Archive for December 2008
Liberal party executive and workers revolt
By Stephen Pate, NJN News
December 31, 2008
with story from the Guardian
Wellington Gay’s resignation as riding president of the Liberal Party in Stratford Kinlock is striking a chord with many Islanders disenchanted with the Ghiz oligarchy.
Despite promising real change for Islanders, Premier Robert Ghiz has just changed a few players at the top and the rich and powerful of PEI are back in control. This is not democracy it is a true oligarchy according the one Liberal party insider. Guardian, The weak and powerless just have to wait
Sweetheart deal gives Aliant Rural Internet
Development agreement with Aliant for broadband Internet services to every community on the Island. From left front, are Premier Robert Ghiz and Bruce Howatt, vice-president of Aliant for P.E.I. Standing are Richard Brown, minister of Innovation and Advanced Learning, and Allan Campbell, minister of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Rural Development. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
By Stephen Pate
NJN News, December 31, 2008
with Guardian story Nov 13, 2008
The Guardian in November 2008 reported that Premier Robert Ghiz has given both the lucrative rural Internet franchise and it’s telecom business for the next five years worth $40 million. Rural P.E.I. will get to surf Internet The Guardian 12:15 AM on 13/11/08.
Without more than an unsolicited proposal Rural Development Minister Alan Campbell ladled out the patronage spending to Aliant.
Rural residents of PEI will be getting hi-speed internet service but is it the best service at the best cost?
The Province of PEI has a Public Purchasing Act and Regulations that require all purchases of goods and services over $5,000 to be publicly advertised and tendered. Perhaps the rookie Minister forgot to check with Treasurer Wes Sheridan.
Media see the light on PNP Immigrant Scam
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
December 30, 2008
For months Liberal Millionaires Club, NJN News and “This Hour has 5 & 1/2 Minutes” have been reporting and calling the PNP Immigrant Scam the biggest political scandal in PEI’s history.
It’s nice to see the Guardian agree with us today Nominee program 2008 News Story of Year.
On Friday November 21, 2008 Guardian Editor Gary MacDougall took offense at the characterization. He pulled our comments off the Guardian website, stopped printing PEI Disability Alert letters to the editor or had those letters heavily censored. Read the rest of this entry »
More trouble for Premier who can’t shoot straight
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
December 30, 3008
Trouble comes in rapid succession for our inept Premier Ghiz, part of the Liberal gang who can’t shoot straight.
Instead of relaxing over holidays, Ghiz has been getting one bad story after another from the press in a Holiday mood.
Luckily for Premier Ghiz, some of PEI’s media is on the take and not reporting all the stories.
The week before Christmas, the Liberals tried to shut down the media on the PNP Immigrant Scam. MLA Buck Watts reminds the PEI media, many who have received PNP grants, to put a positive spin on the story. A phone call would have been more discreet Bucky.
CBC corruption evident in Conservative bias with Gail Shea
By Stephen Pate 
NJN News
December 24th, 5:30 PM, Christmas Eve
December 24th at 4:17 PM. CBC reported “Rookie MP turned federal cabinet minister is P.E.I.’s top newsmaker”.
The choice of Gail Shea, no slight to Minister Shea, demonstrates yet again the effect of corruption and low ethical standards at CBC Charlottetown.
The CBC editorial staff choice ignores the obvious political corruption on PEI that allowed the Ghiz Liberals to defeat the Liberal candidate,Premier Ghiz lost the election up west.
It completely sidesteps the $400 million PNP Immigrant Scam story and its participants for a low importance electoral win that was heavily influenced by the Liberal government of Robert Ghiz.
If CBC had reported on the “Ghiz influence” on the election that would have been a story, but not the story of the year.
Overheard on CBC website
Duffy moving back to P.E.I., PMO says
Well the Duff is moving back to PEI for the $130K salary. It’s probably a come down from his CTV position in money but who wouldn’t like the red robes. No that’s the Supreme Court.
If you are a good reporter, as in don’t rock the boat, you too can get elevated to a high government position.
The Guardian has been a spring board to the PEI Government for Townsend, Ryder and others.
A CBC Charlottetown reporter’s job is always good for some PNP units and CTV gave us Wallen and Duffy.
Everytime you watch the news, take your pulse and check your reality meter. They may be just polishing their resumes.
PNP $400 million money laundering scam
Robert Ghiz, centre of PNP money laundering ?
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
The Provincial Nominee Program PNP is a money laundering scheme worth $400 million. The PNP or Immigrant Scam will put $400 million into the bank accounts of businesses, party faithful and PEI politicians, including we suspect Premier Ghiz himself. Because of the liabilities involved, the final bill will rest with every taxpayer on PEI.
