21, 2006, NY Times World News

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — The Marine Corps general who just completed a tour as NATO’s supreme commander said Wednesday that NATO’s force in Afghanistan was still 2,500 troops short, but he cited progress in persuading nations that send soldiers to remove restrictions on their combat roles.

[....] Several nations, including some major European nations, imposed restrictions on their troops that commanders say have hampered their ability to move forces or to rescue other troops in trouble.

For security reasons, NATO officers decline to identify those nations or the exact restrictions, although they include conducting missions at night or in certain volatile regions of the country, especially the south, where the Taliban are resurgent. [There are differing accounts of whether the Taliban are "resurgent" or not. In fact, some accounts are quite optimistic but NATO must support them, so the Taliban don't take advantage.]

At the Riga talks, “to our great satisfaction, many countries have responded and removed their caveats,” General Jones said. He said the restrictions put some nations’ troops at greater risk than others’. [....]

France to Pull Troops Fighting Against Taliban in Afghanistan -- "France said it will withdraw its 200 troops from a southern Afghan city, where they are taking part in a counterinsurgency operation." , AP / NY Times, December 18, 2006

[....] France has been reluctant to have its forces in Afghanistan, a total of 1,100 troops, serve outside the relatively safe Afghan capital, Kabul. The decision would remove elite troops based in the southeastern city of Jalalabad.

[....] On Saturday, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said that Afghan, American, Canadian, British and Dutch forces had done most of the fighting in Afghanistan over the past year at a time when ambushes, suicide bombings and other attacks had multiplied. Those nations have also borne the brunt of the casualties. Senator McCain called on NATO nations to send troops into more dangerous areas of Afghanistan. [....]

One War We Can Still Win , Anthony H. Cordesman, December 13, 2006, NY Times

Op-Ed article by Anthony H Cordesman, senior fellow at Center for Strategic and International Studies, says that there is very real risk that United States and NATO will lose their war in Afghanistan with Al Qaeda, Taliban and other Islamist movements fighting Afghan government, but that situation, while dire, is not hopeless; notes one cause for optimism is that popular support for United States and NATO teams has been strong and can be rebuilt; says US and allies have to make major increases [....]

Note: Polls often seem to be done right after the public has heard negative news so ... forewarned is forearmed.

The poll in the following article was conducted:

* after criticism from UK SAS officer and "Iraq war planner Peter Tinley" and

* after the US Baker-Hamilton report to the US Congress.

For those reasons, this may not be as negative as the title would make it appear. This does not sound like the attitude of the best Australians. Remember, the left is now globalized. They use a computer network(s), to engage activists to ... activate, to commission polls, and to report when they serve the left's purposes. Use this on CBC and Globe and Mail polls to see if there is a pattern evident.


Aussies and the war in Iraq -- "Most think Iraq war not worth it" , The Australian, Patrick Walters, National security editor, December 23, 2006

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1487&mforum=elwoodpdowd

[....] The poll follows the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton report to the US Congress, which warned this month of the deteriorating situation in Iraq and called for policy change by Washington. [....]

Read the rest with the note above in mind. This was posted by starboardside; Israelis might dispute the last line which, I think, is a comment, not part of the article.

Dec. 22, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn - Appeals

It is time to repeal the deportation appeals

You want an example of "the law is an a** "? Just tune into the endless deportation appeals. The latest case is some Mr. Watson, an American teacher, who was sentenced in Buffalo for sexual assault on a student. He arrived back in Canada to live with his wife. The CBSA or Canadian Border Services Agency finally got a deportation order on this guy, but he appealed that. So possibly he can remain in Canada for a year until the appeal is heard--could be even longer. If he loses that appeal, then he can go to a higher court. Chr***, one Iranian PLO terrorist fought his deportation order for 10 years. He arrived in Canada on a fake passport. His terrorist attack on an El-al plane in Athens resulted in a death . This joker's true identity has been known for a decade. He has used up a million dollars of tax-funded lawyers. I think he is still here.

Does the justice system in this country not understand that Canadians are losing faith in it? Whether it was the gross miscarriage of justice in the Karla Homulka case or in absurdly light sentences for gross criminality, the system is seen as flawed. As one cop said, "It burns my a**when a bad guy I arrested, after months of investigation, is out on the streets before I have even finished my paperwork on the case." I won't get into the nonsense sentencing for little psychopaths, who burn down companies for kicks, or randomly murder. Kids who are described by court reporters as "showing not an iota of repentance, or even gratitude for their "get-out-of-jail-free sentences. There is a need for serious sentences for serious crimes, be they career criminals or their juvenile apprentices.

© Bud Talkinghorn


A Related Gift

From Pierre Trudeau and friends, the gift that keeps on giving, while the rest pay, the Charter of Rights--with no corresponding responsibilities--along with the politicized, leftist courts, chief of which are the members of Canada's Supreme Court. The SCOC is as politicized as the rest--I would say, chosen especially, for that reason--and it has been aided by the Court Challenges Program, which, thankfully, the current government has decided de-fund -- to end its political activitism perhaps. The activism was used to break Canada into competing groups, to push a global agenda, but often on its own behalf, I believe, in that its members made money--legal advice and law work--or gained what they wanted, particularly during the former languages tzar's regime, for example, expanding her department with native languages, and gaining more clout using other taxpayers' money. (Check further and into the language rights activism). No wonder the Liberals / leftists / language police / NDP and assorted other lefties are squealing like ... well, squealing like stuck pigs ... or sows, to use a country description at this time of plenty and celebration. A toast to our current government's common sense. The rest of us were never asked what we thought and, in the time of His Eminence, PET, it was not explained thoroughly what was intended to be implemented, incrementally, over the last forty years.

