Consumer Current Affairs Vancouver Blog Report: Graham Bruce's Unfortunate Explanation, Campbell: Flyin' High in April....,


by ANDREW RIDEOUT - Date: 2007-10-30 - Word Count: 796 Share This!

Vancouver Blog Report: Graham Bruce’s Unfortunate Explanation, Campbell: Flyin’ High in April…., B.C.’s New Foreign Credentials Program, Transport and Translink in 2040
This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from VancouverIAM where you will find the best blogs from Vancouver, British Columbia as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring.
Graham Bruce’s Unfortunate Explanation

A blog on theleftcoast.ca holds Graham Bruce’s activities while working for a First Nations group up against the conflict of interest rules set out by the government.

According to the post, BC Conflict of Interest Commissioner H.A.D. Oliver reiterated the basis for the conflict of interest laws, stating “the rules exist to prevent senior government ministers from profiting from their government connections.”

The post then goes on to provide Graham’s explanation of his activities. Apparently, while referring to a meeting he was to have with Cowichan Tribes Chief and Council, Graham says that he contacted the Premier to inform him of his work, adding “I'm calling in my credits with these Ministers and other government officials to use their full capacity to support Cowichan Tribes with these new initiatives."

Campbell: Flyin’ High in April…..

On his self-titled blog, Bill Tieleman posts a list of woes currently plaguing B.C. Liberal leader Gordon Campbell. At a time when the Liberals seemed to be enjoying a comfortable lead in the polls and a strong economy, says the post, “the political roof caved in.”

Tieleman points out that Campbell’s current top advisor, Ken Dobell, and the former Minister of Labour Graham Bruce are each under investigation.  Dobell for allegedly violating the Lobbyist Act and Bruce for violating rules that fall under the same law. Tieleman also notes that Dobell “chaired the Convention Centre project board until April”, the cost of which is now up to “$388 million” over its original budget.

Further to the Convention Centre mishaps, Tieleman reminds his readers that at the launch of the project Premier Campbell announced that “There are contingencies built into the project and it’s going to be run professionally. This will be built on time and on budget…Count on it.”

Tieleman carries on with the news that defense lawyers for former ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk are now in receipt of 25,000 page of evidence which could “impact certain cabinet ministers in Campbell’s government.”

 

B.C. Funds Foreign Credential Assessment Program

In its blog today, Chinese in Vancouver has posted a press release from the B.C. Government announcing that funding has been granted to17 of the regulatory bodies of government responsible for helping internationally trained professionals find work within B.C.

A workshop hosted in June, 2007 by the Ministry of Economic Development set out to identify better solutions for evaluating the credentials foreign applicants.  From this meeting, specific programs were identified as necessary in order for the government to reach its goals.  Funding was then requested for each program, and approved with a $50,000.00 cap per organization.

The document quotes Development Minister Colin Hansen: "We are reducing the barriers to employment that skilled workers and professionals trained outside B.C. are facing," said Hansen. "We want the process for reviewing credentials to be clear, consistent and timely."

The post notes that “The funding is a portion of the Foreign Credential Recognition funding provided by Human Resources and Social Development Canada.”

Transport and Translink in 2040

In his popular blog, Price Tags Gordon Price recounts his day at a Stakeholder’s Transportation Forum that took place at the Wosk Centre on Sunday. Under the Transport 2040 banner, the process addressed the government’s new 30-year strategy regarding integrated transportation from Pemberton to Hope.  According to the post, the government’s plan sets “clear goals to guide TransLink and other transportation agencies in preparing their respective plans.”
The post notes that all plans and strategies tabled for Translink must be “consistent with the provincial government’s.”
Absent from the procedures was the Minister of Transport himself. With this in mind, the post takes a few tongue-in-cheek swipes at the entire process, essentially wondering if the day’s activities will fall on deaf ears: “It doesn’t much matter what we think: the real 30-year plan will be devised in Victoria, by people we have never heard of, who never attend sessions like this, who are accountable to basically one man - the Minister of Transportation”.
About VancouverIAMVancouverIAM is part of a groundbreaking network of city-focused blog aggregation, user generated media and social networking websites currently rolling out across North America. Each IAM website filters and organizes blog content as well as offering video upload capabilities, social networking, blog authoring, favourites lists and rumours. The IAM Network is a division of SoMedia Networks Inc which also operates Inveslogic.com, Greenedia.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com. For more information or to register an account, visit VancouverIAM.com.


Related Tags: blogs, news, vancouver

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: