Follow-up

The well connected PEI businessman who I accused of using "slave labour" to get the lowest bid for food at the BIG ASS COUNTRY ROCK OUT THAT HAPPENS AT THE SAME TIME AS A FORMER BEATLE IN HALIFAX (I bet that wouldn't fit on the poster) has "clarified" his position.

This here blog thing is always ready to provide another point of view, provided I don't disagree with it ;) Here is what he had to say in the local paper:

Everyone serving food are paid employees, our staff,” he said. “That’s always been the case. We always pay our staff. That’s been the case for 28 years.”
Murphy said the volunteer work being done is associated with Oak Acres Children’s Foundation, the charity selected to be the recipient of the profits brought in through sales at the beverage tent.
The Oak Acres camp near Murray River is a registered charity which operates six camping sessions per summer for children who are selected to attend by the province’s guidance counsellors.
Approximately 480 children are able to enjoy the camp each year at no cost.
Murphy added that all the volunteers recruited will be working in the beverage tent on behalf of the charity.
“That’s the only volunteer element with the festival,” Murphy said. “That message didn’t get out for some reason.”

The entire story is here.

Misinterpreted the ad.... funny, when David Letterman had a joke "misinterpreted" last week, he pointed out that is his responsability, you should be able to know what it means when you hear it. Same thing goes with an ad.

Here is what the paper said:

When the ad appeared in The Guardian, it made no mention of the charity nor explained the reasons behind the request for volunteers. The ad resulted in a number of critical comments, including the P.E.I. Federation of Labour which questioned using free labour for a private business.

The businessman in question has a long history of supporting charitable causes. I actually do believe him when he says that was his intent all along. HIs employee saying on local CBC that

"We're in business to make money," Wright told CBC News. "We put our best foot forward to try and get this contract."

"We're providing food for the bands and the acts, so … they may get to rub elbows with Reba McEntire or some of the other acts."

makes me wonder if I am being too generous, but, I have learned doing this job over time that often, things aren't as evil as you may think. Many alleged cover-ups and the like are the fabrication of active imaginations. I just don't know in this case. I do know that the guy has donated a shitload of cash to charities over time. That buys you a little slack, as previously explained in this here blog as the Chris Bosh rule.
The entire damn thing is still crooked, but the "slave labour" is not what I thought.

However, for his spokespeople to say that people volunteering in the booze tent have a chance to meet a celebrity is complete bullshit. Yeah, Reba hangs out in the beer tent.... sure.....

Is it a stage, a temporary stage, or a bunch of fences?

From the CBC Charlottetown comments page:

"PEI is more currupt than Mexico and Quebec put together."

That bit of inspired prose is from the comments section of this story.... but that is more of the sequel, I'll work up to it.

Last year, the Alanis Morissette concert ended up with less attendance than hoped. That company received around $400,000 from the provincial government, according to various media reports. The company changed ownership just before the show.

[Brief aside: anyone who knows me away from this here blog knows I know the person who originally held the company. That person is smart enough to not talk to a reporter about his business, which works out nice for both of us. I don't work there, I don't need to know. This entire screed is based on information found in the public prints.].

The Tourism Minister had to defend the investment, which, according to what I saw and watched, did not go so well:

From "Tourism minister grilled on losses from show" [by Teresa Wright... by the way, if I ever meet NJN Network, I'll tell him to wait a minute so I can go home and put on MY red raincoat and heels, so I could tell him to step off nice and proper].

From that story, you can find out that the Minister changed course a few times, including not releasing the original business plan, and saying that her department never asked the Liberal connected company that took over to take over.

Previously, she said she would provide the plan, and said that they asked that company to take over.

Enter "The Chair of the Island’s Tourism Advisory Council". A quick look at Open Corporations -- before it was shut down -- shows that person's connections very clearly, including financial partnerships with the promoter who took over the Alanis show.