Money laundering is simply a series of transactions that may look legal and innocent when considered separately but the effect is to move money from one party to another without detection. We hear of drug money being laundered through foreign banks and returned to Canada through investments in business and real estate to give it a legitimate appearance. Money laundering attempts to disguise the source of the money.
Brown whistling past the graveyard
Denies $400 million PNP liability
By Stephen Pate
NJN News with Guardian story
Innovation Minister Richard Brown is in a high state of denial by refusing the concede PEI is at all involved in liability over PNP program. His principal legal advice is Bill Dow, a relative of Premier Ghiz, according to sources which is of questionable merit.
The assertion that the Province did not run the program will not stand up in public or in court. “Our website was quite clear that this was a private transaction between a private company and a private individual and that the government’s role here was just basically to do some paperwork in between.” says Brown in the Guardian.
The Province acted unilaterally in ignoring the guidelines of the Federal Government, processed the applications from both the investor and investee sides, acted as the principal gatekeeper. Brown boasted at the Public Accounts Committe hearings that the Province of PEI made an $8 million profit on the program that his staff should be proud of.
Brown’s pre-New Year’s Resolution to stop talking about the Immigrant Scam for 2 years until the Auditor General reports didn’t last long.
Brown denies $400 million PNP liability
TERESA WRIGHT
The Guardian
Innovation Minister Richard Brown broke his silence on the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) Monday to defend allegations the province could potentially be on the hook for $400 million of immigrant investment funds.
Non-denial denial from Tim Banks
In Watergate-speak intrepid reporters and their editor at the Washington Post called replies meant to throw you off the trail – “non-denial denials”.
In other words, not a denial at all but when the facts come out, the “non-denial denial” can be shown to be in truth an “almost-admission.”
Tim Banks, who has his nose deeply in the Liberal patronage trough, keeps trying to throw the bloodhounds off his trail on the PNP question. Not if he got any, but how many did he get.
Dec 21,2008 Tim Banks issued another non-denial denial. Oh Tim, you’re so cute with words.
“so on the PNP front I went to OpenCorporations.org and I was in fact the name that was searched the most… so I strolled through the 25 or so Companies I’m involved in and I couldn’t find any Wing’s, Wang’s or Wong’s… so I moved on to…”
Tim Banks Porsche, oh so lonely
He just does that to get attention. It’s lonely at the top and a Porsche is just a Porsche.
Spinfree EXCLUSIVE: PNP $400 million liability?
By Paul MacNeill
The Eastern Graphic
December 22, 2008
Paul MacNeill, publisher Eastern Graphic
The Ghiz government has exposed the Island to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in financial liability by pushing through 1,877 immigrant investor files last summer. At the same time it ignored the recommendations of its own consultant and warnings from a senior federal bureaucrat that those investors may never win entry into Canada.
The liability revelation is contained in documents written by a Charlottetown consulting company with expertise in corporate strategies, capital growth, regulatory frameworks and commissioned by Innovation and Advanced Learning Minister Richard Brown.
Earlier this fall The Graphic requested a copy of the report under the provincial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The province has yet to release it.
However, this paper has obtained a copy of the report written by Serge Serviant of the EmaNote Corporation as well as other documentation. A memorandum to Minister Brown states the primary purpose for the creation of the report is “to meet the requirements of preventing abuse or privilege under the law.” Read the rest of this entry »
Five and 1/2 Minutes off for Christmas
“This Hour has Five and ½ Minutes” will not be published this week due to the holiday.
The spirit of Christmas is in family and Christian charity, the spirit of giving to others especially those less fortunate than ourselves.
May we all have a Merry Christmas and renew that spirit in our lives.
In recent stories we commented on Wayne Thibodeau of the Charlottetown Guardian. Yesterday we learned that Wayne has been dealing with a serious family health issue which is the reason for his absence. We humbly apologize to Wayne for those comments. We hope and pray that the situation gets better.
Merry Christmas to all.
Stephen Pate
NJN News Network
Reverse Robin Hood
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
with a story from AP
Every 8 to 10 years the rich capitalize on some crisis like a war or economic disaster to increase their wealth. They come in from their country club lives to scoop up additional wealth since there is no end to greed.
The 1974 Energy Crisis created billionaires. The current world wide economic crisis is no different. Stories abound about billions of dollars in government assistance being funnelled back into the personal bank accounts of the rich.
In his testimony last week Innovation Minister Richard Brown said the $400 PNP money will ensure the businesses of PEI survive the “coming economic storm”. What he meant to say was the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
AP reports substantial amounts of bailout money has gone to executives of failing banks. Bailout money is taxpayers money, effectively robbing the rest to feed the rich, the reverse of Robin Hood.
AP study finds $1.6 billion went to bailed-out bank executives
Frank Bass And Rita Beamish, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 21, 2008
Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the review of federal securities documents found.