American sex offender released , Adrian Humphreys, CanWest / Vancouver Sun, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=
dd8c655e-89e6-4096-82a4-9e785e884a5e&k=84186

[....] While his status as an American made him ineligible to remain in Canada, his permanent residency status here does allow him to appeal the IRB's decision.

"As a permanent resident he is eligible to appeal that deportation order and his lawyer did state today that he intended to appeal the removal order," said Melissa Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Refugee Board.

"He can stay put until the appeal of his removal order to the Immigration and Refugee Board is finalized -- and that can be a long time given our backlog." [....]

Check further for I thought someone posted that he had actually been removed to the US but I cannot find it now. Remember, the activists, the UN and No One Is Illegal. (Look it up.)

Dec. 22, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn - Questions

A few questions that need to be answered

1) How can Stephane Dion say he will help the Bloc bring down the Conservative government on its budget, when he doesn't even know what is in it? As well, how does Dion square his Liberal government's--and as Environment Minister, especially, his own--horrible Kyoto record, with the hysteria he is whipping up over Prime Minister Harper's policy? Finally, does Dion not see rather bad optics in his alliance with the Bloc? As a Quebecois, joining another Quebecois, Duceppe, in defeating a primarily Anglophone-elected government? Really bad optics west of Montreal, I would think. [comment on this by FHTR below]

2) Major Sprague, a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, explained the problems of cultural differences in that war. He said, "the Afghanis cherish honour and respect. While the Westerners are controlled by a guilt-based philosophy; the Afghanis are ruled by a shame-based one. However not honouring your commitment of Afghani support troops during combat operations causes not an iota of shame." How do we conduct a war with such "allies" as these people?

3) How can a [now retired*] UN chief like Kofi Annan start casting blame for the world's crises on individual states? On his watch, there has been the UN, impotent in the face of millions killed in Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur? A president who couldn't save his own continent from unrelenting savagery does not deserve accolades from Canada. I [would have recommended*] that the West let the thug states of the UN host his farewell party.

© Bud Talkinghorn

Comment:

* I changed the tense from "now retiring" and from "recommend". I am late posting this so Annan has retired now. Sorry, Bud, but there is much to do and too little time. Merry Christmas, anyway.


Bud, there are Quebecois who support the efforts of this government to root out the corruption and to create a system all Canadians may believe in; they will be as unhappy with Stephane Dion's crawling into bed with the Bloc / separatists, as are those west of Quebec. The average Quebecois wants what we all want, decent government, honest, transparent, and accountable. FHTR

Dec. 21, 2006: Here we go around the mulberry bush ... again

This has too many links to choose one for a permalink at the top.


Africa: Screen capture & Update: UN CA Connections CITIC Paul Martin Power Corp. Volker ... and Oil

Dec. 18, 2006: Circle remains unbroken ...

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12/
dec-18-2006-circle-remains-unbroken.html

Bear with me, I have a point. In that post was this entry on Africa. NIGER GATE: Connections between the UN Oil-for-food Inquiry, the Rockefeller Group and the French

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1523257/posts

[....] Who investigated the Oil-for-food scandal alongside Paul Volcker? Miranda Duncan, the niece of David Rockefeller. Duncan resigned from the commission following the polemic brought about by the conflicts of interest between the United Nations and the commission. Duncan, David Rockefeller’s niece, was working in the front line of the investigation. A conspiracy? It’s still too early to say, Volcker (the president of the commission who has a CV full of ties to the Rockefellers) produced the Oil-for-food report on October 27 2005. Critiscism [sic] of the way in which the inquiry was conducted has been ferocious. The links between Iraq, petrol, uranium and the war are getting closer by the day but someone – not only in Paris – may well have hidden an important part of the story.

Comments and other links below that post:

Volker did not reveal his potential conflicts of interest by his association with the Power Corporation (founder: Paul Desmarais), where he held a seat on their international advisory board. Also, there was Volcker’s membership in David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission.

A picture of them together can be found at the Trilateral Commission Website

[Note: The Trilateral Commission - photo Paul Volker and David Rockefeller - and history of the Trilateral Commission ... "an International Commission for Peace and Prosperity." - "a governing board of, say, 30-40 leading private citizens" ... Does the litany ring any bells? Think hard.
www.trilateral.org/nagp/regmtgs/
98/1201rockflr.htm ]

www.freerepublic.com/focus
/f-news/1523257/posts


Source of the information:
[www.torontofreepress.com/
2004/cover120604.htm]

It is no longer available but check Leo Knight's Prime Time Crime

www.primetimecrime.com/Arti
cles/Oil%20for%20Food.htm

It is interesting to note that the man named by Kofi Annan to investigate this shocking scandal, Paul Volker, is associated to Power Corp.'s International Advisory Council .pdf. Considering the bank chosen by the UN to administer the funds was BNP Paribas, which is controlled by Power Corp., one wonders if Annan really does want to get to the bottom of the corrupt morass. - Leo - Jan. 18 International Advisory Council 2003

Also, note another world player, late of the PMO in Canada: Paul Martin named to advisory panel for African development bank ...

Surprise ... surprise ... doing good ... globally ... for the good of the children and the mothers and grandmothers and victims ... and it follows so naturally from his last budget full of promise s.

www.primetimecrime.com/Arti
cles/Oil%20for%20Food.htm

OTTAWA - Former prime minister Paul Martin has been named co-chair of a high-profile panel that will advise the African Development Bank Group on its strategic vision. (CP)

Now might be the time to check again Paul Martin's spring 2005 budget, the one just before the election when Belinda Stronach saved his government with her sudden conversion to Liberal / leftist / women's issues / the good of ... well, whoever. Note how often Africa is mentioned in that budget. Also, in the following, check the history of the African Development Bank and note mention of AIDS / HIV.