The Chair is the same Chair whose board recommended this Cavendish Country Hoe Down. The chair's restaurants are now asking people to work for them for free at the concert.

That festival will be well backed. I have no problem with the Chair putting in a bid, if you eliminated everyone with a chance of receiving financial benefit from planning processes, those would be some empty meetings.

Thing is, if their low bid includes slave labour, shouldn't that raise a red flag?

Now we get to the point of this entire post. That $900,000 isn't for a stage. It is for a temporary stage and to upgrade facilities around the concert area. $900,000 -- matched by the promoters -- for a temporary stage, for a concert that already received $200,000 from the province. The promoters said they didn't need the $200,000.

Just a few weeks ago, this stage was being called permanent by the Tourism Minister. Now it is temporary, and almost $1 million of taxpayer dollars are going into a stage on private property.

From the original story is this nugget "No taxpayer money will be handed over until organizers prove the work has been done."

My question, what constitutes the work being done. I would have to assume that it means that a permanent stage is there.... not a fence to make sure the promoters don't get ripped off.

I know that McIntyre and McGraw are a huge deal to some folks. I also know that AC/DC, Paul McCartney, Kiss and Bon Jovi are playing the Maritimes this summer.

The promoters are predicting "tens of thousands" of people to come to Cavendish for the concert. I hope they are right. I think they are wrong.

I'll end with some things to ponder:

-- What determines success in Cavendish? 10,000 people? Tens of Thousands? Or setting up private promoters -- approved by a committee chaired by someone connected with the party in power and who stands to benefit financially -- to repeat this idea year after year?

-- What determines the work being complete on the stage? Is it temporary or permanent? Will they still get their money for a temporary stage?

-- How is it that the Tourism Minister can change her stance to suit circumstances (at least three times in this blog post alone) and not be challenged on it?

-- The explanation from the DM over at Tourism for the Alanis investment was "Our position has been going into it, and the rationale around supporting an event like a fall music festival, was to shore up the fall season." This one doesn't support that goal. What is their goal with this investment?

-- Finally, I wonder what will be the response on PEI if the Big Country Show doesn't do as well as hoped? Can we expect the personal venom I witnessed as a result of the Alanis show? Will we see the Tourism Minister go before a committee and try to put forward another changed position? Higher stakes and more money should equal more public outrage if things don't go well. My sneaking suspicion is that since it is country music, Islanders will just shut up and take it, but we will have to see. What I do know is that the fervor that surrounded the Alanis concert, if multiplied by dollars spent, would be huge.

What I learned with my small experience putting on musical events is that it is too damn risky for me to risk my future on. The Minister may be learning that lesson for herself, on the people's dime.

What I have learned as a journalist is that this entire Cavendish Festival needs to be Accesed to Information until it bleeds paper. There is a much bigger story going on.

It reeks of patronage, half-assed planning, and outright lies. What it needs is a blinding light of public interest until the truth comes out, whatever that may be.

You really want to stop bootleggers?

Check this out. From CBC PEI, about three guys busted for illegal cigarettes:

Three men from western P.E.I. have been ordered to pay more than $500,000 in fines for dealing in illegal cigarettes.

The provincial fines levied were much higher than they would have been a year ago. Under amendments to the provincial act proclaimed last March 15, fines can equal five times the tax that was due if the cigarettes had been sold legally. Previously, the provincial fines were equal to the tax payable.

James Banks of Summerside, Donald MacArthur of Belmount and Joseph Hippenstall of Summerside were convicted under P.E.I.'s Tobacco Tax Act and the federal Excise Act after 1,750 cartons of cigarettes were seized on June 7. Fines were levied under both acts.

Banks and MacArthur were each charged $234,094.30 in provincial fines and $40,000 in federal fines and given three years to pay. Hippenstall was ordered to pay $2,794 in provincial fines and $1,000 in federal fines, with one year to pay.

If they don't pay their fines, the province can seize their assets, including their homes. The fines were handed down last week in Summerside provincial court.