Overheard at Cole’s building reading room
Richard Brown, PEI Minister of Innovation at Public Accounts Committee hearings, Pate photo
Wednesday December 17th, 2008 (before the Public Accounts Committee hearing with testimony from Richard Brown, Minister of Innovation)
“Great day Richard. Are you nervous?”
“Not in the least,” replied Richard.
“Well you’ll be in the hot-seat today.”
“Ha, I’ve been there before.”
“Listen, Richard, any chance of getting a job with your department in the new year?”
“I don’t know if I’ll have a job with the department in the new year,” Richard deadpanned and went into the hearings.
Ghiz earns 2008 Scrooge Award to the Disabled
Letter to the Editor
December 17th, 2008
Robert Ghiz earns 2008 Scrooge Award to the Disabled
PEI Disability Alert is giving the “2008 Scrooge to the Disabled” award to PEI Premier Robert Ghiz for not delivering on his promise to put seniors into the PEI Disability Support Program. This is the first official year for this award, although Premier Pat Binns did get honourable mention in our December 20, 2006 article “PEI Government plays Scrooge to Islanders with disabilities”.
Premier Ghiz has mismanaged the reported $400 million in Immigrant Investment. He is wasting $200 million annually on patronage by sole sourcing government business that should be tendered. He lavishes money on large corporations like the recent $30 million low-interest loan to build another luxury hotel in Charlottetown.
Despite all that, Premier Ghiz refuses to keep his promise and spend a small amount on the 2,300 seniors with disabilities who still need a wheelchair, hearing aid or other device.
That is a Scrooge of grand proportions. Scrooge wouldn’t put a lump of coal on the fire for his employee. Scrooge begrudged all expense except for himself.
We believe the award is well earned by our Premier Robert Ghiz.
We hope the Premier enjoys his holidays with not a material or health care in the world. Maybe as he reflects on the true spirit of Christmas he will have a change of heart and show compassion on those less fortunate than his family.
Take Richard Brown’s word with a grain of salt
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
Innovation Minister Richard Brown says Chinese Immigrants get their money back: the Guardian says that’s not true.
We can take almost all of what Richard Brown says with a grain of salt. It’s too bad they didn’t keep the Committee going longer on Wednesday since Brown was tiring like a boxer on the ropes. Another hour and he would have been spilling the beans.
Innovation Minister Richard Brown, we give them their money back, Stephen Pate photo
During the PNP hearings at the PEI Legislature Public Accounts Committee Richard protested over and over the immigrants get their “good faith” deposit back promptly.
We don’t know why that’s not true but apparently it’s another in the long string of big lies the Ghiz government wants us to swallow.
Guardian reporter Theresa Wright reports that the Chinese Immigrants are having trouble getting their money back.
Apparently family sickness and the inability to find work on PEI are not good enough excuses for Investment Development Inc. (IIDI). They are putting these people through a paper maze that only appears when they arrive on PEI.
Give your head a shake: are 1,800 immigrant families going to find work instantly on PEI. We’ve worked with immigrants from Africa, Europe and South America. PEI hires it’s own sons and daughters first. The employment situation on PEI is already desperate: almost every home on PEI has someone working out West these days.
The PEI government has created a lobster trap for the Chinese Immigrants – easy to get in, hard to get out without leaving something of yourself behind.
Immigrants find it hard to get back PNP deposit
Theresa Wright
The Guardian
A Chinese woman who came to P.E.I. though the Provincial Nominee Program says the rules of the program keep changing and now getting her good faith deposit back seems impossible.
Ghiz Liberals want state controlled media
PEI is a banana republic, freedom of the press soon gone
By Stephen Pate
NJN Network News
The Guardian reports this am “Committee shuts PNP debate”. It’s ironic that Buck Watts Liberal MLA in the picture with Public Accounts Committee Chairperson Jim Bagnall wants to shut down the media, or at least put a good “spin” on the PNP scandal.
Jim Bagnall throws his hands up in despair at Liberal shut down of PAC, Buck Watts dreams of state controlled media. Guardian photo by Heather TaweelPEI lurches closer and closer to a third-world, banana republic as the Liberal government shuts down a Legislative committee investigating Immigrant SCAM, our $400 million government scandal.
Is everyone on PEI in the take? Quite a bit of the media is and Bucky is warning them to turn on the good news “spin.”
CBC reporter John Jeffery has his nose in the patronage trough and won’t get it out. His boss Henk Van Leeuwen thinks that’s fine. Is Henk hoping to get one of those 2009 model PNP’s worth $1 million?
So does the CBC Ombudsman. Come on, it’s only a $200,000 bribe, hardly enough to turn the head of a seasoned CBC reporter.
Over at the Guardian, senior political reporter Wayne Thibodeau is no where to be found. There he is on EastLink cable playing footsie with Wes Sheridan, PEI’s bank-clerk come Treasurer.