African Development Bank

en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/African_Development_Bank

You might remember, Paul Desmarais' son is / was on the board of CITIC ; is it CITIC Hong Kong? CITIC Asia-Pacific? CITIC Pacific? I think it is the latter but check further. PrimeTimeCrime.ca -- China's CITIC group in talks to buy Canada's Nations Energy

www.primetimecrime.com/Articles
/Oil%20for%20Food.htm

www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx
/2006/06/05/afx2795008.html

BEIJING - CITIC Group, a state-owned conglomerate, is in talks to buy Canadian oil company Nations Energy Co, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Forbes)

PrimeTimeCrime.ca is a great resource. More here -- Just follow the links along the yellow red brick road ...

Dec. 21, 2006: Media Poll Cats & Kyoto

Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006. Sorry.

Environics / CBC Poll and Kyoto

Green Blarney , Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=
422fefa7-28cc-4c80-a9d5-9f3dceadc52d

[....] an Environics/CBC poll ....

The first noteworthy point is that the poll was conducted between November 2 and 4, just days after release of the British Stern report, the global headline- grabbing doomster document that warned of looming economic chaos in the face of global warming. The report, since widely discredited as junk economics, also coincided with media reports that the Conservative's Clean Air Act was inadequate and a national embarrassment.

[The poll ...] lumps all environmental concerns into one response while it meticulously disaggregates other issues .... Donna Dasco ... sees no problem ... garbage, smog, chemicals, Kyoto and climate change -- as one subject ... economy, unemployment, taxes, debt and cost of living ....

The poll is intended to form public opinion, not to inform. CBC's involvement is not coincidental. It never is, in my opinion

If Mr. Harper and the Tories care about making good policy, there is only one way to take on environment policy. It is not possible to tackle climate change and the Kyoto Protocol without facing the fact that the Kyoto Protocol is a failed global agreement whose targets cannot be met. It also means dealing realistically with the conflicting science issues. No government of Canada can possibly win support by pursuing a Kyoto climate scheme that everybody knows is unworkable, undoable and useless. Mr. Dion knows it, Ms. May knows it and Mr. Layton knows it. But they will keep pushing the Conservatives to respect Kyoto, knowing that it can't be done. The perfect trap.

Good assessment and good advice.

Dec. 21, 2006: Banks Globalization Mergers

Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006. Sorry.

Standing still in global merger frenzy
Canadian banks could lose stature in 2007 , Duncan Mavin, Financial Post, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=39ab1bb7-2f19-473b-b76c-73b2317cff1c&k=22289

Global banking chiefs hungry for growth and armed with cash to burn are set to make 2007 the international year of the bank merger. The trend will lead to further concentration of international banking power, dwarfing those banks -- such as Canada's domestic banks -- that don't participate in the biggest mergers.

[....] merger of Intesa and Sanpaolo banks in Italy, BNP Paribas of France's US$11-billion takeover of Italy's BPI ... Capital One pick up North Fork in the United States. ....

Take, for instance, last week's rumours... Bank of America's interest in ... Barclays Bank PLC. ... Citigroup Inc.'s US$2-billion bid for U.K. Internet bank Egg Financial. The Barclays rumours have since been quelled by Bank of America's executives, but shares in the U.K. retail bank surged last week on the speculation. [....]

Some of the following appear to be about media but they include banking information, complex networks, global media empires, financing ... The more I read, the more it seems to be all connected in some way.


Related re: Media, Power and Pargesa, and Canadian banks, TD, for example.

Dec. 17, 2006: CBC & Friends and Dec. 17, 2006: Media ... litany

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12
/dec-17-2006-media-litany.html

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12
/dec-17-2006-cbc-friends.html

Independent media -- global

This is a selection, not all.
Ketupa.net media profile ... Power and Pargesa ... Banque Nationale ...

Do follow the Banque Nationale link and see where that leads -- amazingly complicated.

Dec. 11, 2006: Propinquity -- Toronto Dominion / TD and more on international banking

Search:

Street race: Now TD vies for the prize

re: Toronto Dominion Bank, TD Securities, Frank McKenna and ranging over Falconbridge, CVRD, mining and energy, oil sands, Air Canada, AIM funds, Cheung Kong and its partners, Deutsche Bank and Bilfinger Burger, Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC, Toronto-Dominion advisory deals, equity deals and more [....]

Background

Dec. 5, 2006: Ring around the rosie ...

[....] ... playing rainmaker on behalf of Toronto-Dominion Bank [....]

Dec. 21, 2006: CRTC, Communications, Convergence

Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006. Sorry.

Another episode in the CRTC and control scenario ...

CRTC, radio find same wavelength , Grant Robertson, Dec. 16, 06

www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story
/GAM.20061216.RRADIO16/GIStory/

Canada's biggest radio networks, fearing their audiences are being splintered by new technology such as iPods and Internet broadcasts, won a key concession from federal regulators yesterday.

Stations that play pop music, classic rock and other mainstream formats won't have to add more domestic music to their play lists, a move they argued would handcuff them against unregulated competitors.

[....] The Canadian Association of Broadcasters said it was pleased the quota wasn't increased, but the regulator's decision does little to address the plight of radio as the industry attempts to prevent audiences from fragmenting. .... [Why should audiences not fragment, if the individuals who listen so choose?]

Funding of Canadian content development .... give artists access to....

... small stations will pay a flat fee of up to $1,000 ... larger stations will pay that amount plus 0.5 per cent of their annual revenue over $1.25-million.

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the group that licenses Canadian musical performances, said the industry is profitable enough that the quota should have been increased. Canada's commercial FM stations collectively pulled in a record $1.03-billion in revenue last year, with pretax profits of $247-million. [....]

Search: Pre-Cancon , CRTC came into being , Cancon , "systematic for private radio stations in October, 1971. That's when" , Cancon 2.0



I have a better idea for SOCAN. Why don't they group together all the interested Canadian artists and form their own Canadian radio station and profit from it? If they are good, they will gain without coercion of the rest of us and without forcing taxpayers' money to support unwanted artistic endeavours. ... A great concept, free choice. They should try it some time. So should a number of other groups, the arts groups, for example.