For the part that has me interested, read again:

The provincial fines levied were much higher than they would have been a year ago. Under amendments to the provincial act proclaimed last March 15, fines can equal five times the tax that was due if the cigarettes had been sold legally. Previously, the provincial fines were equal to the tax payable.

An act like directed at illegal booze in Nunavut would be devastating to the illegal trade. It would also cripple those responsible finacially forever (which is really the down side).... but I bet the good olde boys in West Prince will think twice before selling illegal smokes.

Sometimes, you have to shoot a hostage to get the attention of the others, I'm just sayin'

Of government websites and minor political hackery

I was looking around on line today, and checked out the message boards over at PEIInfo.com. It seems the the government of PEI has redesigned their website..

Now, as we all know, message boards are the second lowest form of human communication out there (comment sections on national news websites are the lowest).

The partisans over at the message board were bashing Rob Ghiz like a Japanese whaler, over the decision to......

wait for it........

put his picture on the website.....

and to use "Liberal" red (hey jerks, it is Colonel Grey maroon, not Liberal red. Blast him on that).

Off hand, I can think of ten things I would be more pissed off at Premier Rob about... let's start with:

1 - closing rural schools
2 - grabass Deputy Ministers and how much they get paid
3 - the performance of various ministries and their ministers
4 - which Liberal supporters received money from the mysterious Chinese
5 - why people in Western PEI are fighting over windmills
6 - a home EXPLODING in Cornwall (ok, maybe not Rob's fault, but it is Cornwall related, and I hope they find their cat)
7 - the price of milk
8 - the collapse of farming
9 - Government employees faking documents on ATIP requests
10 - Govt reworking the very same website to make sure that public info remains private

See, not hard. A little substance, and I didn't even have to interview anyone. I don't live there, I'm not even that mad about any of it. The one I'm really mad about is not on this list

The reasons are several,
most of them federal
(had to quote Public Enemy, because it does take A Nation Of Millions to Hold Me Back ;))).

The media is no better. "Senator" Duffy says something stupid and they can't do enough stories.....

and never once mention that using the image of two men together in bed as "disgusting" is a pretty damn homophobic thing to say....

But it got me thinking. The Government of Nunavut has a website, and it used to have Premier Okalik's smiling face up there. I remember because they changed his photo when he shaved his moustache.

Go check it now. No Premier Aariak on the front page. What is up with that?

Either Rob or Eva need some hubris, or one needs to lose some. They should sort it out at the next First Minister's meeting, or commission a study, whichever one is determined to be less effective.

Letters, oh, they get letters

Sometimse I get nostalgic for working on PEI, and meeting interesting characters that are unique to the Island. To fix that, I usually read Letters to the Editor.

Much credit to the Graphic newspapers. They gave me my first job, and will publish the most batshit crazy Letters to the Editor.

Check out this gem, from this weeks Graphics (support indy media, go buy a Graphic, except in West Prince, where you should take one home from your mailbox and shop at the stores who advertise there).

I had just finished trapping my fifth raccoon and was preparing to trap a sixth one when I read in the newspaper that a permit is needed before one is permitted to trap raccoons. Understanding, now, that this regulation comes from a country that bestous its highest honour on a man who aborts babies for a living. A country that allows monsterous and ugly windmills to be erected within “spittin” distance of ones front door and one that allows taxpayer’s money to be used to prop up the liberal, left wing CBC. Something seems to be wrong with this picture. (May I suggest that Fox News Channel is an interesting alternative to the CBC). By the way, I think that I should offer an apology to those cuddly creatures who were destroying my garden. I hope that they can find it in their raccoon hearts to forgive me for trapping them without a permit- no Order of Canada for me. Sincerely Donnie Doyle Campbellton

Abortion, raccoons, Order of Canada, CBC vs Fox News.... this letter has it all.