Big Lie # 3 – PNP creates jobs
For a scam as big as the immigrant scam you need big lies. The first and second big lies were 1) the money went into legitimate businesses and 2) it was a private deal with no government influence.
The Third Big Lie is: the PNP money created jobs.
Innovation Minister Richard Brown said over and over at the Public Accounts Committee hearing “The money created jobs. It saved jobs from the coming recession.
Tim Banks, a businessman puts his PNP units and Air Miles together
Big Lie # 3. Here’s what PNP windfall money did: it allowed business owners and the other recipients to indulge themselves.
So we’re putting togethter a list of things that you can but with PNP units. We’re taking $40,000 as the average a “business man” would get.
Tim Banks would only needed 4 PNP units to get this.
Porsche = 4 PNP units
Liberal bullies shut down Public Accounts Committee into PNP scandal
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
December 17, 2008, Filed 1:30 PM
At approximately 12:15 noon, the Liberal members of the Public Accounts Committee looking in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) forced a motion that shut down the hearings until after the Auditor General’s report.
Despite requests from the Opposition and Chairperson Jim Bagnall, MLA Conservative Montague to bring Innovation Minister Richard Brown back to finish answering questions, the Liberal Members unanimously passed a motion that shut the PAC down. The Liberals argued the Auditor General should be allowed to do his job without interference from the PAC.
Chair Bagnall said he had a letter from the AG stating the PAC was not interfering with his work and he did not object to their hearings.
The Liberal majority would hear none of that and shut the committee down indefinitely.
PAC member Mike Currie (Conservative) argued and presented a motion to take the committee hearings across the Island as had been the case with the Polar Seafoods issue.
The Liberals shut that down.
There was fireworks as committee members tried to shout down the chair, argue across the table and generally disrupt the proceedings.
The Liberal majority had effectively reduced question time to 44% of the total 2 mornings devoted to the PNP scandal hearings.
Opposition Leader Olive Crane said she now had 400 questions to ask. She was only able to ask fewer than 20 questions during both hearings.
Film as fast as we can edit.
One lies and the other swears to it: MacMillan on PNP
By Stephen Pate
December 16, 2008
NJN News
One have hardly place any credibility in the weak efforts of Brooke MacMillan to extricate himself from the obvious conflict of interest in accepting PNP funds with the interview published today by the Eastern Graphic.
MacMillan takes Islanders for rubes and village idiots with the story he spins out for the Graphic. Congratulations to the Graphic for the scoop.
Based on the high standards set by our greedy politicians and their high priced help, Islanders can expect a rash of white collar crimes over the next period with people claiming “The Premier made me do it!” Will the Court accept this defense?
The whole story along with the lies told by Premier Ghiz, Richard Brown, Paul Jelley and now the young lawyer Erin Mitchell is quite a ball of wax.
Mitchell certainly looks intent on dragging the family name of her father a retired Supreme Court justice into the dirt acting as a servant to these politicians with no ethics.
Here’s a sample of the silly lies and Swiss holes in this cheese sandwich:
Snowy Owls on PEI, bad sign
This Snowy Owl relaxes on the Hillsborough Bridge causeway on Monday. This breed of owl, which is normally native to far more northern regions, has been spotted around P.E.I. in recent months. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
By Stephen Pate
I’ve got to get out more often. The Guardian reported that there are snowy owls at the Hillsborough Bridge, Unusual visitor has descended on the Island this year. Nice photo Brian.
“Large, white, shadowy, deadly creatures have invaded Prince Edward Island.
The Snowy Owl, usually found in more northern regions, has appeared in large numbers on P.E.I. this fall and appears ready to stay here for the winter.
Reports have come in from a variety of locations across the Island about owl sightings, says Rosemary Curley, natural areas biologist with the fish and wildlife division of the Department of the Environment.”
That is so cool. I’ve never seen one in the open, except at zoo’s. Owls are pretty cool anyways: they are the cats of the bird family. Owls seem smarter than the rest of the birds, perhaps because they don’t say much. Hmmm could that be a hint.
Owls aren’t smarter than Deeter the parrot. That was a smart bird.
Apparently the owls are coming south to look for food, which means the ecological balance up north is shifting. The Ottawa Citizen reported the same thing, Owls moving south in search of prey
Ghiz Selling the Farm – Five & 1/2 minutes
December 15th,2008 episode
All the scandal and dirt on PEI
- Premier Ghiz selling the farm
- Minister Richard Brown turns his employees into crooks
- Who called the police – watch out Richard
- Can the Council of the Disabled write a paragraph?
- Wes Sheridan filing for bankruptcy
- Readers speak out on CBC and John Jeffery
and more…
PEI Business Directory doesn’t cut it
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
The PEI Business Directory gave the Guardian a story Firms Didn’t Get Rich which just doesn’t cut it.
“Peter Trainor, who heads up this business association, said many of his 850 members have received money from the PNP, but not nearly as much as has been reported by government and media. Some received as little as $10,000, he said.”
Although parts of the story ring true, it needs more corroboration to hold water. We wrote and asked him to put the facts on the table, have some if not all of those businesses put the numbers in the public – the gross amounts, the fees paid and the net investment.
Trainer was polite and even mentioned he appreciated our work but no. His members want to let the matter die now.
That’s not going to cut it. The Immigrant Scam is the biggest scandal in PEI’s history, one of the biggest in Canada. $400 million is unheard of. What’s still to be uncovered are the actual number dollars, the breadth and the depth of the scandal.
And uncovered it will be. This story will change then government in the next election.
How to get your money back
By Stephen Pate
NJN News
Following up on the Guardian story Firms didn’t get rich, we suggest PEI Business Directory members publish the facts and end all the speculation.
Facts include gross amount of investment, all the fees paid and to whom and the net to each business. That way we can eliminate the honest business recipients of the funds.
As a business owner, I applaud any business owner’s ability to raise capital. On PEI almost all of that would come from a government source like ACOA or PEI BD.
A disclosure of this nature would be no different than the press releases that ACOA and PEI BD put out in the past. Anyone can Google my name and see several grants we received for Aquilium Software during the mid 1990’s. It’s merely public disclosure.
It would also end the weekly speculation on who is in this week’s Guardian.
Full disclosure is going to happen in any event. It’s better to control the information flow than to have it come out without any control, in my opinion, from a damage control point of view.
We previously published an article Apply here for PNP refunds from lawyers and accountants which outlined the simple steps to cash recovery.
Cracks in Liberal Big Lies
Liberal spin doctors won't put Humpty PNP Dumpty back together
Obviously Premier Robert Ghiz’ education didn’t include enough mafia movies.
If you engage in criminal or shady activity it’s better to work in small groups.
A scandal that includes 1,800 Chinese investors, 1,400 Islanders companies numbered or not, hundreds of lawyers, accountants, civil servants and reporters on the take is going to crack at the seams.
Too big. Too many people to hush up.
It all begins to unravel and no amount of spin doctoring will put Humpty PNP Dumpty together again.
Firms didn’t get rich: group
Small business owners on P.E.I., who received investments through the Provincial Nominee Program, are upset their financial benefits from the program are being erroneously reported, says the president of the P.E.I. Business Directory.
Peter Trainor, who heads up this business association, said many of his 850 members have received money from the PNP, but not nearly as much as has been reported by government and media.
Some received as little as $10,000, he said. Read more
Firms didn’t get rich: group – Now with comments
TERESA WRIGHT
The Guardian
Small business owners on P.E.I., who received investments through the Provincial Nominee Program, are upset their financial benefits from the program are being erroneously reported, says the president of the P.E.I. Business Directory.
Peter Trainor, who heads up this business association, said many of his 850 members have received money from the PNP, but not nearly as much as has been reported by government and media.
Some received as little as $10,000, he said.
The Provincial Nominee Program is a federal-provincial program in which potential immigrants invest in a local business in return for a Canadian visa.
The immigrant purchases $200,000 worth of shares in a local company. Of that total, $100,000 is taken by the province and put in trust to be paid back after a period of time — usually five years. Another $50,000 goes toward lawyers and broker fees. The remaining $50,000 goes into a local business.
But Trainor says some business owners who legitimately received money through this program actually received only $10,000 or $15,000 after all legal and accounting fees were paid.
“It’s only a fraction of the investment that actually gets to the business community,’’ he said, adding many small business owners are dismayed at the perception a lot of money was injected into small businesses via the program.
A large part of that impression is being created by the province, Trainor said.
Innovation Minister Richard Brown, whose department oversees the PNP, has been publicly defending the program against public concerns both in the legislature and at public accounts committee meetings.
Stirring up the ethical hornet’s nest
When we are young we generally estimate an opinion by the size of the person that holds it, but later we find that is an uncertain rule, for we realize that there are times when a hornet’s opinion disturbs us more than an emperor’s.
-Mark Twain “An Undelivered Speech,” 3/25/1895
Illustration by “Dwig” from the
Dave Thomson collection
By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
Wow did the ethics comment on OpenCorporations.org story stir up a hornet’s nest.
Most of the people on CEO Blues, Dan James’ blog don’t agree with me. Most of the posts on that blog don’t agree with me.
Peter Rukavina, OpenCorporations.org developer, doesn’t agree but is coming around. His comments are on Dan’s blog.
Gary MacDougall of the Guardian says he doesn’t like the word “unethical” and censored my comment. He likes to do that alot these days.
Could Stephen be wrong? Well it has happened but read on.
Would the reporters who didn’t take PNP $$ please stand
By Stephen Pate,
PEI Disability Alert
Would the reporters, editors, owners and other media people who have accepted PNP funds please stand up now and get it over with? That would include wives, children and close relatives in or not within numbered companies.
Last night on CBC Compass I was dismayed when Jack McAndrew admitted he and his wife had accepted PNP money. That meant the whole Compass political panel – Paul MacNeill, John Jeffery, and Jack – had accepted a political grant from either the Tories or the Liberals.
135,000 Islanders did not qualify for PNP money the same as our three journalists. We do qualify for EI, Old Age Pension and other granting programs across the board. They are not gifts. The PNP money is dirty money unless you got it and then it looks real clean.
Here is a comment on the Guardian site this morning (not ours or anyone we know)
“The story is getting less coverage that it deserves because too many reporters accessed PNP and want this story to just go away. I can’t believe compass had three of them commenting last night when all three admitted accessing funds. How can reporters fairly comment when they are the story?”
Is there no reporter on PEI who can report this story who isn’t compromised by the story itself?
Black Friday at the Guardian
By Stephen “larocque” Pate
Fridays seem to be the witching day at the Charlottetown Guardian.
They printed our November 30th letter about the Council of the Disabled being useless.. I’m not renewing my disability permit this year. I’ll link to our site because it’s not posted on the Guardian yet.
That was nice.
Then we posted the second comment on Theresa Wright’s story about OpenCorporations.org, Web developer leaving corporate search tool online. Two other comments were printed afterwards. That was about 7 AM.
They took down the comment an hour or so later. What’s the burr under their saddle? The comments were reasonable and well within the kind of comments tolerated on the Guardian. That site gets pretty rowdy from time to time. I guess nicely put doesn’t cut it with the Guardian.
I don’t remember the first comment but ours was about the possible conflict of interest when Peter Rukavina used a bot like Google to mine data from the Province of PEI.
I had published several articles and letters in support of Rukavina since access to information is important in a democracy.
However, yesterday Rukavina disclosed again that he was part of the team of programmers who built the site. Professional ethics, in my opinion and other programmers I talked to, say he should never go back and hack a client’s site, ever…for any reason. Frankly he knows too much and any protests that anyone could do it fall on deaf ears.
If anyone could hack the government site, let someone who doesn’t have the keys to the safe do it.
In the Guardian comment I pointed to discussions on the topic at CEO Blues and Liberal Millionaires Club, without using HTML links.
Guess I’m in the jailhouse now. May as well ROCK.
Hint – turn it up real loud or use headphones.
Media at the patronage trough, Ruk not innocent
This has been one of those crazy days on the PNP story. What a revelation at the end to see the CBC political panel all explain how they got PNP money.
First thing in the morning, we reported on the O’Leary hospital closing.
Followed that up with a catch up story on the unusual number of grants awarded by Music PEI to one of it’s director’s corporations, Sandbar Music.
Then the Globe published the story on OpenCorporations.
Just as we thought, the revelation of the PNP scandal gives PEI a black eye in the national press. Comments were
“Where there is smoke, thier is mostly fire, Keep going People of PEI.”
“Yes, by all means, lets prevent the citizen from getting access to the truth!”
“i just wish the rest of canada new what these people were doing with the federal transfer payments,”
“The cash scamming PEI politicians make Chicago gangster politicians blush.”
When we put the story down, it became apparent that freedom of information was only one issue. Peter Rukavina was both the former developer for the Province and the hacker. This is a breach of his position of trust and confidentiality.
We emailed Pete with our concerns. He was adamant it was OK for him to use the site so we published a contrary opinion
PNP deal seemed too easy: businessman
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 9, 2008
CBC
A P.E.I. businessman who received investment money from a potential immigrant through the Provincial Nominee Program says the process seemed too easy.
‘I didn’t probably spend more than 45 minutes total.’— Peter Metaxas
Peter Metaxas owns SEC Heat Exchangers in Vernon River, a company that buys and sells heat exchangers around the world.
Metaxas said he was advised in late summer to get some of the immigrant investor money available under the federal-provincial program, which ended on Sept. 2.
He received one payment, $42,000, from an immigrant who wants to move to Canada. In total, the immigrant put up $200,000 for the right to come here, pending health and security checks.
Other recipients included an agent, who got $45,000, a lawyer, about $6,000, and the government, $2,500. Some of the money was a deposit, returned if the immigrant stayed on P.E.I. for a year and learned English.
Government right, Ruk’s Blues are his own making
Peter Rukavina, former PEI Government consultant created website he hacked (WSJ photo)
Peter Rukavina betrayed client confidentiality by hacking the government website
Initially we supported the OpenCorporations.org Peter Rukavina’s publication of government corporate data.