A search of that article and others will reveal that so much occurred in the time of Trudeau. What he put in place has funded more and more of the same since. His legacy has hardly been an unmitigated blessing to those of us who value freedom from governments and from control as much as we value individual freedom. This is exacerbated by the activist groups--often taxpayer-funded by leftist governments--activist groups doing what they do best, demanding more ... and that someone else should pay for it, even their activism ... preferably taxpayers.

The people who benefit from intervention and other people's money inevitably become a pressure group for more of the same ... a political pressure group. Special consideration involves too much political activity on their own behalf for my liking. I have seen too much funded that was ... fill in your own favourite negative here for unimpressive. Besides, the regulations mean we are treated to the same people over and over and over and ... ad nauseam. Give us that old time freedom and a free internet.


CRTC, radio find same wavelength , Grant Robertson, Globe Advisor

globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews
/story/gam/20061216/RRADIO16

Canada's biggest radio networks, fearing their audiences are being splintered by new technology such as iPods and Internet broadcasts, won a key concession from federal regulators yesterday.Stations that play pop music, classic rock and other mainstream formats won't have to add more domestic music to their play lists, a move they argued would handcuff them against unregulated competitors. [....]

CRTC backs off on Cancon

globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews
/story/gam/20061216/RFINS16

Canada's biggest radio stations have been told by the federal regulator that they won't have to play more domestic artists such as Sarah McLachlan. In return, the industry must contribute more money toward developing Canadian artists. B5 [....]

Related to a previous post - Oct. or Nov. which included information on ZIM

Excerpts from Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada's daily news service, Canada-Asia News -- Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
Canadian Success and Activity - Newsletter
(September 1-30, 2006) - China , September 1, 2006

www.asiapacific.ca/news/index.cfm

Sep 13, 2006
ZIM Corp. Signs Partnership Agreement with China's PPLive

ZIM Corporation, an Ottawa-based mobile service provider and application developer, announced it has partnered with PPLive of China, a P2P (peer to peer) Internet TV portal. Through this partnership, called 'ZIM-PPLive', ZIM will be expanding its overall offering to include application development and content aggregation for P2P Internet TV. PPLive.com currently has more than 50 million registered users, approximately 70% of which are based in China. ZIM-PPLive will focus on aggregating North American and European content providers and advertisers to the PPLive platform.
Information summarized from: ZIM Corporation Press Release [....]

All the ducks were in a row ... and will be if the planets align ... and the right party is brought back to mandate control through their unique little agencies.

Dec. 21, 2006: Rural Canada

Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006. Sorry.

Understanding Freefall

Rural Canada faces poverty crisis -- Senate: Population dwindling , Chris Wattie, National Post, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=5636f083-ff18-49c2-91ef-b5b35e49b31e

Rural Canada, once the backbone of the nation, is on the verge of an irreversible decline, according to a new Senate report that details problems such as an ageing population, migration to the cities and a growing class of "invisible poor."

... "second-class citizens" ... the interim report of the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry, and may even be in danger of extinction.

"Can we really afford to depopulate the rural parts of the country?" said Senator Hugh Segal, the committee member who first suggested the Senate S8 look into the plight of rural Canada.

"Areas that are so important to food production, to forestry, to the environment, to so many things? We don't think so."

But the Senate report, entitled "Understanding Freefall," suggests that unless something changes soon that may be where rural Canada is headed.

"We've gone from one of the most rural countries in the world to one of the most urbanized in something like 60 years," said Mr. Segal. "That's extraordinarily quickly in historical terms ... [and] it's caused some problems." [....]

Important to all Canadians and a must read article.

Dec. 21, 2006: Russia

Mis-dated: This should have been Dec. 21, 2006, not Dec. 20, 2006. Sorry.

Russia's gas grab , via newsbeat1

www.americanthinker.com/2006/
12/russias_great_gas_grab.html

Dec, 19, 2006: Aussie Fighter

Australia to buy new Joint Strike Fighter (F-35 JSF)

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1374&mforum=elwoodpdowd

[....] Lockheed Martin Corp is developing three models of the radar-evading, multi-role fighter in a co-operative effort financed by the US and eight other countries, including Australia.

The Pentagon plans to buy more than 2400 F-35s by 2027 for the air force, navy and marine corps, in a project worth $US276.5 billion ($A353.8billion). Britain is expected to buy 138.

Australia intends to buy up to 100 JSFs to replace its F/A-18 Hornet fighters and F-111 bombers, at a total cost of about $16 billion. [....]

Dec. 19, 2006: Mining-Sask Uranium

Bumped up and updated: A screen capture has been added below.


Saskatchewan looms large on nuclear landscape, Eric Reguly, Dec. 16, 2006

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20061215.wxr-reguly16/BNStory/Business/

Forget the oil sands. If you want to find the real action, go to Saskatchewan's extreme north, where about two dozen junior mining companies are staking land and poking holes in the ground looking for uranium. [....]

Known as the Athabasca Basin (not to be confused with the Athabasca tar sands), the area has some of the richest uranium ore grades on the planet. Australia's famous Olympic Dam uranium mine, owned by BHP Billiton, has a 0.4-per-cent grade. In Athabasca, grades of 20 per cent or more are not uncommon. Saskatchewan's Cameco, the world's largest pure uranium play, with a market value of $16.2-billion, operates the industry's largest high-grade uranium mine at McArthur River; the grade is 21.2 per cent. Cameco's Cigar Lake project, the largest undeveloped uranium reserve, is almost as rich. A recent flood at the project will ensure that it remains in limbo for several years. [....]