On the subject of Fox News, I was watching their election coverage last night during commercials on CNN. They say "givin'" instead of giving, and the anchor had too much makeup.

They also called Georgia for McCain a half an hour before CNN, which is based in Atlanta.... funny, they called at the same time they gave Pennsylvania to Obama... softening the blow I suppose.

Following rising stars

Well, Leona Aglukkaq's meteoric rise to the top of Canada's political food chain is pulling a few people along in it's wake.

Namely, me.

If everything goes as planned, tune in tonight to CTV National News to see a shorter version of my "Local Reaction" story about Ms Aglukkaq.

See all our Nunavut regulars (Jim Bell, Premier Okalik, Hunter Tootoo) on the big news.

If it doesn't work out tonight, it will air sometime on the weekend.

Also, a scoop for you. Aglukkaq's first major interview, Question Period this Sunday. I hope she comes ready, Craig Oliver sharpens his teeth on federal rookies.

It will be very nice to hear "For CTV News, I'm Kent Driscoll of APTN National News, in Iqaluit".

Mike Duffy isn't their only former Islander now.

I hope they sit together

From today's National Post:

That breakthrough alone clinches Ms. Shea a cabinet gig as the province's government insider. But her apparently scandal-free performance as a P.E.I. cabinet minister makes Ms. Shea the surest bet as a rookie MP becoming a minister.

Runner-up for that claim is Leona Aglukkaq, the first Conservative MP elected for Nunavut. She might not be ready for a stand-alone portfolio --a one-term cabinet-equivalent gig in the territorial government is simply not in the same league as leading a large federal department -- but she has roots in a variety of public service roles that appear solid enough to rate being tested in a junior job.

It sounds about right. After Ms Aglukkaq came to our office for her "over the satellite" interview with one of our anchors, I used the chance to get in a personal message.

When you get to Ottawa look up Gail Shea.

Both of you are women coming from areas without strong Tory history, and are the only person in the party to represent a large group, Northerners for Leona and PEImiut for Gail, and both have served in a cabinet.

The other reason I suggested it, is because I know both of them professionally. I worked in Western PEI before coming here, and reported extensively on Ms Shea. The two have many personaility traits in common (both positive and negative, but they do match up nicely).

Turns out, the two know each other already, from Status of Women meetings. Ms Aglukkaq was quite pleased when she heard that Gail had won. Gail was also the only person I knew who had been to Nunavut before I moved here, and was effusive in her praise of -- as the Premier is wont to say -- "the good people of Nunavut".

The description of Gail as "scandal free" has at least one newspaper editor I know jumping up and down in rage... see, there was this thing called Polar Foods, where a bunch of fish plant owners collapsed the lobster processing industry on PEI, and ripped off the government for more than $20 million.

It hurt Gail's riding pretty badly. Some would call it a scandal. I would have at the time. Upon reflection, I feel more like all Islanders got mugged by some fish plant owners, due to a pretty lax loan guarantee system on PEI. She has to wear at least some of it, her government guaranteed the loans.

Watch me drop a name here. When I was travelling to Alert with Def. Min. Peter McKay, I interviewed him in front of the weather station up there. We are doing the bit where you take a long shot of the two people talking, for cutaways -- a two shot for TV geeks. McKay was the Minister responsible for PEI, since they didn't elect any Torys.

I usually make small talk, or crack a joke. For McKay, I simply said, "Do you think Gail has a shot in Egmont?" I figured a PEI Inside Baseball question would be a good way to break the ice.

He did laugh, and told a great story about driving through snowstorm from Pictou to Tignish for a fundraiser, going to the Legion in Tignish, and ending up on stage with Ms Shea in some sort of skit, where she was in costume and cracking jokes.

I thoguht to myself, "Wow, you really have been to Tignish."

I hope they both get into cabinet, mostly because I don't perceive either of them as being Reform Party based right wing lunatics. They may just be sneaking two Progressive Conservatives into cabinet... couldn't hurt.