The link to the PNP scandal was too delicious not to take a look.
The government response to shut Peter down seemed like big brother was clamping down on freedom of access. We wrote articles and letters in support.
While the PNP scandal is big and needs investigation, the former programmer who built the government site should not have betrayed the trust the Province placed in him.
Looking at the whole picture, we see Peter Rukavina was a major developer for years in the building of the government website. Rukavina acknowledged this earlier but it got lost in the shuffle. The Guardian and Globe and Mail did not report that Rukavina was the contractor who worked for years on this website. We didn’t read that part of the story until this afternoon.
Considering Rukavina’s role in creating the website he hacked, we can’t support him at all. The Province was his client.
Professional ethics should prevent a consultant or other professional from ever using knowledge to expose the client to any public scrutiny or for his own gain or advancement.
Even cool pranks are outside the realm of professional behaviour.
Will clients always have to look over their shoulders worrying that computer consultants have come back, to create problems for them at the least or steal data at the worst?
Ruk’s Corporation Blues hits the Globe and Mail
Liberal government censorship of OpenCorporations is featured “In the front section of today’s Globe and Mail is a report filed by Oliver Moore.”
Residents vow to fight for ER
WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
O’LEARY — Angry West Prince residents demanded the provincial government back down on a plan to shut down the emergency room at Community Hospital here, but the province did the exact opposite — announcing the plan is being moved up.
The province now says the emergency room in O’Leary will shut its doors next Wednesday. It will be replaced by what the province calls an urgent care centre, much like a medical clinic, which will be open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Life-threatening emergencies will be redirected to either Western Hospital in Alberton or Prince County Hospital in Summerside.
Nearly 350 residents packed into the Royal Canadian Legion in O’Leary Wednesday night to voice their opposition.
The provincial government provided a fact sheet to residents, under the banner Health Transitions in West Prince. It says acute in-patient beds, including palliative care, and lab and diagnostic imaging will be maintained in O’Leary.
But the province said ambulances will no longer be bringing emergencies to O’Leary.
And after 8 p.m. the emergency room doctor on call at Alberton hospital would have to respond if an in-patient in O’Leary needed a doctor.
Nobody from the province could say who would cover the emergency room in Alberton while that doctor was making the 20-minute drive to O’Leary.
Premier Robert Ghiz said the health-care system will never be perfect but the province is trying to deliver the best health-care system possible. He said it was only a few months ago residents were lobbying for O’Leary hospital to be closed and for a new, central hospital to be built in Bloomfield.
The Liberal government rejected that idea.
Merry Christmas, it’s Scrouge McGhiz
Ghiz gets tough, writes off West Prince
Scrooge McGhiz, get over it and Merry Christmas
Ghiz got tough with the people of O’Leary last night. Not only are they losing their emergency room, it’s happening one week before Christmas.
That’s showing those uppity country people Ghiz is a man among men.
While he can give Homberg 60% or $30 million for another hotel in Charlottetown, he can only close down that new hospital up west.
What a man of the people Scrooge McGhiz has become.
We especially were charmed by his statement in the Guardian,
‘Those are their doctors, those are not ours’. Guess what? They are everybody’s doctors,’’ said Ghiz. “The doctors in Charlottetown are the doctors for the people from West Prince, the doctors from Montague are the doctors for all of Prince Edward Island.’’
Now West Prince residents can sing “It’s small world after all” as they drive to Montague for medical attention.
Where is that boyish charm of last year? His mother’s sensitivity towards the real Islanders. Islanders first for a change – change for the worst.
You can just bet that little pencil-pushing Chris LeClair worked his Excel spreadsheet to the bone. He has calculated the number of votes they will lose in West Prince versus what they gain in Alberton, to the square root of the Charlottetown stonghold times the PNP money spread around.
His calculator is working overtime but it tells him – close ‘er down boys. We’ve just won the next election.
Is LeClair the brains behind Paw?
Richard, what a joke
Poor Richard is delusional thinking he can write off the PNP Immigrant Scam before Christmas. Get it out of the way is how Theresa Wright of the Guardian put it.
Richard we haven’t even got close to the real truth on this one.
We hope that doesn’t spoil your XMass wish list.
This project is sticking to you like glue.
Graphic takes note of Ruk’s Blues
Peter Rukavina has the blues this week after Premier Robert Ghiz shut down his bot-crawlers on the corporations site. At least they could have given Ruk a contract to fix the government website which is only 10 years behind the rest of the world. Ruk’s innovative display of techno-skills got him cut off at the bot.
Paul MacNeill, of the two Graphics, takes umbrage and notes Attorney General Gerard Greenan would not be interviewed. Greenan knows when he’s out manned and wouldn’t show for anything but a photo op with a Grade II student.