Related:

Uranium Mine Ownership - Canada

www.wise-uranium.org/uocdn.html

Global InfoMine

www.infomine.com/index/properties
/ATHABASCA_BASIN_-_CANALASKA.html


Map of Uranium Activities in Canada

www.ccnr.org/uranium_map.html


Red Dragon Resources

www.reddragonresources.com/

... (formerly iFuture.com) is a TSX Venture (TSX-V) listed, diversified mining company engaged in the identification, acquisition and exploration of mineral properties with potential for world-class mineral deposits in China and Canada.

Properties in China

Yunnan Weixi Lead-Zinc Project [....]

Properties in Canada

Athabasca Basin Uranium Project

In June 2005, ... agreement with Stout Investments Ltd. (“Stout”), a related party, whereby Red Dragon will acquire Stout’s right to earn a 100% undivided working interest in the Rea Uranium Project, consisting of 446,330 acres located over the southwest margin of the Athabasca basin in Alberta.

The Project surrounds Cogema Exploration’s Maybelle River uranium deposit ....

Red Dragon has entered into an option agreement with Uramin Inc., a publicly traded company listed on AIM in London [See below....]

Saskatchewan Fond du Lac Nickel Project

In June 2005 ...option agreement with Stephen R. Dattels and James Mellon, both related parties, whereby Red Dragon can acquire a 100% undivided working interest in the project which totals 95,000 contiguous acres. The project is located north of the Fond du Lac River (20 km north of Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan). [.... What does "related parties" mean in this context?]

Search: Geotech Ltd completed an airborne survey , an undivided 90% working interest , Uranium spot prices , Merrill Lynch alone keeps tabs , Khan Resources


Related: on AIM and mining

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 16, 2006: AIM - Memory Lane

Update to mention of the Alternative Investment Market or AIM exchange in this post: Dec. 11, 2006: Propinquity
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/12/
dec-11-2006-propinquity.html

Related: Nov. 25, 2006: 1
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/11/
nov-25-2006-1.html

Canadian miners top dogs on London's AIM exchange -- London market mining financing stronger than tech -- London's Alternative Investment Market and there is more.

[The] London exchange can be favoured by companies keen to avoid Canadian stock exchange requirements or U.S. regulations. [....]

Red Dragon Chief Financial Officer Benedict M. Leung

Benedict M. Leung, CA (CA, BComm) is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the Company and Managing Partner of Leung & Company Chartered Accountants (Toronto). Mr. Leung is a Chartered Accountant designated in Ontario in 1990 and a commerce graduate of the University of Toronto.

Red Dragon Featured Projects




Excerpts from Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada's daily news service, Canada-Asia News -- Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
Canadian Success and Activity - Newsletter
(September 1-30, 2006) - China , September 1, 2006

www.asiapacific.ca/news/index.cfm

www.infoexport.gc.ca/ie-en/
DisplayDocument.jsp?did=68329

Red Dragon Resources Enters Joint Venture on Lead-Zinc Property in China

Vancouver-based Red Dragon Resources Corporation announced that through its wholly-owned Chinese company, it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Yunnan Diqing Shanchuan Zinc Co., Ltd. of China, which owns two exploration permits adjacent to the company's Weixi Zinc project, in Yunnan province. [....]

Uramin Inc. Company Links

www.wise-uranium.org/ucurm.html

Dec. 19, 2006: Braves' new world

Natives demand release of Six Nations protester they consider 'political prisoner , Chinta Puxley, Dec. 18, 06 -- Via Punted Posters Forum

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1405&mforum=elwoodpdowd

news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20061218
/ca_pr_on_na/native_occupation

TORONTO (CP) - A Six Nations protester arrested during the ongoing aboriginal occupation in Caledonia, Ont., is a "political prisoner" who's being kept behind bars to deter other aboriginals from standing up for their land rights, demonstrators protesting his incarceration said Monday.

"He was doing what any Mohawk man should do in this circumstance," said Houlley, who came from Six Nations in New York state to protest Miller's detention. ....

Miller should never have been charged, Houlley said, because he isn't subject to Canadian law....

...a hostage, a political prisoner." [....]

Dec. 19, 2006: Literacy

Statistics Canada: Literacy , CP / NatPost, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=
c521c8d5-1ebd-4dcf-a4dd-a01dc7f39fd1&k=16757

... more literate than it was a decade ago but ....

In all three provinces where people with French as their mother tongue are a minority - Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba - francophones scored lower on prose literacy tests than their anglophone counterparts. The gap was widest in New Brunswick.

Nationally, 42 per cent of the adult population scored below Level 3 in prose literacy; among anglophones nationally, the proportion was 39 per cent but among francophones, it was 56 per cent. [....]

I am not surprised at some of the results. The following applies to SOME, not all: classes, students, children and adults. However, IMHO, it is not unexpected, though not positive.

* If a student has only six half-pages in a language notebook--yes, I have seen it--after about 3 months in class, I think something is amiss. If a child reaches an upper level of elementary school with no evident indication of failure in reports, yet, the child cannot read, something is wrong. It may have been ADHD, dyslexia, or something else, but surely, it should have been noted. All of us have been remiss in the honesty department in that this has gone on so long. What is the point of self-esteem in this situation?

Aside from that, too often literacy has not been about acquiring necessary skills:

* for reading - thinking, reasoning based on factual information - reasoning from what is written - Instead, "How do you feel about ...",
* for conversing in order to test assumptions, coming to new and perhaps better conclusions, modifying in light of new information),
* for listening and discussing without rancour, yet being able to disagree politely while making a point and encouraging the same for others,
* for writing, including attention to correct spelling and grammar, and for exploring one's thoughts through putting them together in an orderly fashion,
* for editing - including correcting, re-writing, perfecting,
* for skills that would allow a child to figure out completely new words - not memorizing words through ... what? osmosis? ... instead of learning skills traditionally thought to have utility in that they may be generalized to varying degrees (e.g. decoding, forming new words with prefixes and suffixes, exploring derivatives from other languages, etc.)
* for whatever true literacy includes that I have omitted.

Instead, it has been about social engineering (second language, expression of feelings as opposed to reasoning, creating white guilt when not building self-esteem where it is unwarranted, and the like) The materials have been chosen to advance social attitudes, with little attention to great literature (too many old, white guys). Add to that the number of adults who were passed through "social promotion", or who "succeeded" in the system, while still not improving appreciably, or who did not work but expected to be given a diploma, anyway ... and it came. Anyone who wanted to remain employed went along with the system. A few hardy souls fought it but had to go along with some of it. Some actually believed in the hogwash. Add the general feeling of student entitlement--even more pronounced now than in the past--entitlement to a diploma--and the situation will only get worse. A little truth in education is needed. Others could add more but this gives a quick idea of what the article brought to my mind. The article is entitled "Anglophones outperform francophone counterparts on literacy tests: study".

Get rid of the bells and whistles and teach the basics well. Let children exercise, play and socialize without adult interference, and stop some of the foolishness that has passed for education. Here endeth the sermon.

Dec. 19, 2006: "Militants" & Oil Related

Nigerian Militants Strike Oil Properties -- re: The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- FrontPageMag , Dan Udoh, Dec. 18, 06

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/authors.asp?ID=323

apnews.myway.com/article/20061218/D8M3G66G0.html

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AP) - Militants seeking a greater share of oil revenues for their impoverished region detonated two car bombs nearly simultaneously Monday in southern Nigeria, the latest in a series of attacks that have cut crude production in Africa's oil giant by one quarter. [....]

How often do I read that militants or activists "demand"? It must be more successful than working for a living.



Related: Oil

Russian giant Lukoil snaps ups 376 gas stations across Europe

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=
630e4c40-1b2c-441a-8ab6-993837bef773

Statoil buys Norsk's oil, gas assets

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=
057ef64e-f629-4db0-9319-998d9af1bec2

Dec. 19, 2006: US MidEast Britain

Is U.S. set to lose Britain? -- "What none of these leaders or politicians or experts has grasped is that size and sheer military weight and spending no longer equate with power and influence in the world.", By David Howell, Japan Times, Dec. 14, 06

search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20061214dh.html

Any conference America tries to convene will be looked on with pity and possible amusement by other key countries, who might well not even wish to attend. The only motive for doing so might be that it is in no state's interest to see Iraq implode and in very few states' interests to see America totally humiliated. The lead will have to come from the region itself or from the new powers in the network world -- with China, Russia and India prominent among them -- although even their powers are limited, as they are aware. [....]

Dec. 19, 2006: BCE Telesat Manitoba Tel Banks Trusts

BCE Sale Of Telesat Makes MTS A Target , "Telecommunications: World Satellite Giant: Selloff long Telegraphed, But Sale Price Surprise" . Peter Nowak, Financial Post, December 19, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=
a24ee417-1efa-4483-8e61-c900985a4f68

Montreal-based BCE did not say what it would do with the proceeds from the sale, but some industry observers said the company is now in a prime position to buy Winnipeg-based MTS. With the proceeds from the Telesat sale, BCE could easily afford a purchase, and with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's recent announcement that income trusts can double in size through equity, MTS's assets look more appealing to BCE subsidiary Bell Aliant.

"The odds of BCE in combination with Bell Aliant taking out Manitoba Tel have increased quite significantly," an analyst said. "All the stars are aligned for that." [....]

Bank - Trusts

Bank plays down impact of trust ruling

Dec. 18, 2006: RIM - options - OSC

Paper trail slows RIM options investigation , Janet McFarland, Globe and Mail update, Dec. 18, 2006

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20061218.wrim1218/BNStory/Business/home

At OSC hearing, BlackBerry maker says it is now wading through 650,000 documents, slowing pace of investigation; expects charge ‘substantially higher' than previous estimate

[....] At Monday's hearing, the wireless firm said it is looking at all of its option grants between 1996 and 2006, including more that 3,200 separate options grants to 2,000 employees and more than 650,000 documents to review.

RIM said that it will complete all of its regulatory filings by March 3.

Dec. 18, 2006: Circle of Friends

Media ...

[Note: Reference on Castanet.net to News Junkie Canada should have been to Frost Hits the Rhubarb ]

News Junkie Canada - Frost Hits the Rhubarb
Oct. 22, 2006: Various #2

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/10/
oct-22-2006-various-2.html

Search: income trusts , Royal Bank , "The Bank Act -- the main law regulating the banks' behaviour -- does not permit the banks to convert their businesses into trusts."

Bell Globemedia, owner of The Globe and Mail and the CTV televisionnetwork, along with an investment in Telesat Holdings Inc."


That links to Frost Hits the Rhubarb Oct. 13, 2006: Friday the thirteenth ...

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/10/
oct-13-2006-friday-thirteenth.html

Search: BCE , BlackBerry Pearl, Jim Balsillie's , "from only two phone companies ... T-Mobile USA ... Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. ..." , "developed in 1982 by A. Jean de Grandpré, who was then chairman of Bell Canada. BCE" , "free from the clutches of the telecom regulator." , Bell Canada , Bell Globemedia , Aliant Inc., the Atlantic Canada phone company


Also, search [Caveat: same webpage, but may or may not be related or of interest]

Rival Telus Corp , Poly Technologies , "all-rights" contracts , electronic rights , electronic databases [Check further -- Is it connected to "copyright"?]



The following might be related also, if you can find it. It seems to be hidden or deleted or blocked from inquisitive eyes. It might be defunct .