Is it just me or does anyone else think Greenan looks like a mafioso in his black shirt shtick at Legislature? Or else he is suffering under some color blindness disability and we’re not allowed to comment. Is that bad taste or what?
Some days the whole Leg row has on the “black shirts”. Are the Liberals a rock band or a band of thieves. I digress. Sometimes in the silliness of it all, we forget they have absconded with $400 million.
BREAKING NEWS: Ghiz government moves to limit access to business data
December 8th, 2008
The Ghiz government has moved to effectively shut down an Internet website that allowed Islanders easy access to public information on Island companies, including the owners and shareholders.
Ghiz takes ball and goes home, mystery woman
Five and 1/2 Minutes - New episode – Dec 3 08
Ghiz takes his ball and goes home
Mystery women on PEI
Media censorship
and more…
The rest of the story.
Tim Banks, I’m not on the outs anymore
Most of what Banks says is like mouthing off but every once in a while he tells the truth. He’s always bragging about being on the outs with the Liberals, which we know is a cover story for his patronage in business fund. Here’s what he says about his affiliation with the Liberals.
…in the 39 years that I have been involved in the Liberal party I have seen us do a lot of embarrassing things but I can honestly say that his performance on TV the other night wins the prise….
We know you got your head down in the trough Timmy, don’t worry. How many PNP units did you and your companies get?
C’mon get it over with. You’ll have to talk about it someday.
Robert Ghiz closes down website that reveals numbered companies
PEI Premier Robert Ghiz has effectively shut down the site people were using to investigate who opened all those numbered companies this year. The site OpenCorporations.org was recently opened by long-time blogger and internet guru Peter Rukavina.
Ghiz is obviously trying to restrict free public information and we suspect hide the members of the Liberal Millionaires Club. Hey Robert, you’re supposed to be a Liberal – as in liberal – not an oligarch / dictator.
Users could research for free the complex relationships between all PEI for-profit corporations.
Peter explains in his post
The Province of PEI has modified its online Corporate Registry so that details of individual corporations are no longer exposed to search engines — there’s a new “are you human” check on the site, with the note:
Details of registrations in the Corporate Registry are available to the public. A security feature of this online service requires a key code authorization. To view details on any specific registration, please enter the key code below.
I will leave it to others to debate the merits of this move on the Province’s part, but the practical result of the change is that I’ll have to shutter the OpenCorporations.org service shortly, as without the ability to spider the Corporate Register the corporations information there, which is already almost three weeks out of date, would soon become unreasonably inaccurate.
I’ll leave OpenCorporations online until mid-week and then shut things down. I’ll continue to make the spider source code, and the raw data spidered on November 19, 2008 available for download.
Over the week that OpenCorporations has been live there have been over 150,000 searches from 2,100 unique visitors, the vast majority of them from Prince Edward Island. On average each visitor visited 46 pages, and spent 10 minutes on the site.
Of somewhat ironic interest, some of the most frequent users of OpenCorporations.org were within the Government of PEI network (3,927 searches), the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (2,016 searches) and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (1,057 searches).
Patients last says danger none of Islanders business
Rick Adams CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital say privacy of staff is more important than warning Islanders of dangers present at the hospital. This is another example of the dangerous patronage appointments of the Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz.
Mr. Adams, a Liberal party hack and Premier Ghiz appointment, shows that he has no credentials or qualifications for managing the QEH. He’s just a CYA bean counter in an important institution of public health.
Adams not live up to the motto of the QEH
Health System Values:
Caring
We will treat all people with compassion, respect and fairness.
We will work together in an environment of trust as team members and partners in care, and be dedicated to continuous improvement based on sound evidence.
We will make decisions responsibly, act with integrity and be accountable.
We will treat all people with compassion, respect and fairness.
We will work together in an environment of trust as team members and partners in care, and be dedicated to continuous improvement based on sound evidence.
We will make decisions responsibly, act with integrity and be accountable.
Premier Ghiz has no idea of how to manage PEI and placing people like Adams who are unqualified for their jobs puts all Islanders lives at risk. An accountant is not trained to manage a health care facility. They are trained in accounting, Premier Ghiz. Can you please put your Liberal loyalty meter away and think about Islanders for a minute.
We call on the the Premier to put him some place where he can do no harm and appointment a qualified hospital administrator who can assist in keeping Islanders alive and well, whether they are Liberals or not. Health is not about politics. It’s life and death.
Adams is a typical bean counter – it’s all about the money, making those debit and credits add up. He has little common sense in dealing with the public on a compassionate basis.
We have a right to know what is going on at QEH and remind Adams and Ghiz: it’s our hospital, for us and not some sandbox for the incompetent Liberal patronage pool.