Oct 7, 2006 - Reverse phone number search
BCE's Telesat strategy playing out as 'two-track process ...
getinmyhead.net/blogs/reverse-phone-number-search/58351/


That kind of thing ... starts me searching Google or another search engine.

Result: June 16, 2006 - BCE in talks to sell Telesat outright by Andrew ...

I clicked and it immediately disappeared from view ... but there's more than one way to skin a cat and this screencapture is the result.



Friends of Canadian Broadcasting:
There's enormous interest in Telesat." The $96-billion Teachers fund is one of BCE's largest shareholders, and recently agreed to buy a 20-per-cent stake in ...


Who are these Friends of Canadian Broadcasting members and for whom do they lobby, exactly? Themselves or the rest of us? I jest, of course.

If the citizenry do not know what nor whom to trust, it helps to have news freely available. Libraries and hard copies, along with freedom of access to information through an open Internet, not one controlled so as to remove from scrutiny interesting, perhaps relevant news items. What is the criteria for allowing the citizens to view some items and not others .......... Friends?

If the Friends receive any taxpayer funding, we should know. Also, if so, then why would they hide such interesting information?

Dec. 18, 2006: Media Circle - BCE & More

There is more information which will be posted as soon as possible.

Via Google Finance - and - Castanet.net

A list of related articles is below.


Loral, fund to buy Telesat from BCE for $3.25-billion -- "Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB) and Loral Space and Communications Inc.," -- "still needs regulatory approval" , Andrew Willis With an update from reporter Tavia Grant.

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20061218.wrtelesat18/BNStory/Business/home

BCE Inc. will sell satellite operator Telesat Holdings Inc. ... will create an Ottawa-based company that's the world's fourth-largest player in space.

... Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSPIB) and Loral Space and Communications Inc., .... still needs regulatory approval

.... will have 11 satellites in orbit and ....

PSP Investments and other Canadian investors will hold majority voting control of the new company, with a 64-per-cent interest. Loral will hold 36 per cent ....

Digression:

See below for "other Canadian investors" ... What does "foreign ownership" mean in an era of dual citizenship, divided loyalties, and the like?

* What is the definition of "Canadian" and
* does it include someone who comes to Canada--legally or illegally--
* through normal channels or via business investor class or other special programs (programs that may have been conceived in folly -- Remember ex-Min. Sgro's program of stripper entry facilitation? Or was that ex-Min Volpe's?),
* through immigration or refugee entry (which facilitates liars and cheats sometimes, perhaps often and bypasses the regular refugee lineup),
* takes out Canadian citizenship,
* then returns from whence he/she came,
* but retains that magical "Canadian citizenship" with its Canadian passport so useful for various purposes ... perhaps business?

What does Canadian mean when a company is complicated in structure and global with ties to foreign interests which may or may not be beneficial to Canadians? What if its headquarters or major interests are or could be in Switzerland, Barbados, Hong Kong, China or ... someplace not now considered as relevant?

[....] take Telesat public.

[To return to what I noted in the Globe and Mail article]

... a global player ....

Dan Goldberg, president and chief executive officer of Telesat,

... create a leading global satellite services operator capable of offering broadcasters, carriers, corporate users and government entities state-of-the-art, secure and reliable satellite facilities and services ....

... foreign ownership ....

The Canadian pension fund invests for federal civil servants, the military and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ... emerged from creditor protection in 2005.

[....] U.S. and Europe ... volume of leveraged buyouts ....

The other contenders were said to be Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Providence Equity Partners Inc. Also in the running were Onex Corp. and Blackstone Group. [Sumner Redstone]

Digression:

Redstone, Sumner / Sumner Redford -- "American media executive whose company, Viacom, acquired leading film, television, and entertainment properties"

[....] The trick is build a group that fits the foreign ownership restrictions,” ...

... analyst Dvai Ghose at Genuity Capital Markets.

Telesat's customers ... as well as governments.

... nine times their forecast EBITDA

[....] complicate BCE's already convoluted structure

[....] no longer a core business ...

... Daniel Goldberg, a 15-year-veteran of the satellite industry ... CEO of satellite operator New Skies, the Harvard law school graduate ....

Investment banks Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and RBC Dominion Securities Inc. worked on the sale.

Search: Viacom , Vivendi [Check "separate ownership" ... ]

There is a post on media ownership which leads to much more information, including Viacom and Vivendi.


Bloomberg: BCE, ED Smith, Income Trusts, Imax: Canadian Equity Preview

Canada.com: BCE sells Telesat for $3.4 billion

TechFinance: BCE Abandons Telesat's IPO and Opts for Outright Sale

Bloomberg: Loral, Fund to Buy BCE's Telesat for C$3.25 Billion (Update1)

Bloomberg: Canadian Stocks Gain on BCE Sale; Financial Shares Advance

Dec. 18, 2006: Circle remains unbroken ...

Update 1: Added to "Independent media -- global" which leads to more information on Viacom and related.

Note, the permalink for this post is for the first item only.

Niger

NIGERGATE: Connections between the UN Oil-for-food Inquiry, the Rockefeller Group and the French -- with chart - A Canadian making a difference, Posted on 11/16/2005 11:22:36 AM PST by parnasokan

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1523257/posts

I always love the bit on the big international news story where they try to find the Canadian angle. [....]

... as the Great White Hope of Canadian Global Relevance.

And yet, throughout this period, there has indeed been a Canadian making a difference in the world-and if The National wanted to do a 133-part special report on him, for once they’d have enough material. [....]

More , 46 posted on 11/16/2005 7:19:09 PM PST by Frank T -- or here, 14 February 2005, Mark Steyn

www.freerepublic.com/focus/
f-news/1523257/posts?page=46#46

www.westernstandard.ca/website
/index.cfm?page=article&article_id=542

[....] So here is a Canadian “making a difference in the world.” Suppose Conrad Black controlled a bank that had enriched a brutal dictator with a fortune intended to go to starving children, and that he also had an oil company that had cooked up an arrangement to make billions from the same dictator’s oil resources. Think Maude Barlow and the CBC might show an interest? [....]

Instead of struggling to find a local angle on the international scene, why doesn’t the CBC just start from the basic premise that whatever the subject--Iraq, oil-for-food, the European Union--somewhere at the heart of it will be the world’s least famous Canadian.

Instead, not a whisper. The good news is it’s not because Robert Rabinovitch, president of the CBC, is another discreet Power Corp. alumnus. He’s not. Rabinovitch’s close buddy, John Rae, who ran Chrétien’s campaigns, is. And so’s Rabinovitch’s old colleague Joel Bell, who was Trudeau’s chief economic adviser. And so’s Rabinovitch’s old boss, Senator Michael Pitfield. And so’s . . .
[....]

Memory Lane: News Junkie Canada Jan. 1 2004

Mandate: The Canada China Business Council (CCBC) is a private-sector, non-profit membership organization incorporated in 1978 to facilitate and promote trade and investment between Canada and the People's Republic of China.


* Founding Sponsors [This list -- includes: Desmarais and Maurice Strong, Li Ka-Shing and many more]

See below for related information concerning media, Power and Pargesa.

Dec. 17, 2006: CBC & Friends
Dec. 17, 2006: Media ... litany [and note Update 1 ]

Dec. 17, 2006: CBC & Friends

AN INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, DISCOVERY TIMES, THE CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, ZDF, FRANCE 5 AND S4C

See the post below for more media information.

Note: Credits: China Rises Web Site -- There seemed to be a problem in viewing all of the credits

About China Rises

CBC China Archive

See if CBC's Canadian website has a complete list of credits.

Dec. 17, 2006: Media ... litany

Update 1: This link below refers readers to Viacom

The first item: Viacom: Infinity's outdoor advertising units, Infinity Outdoor and TDI Worldwide, comprise one of the two largest outdoor advertising operations in the US, Canada, ... -- or here

Independent media -- global

This is a selection, not all.
Ketupa.net media profile ... Power and Pargesa ... Banque Nationale ...

www.ketupa.net/power3.htm

1981 Power takes C$20m stake in Pargesa Holding SA, parent of Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Suisse)
1986 Power Corp buys Ontario and Quebec radio and tv stations from Prades and Katenac, forms Power Broadcasting
1986 Power Corp and Consolidated-Bathurst form joint venture with CITIC
1989 Power Financial sells Montreal Trust stake to BCE
BCE and more here -- re: BCE and Bell Globemedia holdings
1993 Power Broadcasting forms joint venture with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CBC [Note: Interestingly, at the top of the CBC webpage, the link was unavailable: Canada . See below.]
1999 Power Broadcasting radio and tv stations sold to Corus Entertainment for C$107.5m
Corus - Shaw -- "The Calgary-based Shaw group (including Corus Entertainment)"
1996 Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) under Pargesa control merges with Bertelsmann broadcasting subsidiaries to form CLT-UFA
2000 CLT-UFA merges with television arm of Pearson and GBL's Audiofina/Electrofina to become RTL
RTL (formerly CLT-UFA) is Europe's largest television and radio group.

UK media group Pearson held a direct 22% stake. Bertelsmann had a 30% stake with the Audiofina/Electrofina arm of Franco-Belgian investment group Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) - inherited its equity from the French developers of Radio Luxembourg and its sister station Radio Normandie - and a further 37% through BWTV, of which it owned 80% and German publisher WAZ owned 20%.

Pearson

Like Vivendi Universal, the Pearson Group began as a civil engineering contractor.

The group dates from 1844. With the collapse of the 1860s railway construction boom UK entrepreneur Weetman Pearson moved overseas. By 1889 the family-owned S. Pearson & Son was building the Hudson tunnel in New York; railways in Spain, Mexico, Colombia and China; dams and canals in Mexico and docks in Egypt and Canada.

[....] Pearson merged its Pearson TV production holdings with the Bertelsmann-controlled RTL broadcasting group: Bertelsmann had an effective 67% of RLT and Pearson had 22%. In December 2001 Bertelsmann acquired Pearson's 22% in RTL.

Pearson sold its stake in Murdoch-controlled UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB to Vivendi for around £305 million and spent £1.7 billion on US educational services group National Computer Systems.

Pearson's Spanish Recoletos newspaper subsidiary was periodically on the market with a valuation of about £1.3 billion. In December 2004 Pearson announced agreement to sell Recoletos through an MBO.

....In 2004 Recoletos gained control of Meximerica Media, a US-based Spanish-language newspaper publisher.

In December 2004 Pearson announced that it had agreed to sell its stake to Retos Cartera, a management-led consortium, in a €743 million deal expected to bring a cash payment of £380 million. ....

2000 Power joint venture with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sold to USA Networks Inc. for C$155m
2001 Pargesa subsidiary GBL gains 25% stake in Bertelsmann through sale of RTL stake


Search: ketupa net canada

Update 1: The first item refers to Viacom: Infinity's outdoor advertising units, Infinity Outdoor and TDI Worldwide, comprise one of the two largest outdoor advertising operations in the US, Canada, ... -- or here

here -- very interesting

Havas

The New York-based Havas advertising conglomerate shares the same origins as the Havas news service (discussed here) and media group Vivendi Universal but has a separate ownership and is independent.

It encompasses advertising, marketing and public relations businesses across the globe, with most revenue coming from the US and Western Europe. [....]

2005 French industrialist Vincent Bolloré gains control of Havas board.

Global Networking Timeline -- or here

Sources and Bibliography
Dr T. Matthew Ciolek,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
...
http:// www.ciolek.com/PEOPLE/ciolek-tm.html [Remove the spaces....]

Search: ketupa net canada: Most popular pages -- or here