GREAT BIG BREAK-ing C.B. Investigative Reports: Sydney Harbour Dredge & Port Scandal (Part 1 of 3) Harbour Dredge Scandal --- Tip Of Iceberg --- NS Power Attached: Smoking Gun Article From 2009 Short Synopsis: Nova Scotia Power Inc. committed to 'donate', and then 'donated', $1-million for the Sydney Harbour dredge. The tax payers paid over $37-million for the dredge, and incalculable amounts for land purchases and activities surrounding 'port development'. It was the tax payers of Cape Breton that donated to Nova Scotia Power Inc, and not vice versa. Read all about it. Long Analysis: (We invite you to read the short article attached to this post, before attempting to read the commentary here.) On the heels of Saturday's great Cape Breton Post article written by a very brave Cape Bretoner named Mary P. Campbell, more people seem to have taken an interest in the unholy alliance between the Cape Breton business elite and 'their' politicians. It is obvious that most politicians in Western civilization are controlled, manipulated and owned by the ultra-rich. The term ultra-rich is relative. The ultra-rich guy who hand picks the political puppets in a small town, might not even register in New York. Identifying and outing 'conflicts of interest', 'corporate and government corruption' and 'theft of public funds' is not a 'negative thing', it is a positive thing, to help end these activities. People cannot solve problems if they don't know they exist or properly scrutinize them. This false notion that everything must be positive, is what diabolical people sued to keep the masses from investigating what they do and how they do it. We all know why they do it ... they just want more for themselves and less for others. Some people have expressed concerns that this outing of corruption, conflicts of interests and theft of tax-payer funds puts the CBRM and Cape Breton in a negative light. I disagree. If people don't know what is killing their community, they are powerless to stop it. Being a positivity junky is not all it is cracked up to be ... in fact, these 'positive' people miss out on reality. Shining a spotlight on corruption, incompetence and tyranny is the best offence and defence against it. Most intelligent people realize that all Western cities are rife with their own brand of corruption as bankers and big business people look after their allies and their own. Birds of a feather flock together. Sometimes these birds need to be shot down and culled, before they destroy an eco-system. Now to specifics and details. Back in 2009, a privately owned profit-driven company which goes by the name of Nova Scotia Power Inc., 'donated' $1-million for what turned out to be the $38-million Sydney harbour dredge; early estimates were 'around' $30 million for the dredge. On the surface, this seemed very 'positive'. :D One should always be cautious and skeptical of gifts and donations coming from unlikely sources, and ponder what the 'donors' might want in return. Companies primarily look for tax breaks and returns on investment, over altruistic endeavours. This $1-million 'donation' was not charity, it was part of a sweetheart deal and a scam, with NSP being the ONLY beneficiary. The tax-payers were sold a pipe dream of numerous jaaawbs that would be created from this 'improvement' and the vast sums of money being spent on the harbour dredge. The cover story (to get citizens to support the Sydney harbour dredge) was that a $200 million container terminal would be built in 2010, and that got citizens really excited. That was almost 6 years ago! The dream still lives. This dream, is our continuing nightmare, that will not go away. The true story, the real story, that the executives at Nova Scotia freely admitted, was that they wanted to be able to save money by bringing in larger shipments of coal. You can easily read the details in this article. And, this corporate giant got what they wanted. The cruise ships were already coming in, and the harbour did not need to be dredged for them; despite what you 'may' hear. Many people go by 'what they hear', because it takes waaay too much effort to fact check stories. In 2012, after the dredge, a news report in the Cape Breton Post said NSP could now bring in shipments of up to 160 000 tonnes where they could formally only bring in shipments of 60 000 tonnes. Big difference! Big deal! For Nova Scotia Power! Not you! Have you notice the drop in your power bill? What savings! What a deal! For Nova Scotia Power! The dredge ONLY benefits Nova Scotia Power Inc. and all the elites in Sydney know this. I have spoken to pretty much every one of them. Oddly, they are too afraid NOT to take my phone call, for some strange reason. Unconfirmed reports from the local Cape Breton industrial elite indicate that Nova Scotia Power Inc. saves roughly $1-million every 6 months, because of the harbour dredge. The dredge was completed on January 19th, 2012, so they have saved roughly $8-million so far, and counting, if the reports are accurate. With Nova Scotia Power being a private company, having a monopoly on a utility, it might be hard to get the accurate figures. On a $1-million investment, it looks Nova Scotia power saved roughly $8-million in only 4 years? Apparently, there is some people's charity and donations, you don't want. It NOW becomes apparently, to those who have a semi-well-functioning minds, that that Nova Scotia Power Inc. was the recipient of a $37-million donation from the tax-payers of the CBRM! Yes, Nova Scotia Power Inc, needs your charity, the CEO Chris Huskilson only made a measly $4.7 million in 2013. This money spent on the unnecessary harbour dredge could have been used to create hundreds if not thousands od REAL JAAAWBS, then, and now! This should be self evident. However, the local elites and their political puppets wasted HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars, and given away the infrastructure and money to private companies, all on pipe dream promise of a few jaaawbs. This nonsense has to end, or we will. Too man people want to continue on with a pipe dream of a container terminal that always needs more money, more give aways, more travel and more money. Who's going to stop madness, lies and theft? Only you can do that. Jimmie Kehoe has publicly said Laurentian Energy spent roughly $1.7-million investigating a possible container terminal prior to the ruse that was the sale of the Greenfield site that was gotten for essentially nothing as part of a package deal, and they determined that their was no interest. Thank heavens for our lobster fishermen, boaters and lovers of natural beauty. No one can accurately calculate the total amount of tax-payer money and tax-payer infrastructure give away, because of the long list of consultants, lawyers, studies and expert opinions sough. The only major investigations all had the same conclusions, that a container terminal is not viable for Sydney. Thank heavens. In fact, Jimmie Kehoe actually requested that I and some witnesses see the accountant documents of the money Laurentian Energy spent on investigating the possibility of getting a container terminal. Since then the CBRM paid for a $103 000.00 study from port expert Neil MacNeil which asserts a container terminal is not viable for the Sydney harbour. This report was dismissed and suppressed by Cecil Clarke, until it was eventually forgotten. I've not forgotten. Absolutely nothing sticks to Cecil Clarke, but now it would seem that the internet is catching up to Cecil and his misdeeds. It remains to be seen, if he has been outed soon enough. Cecil Clarke boasted that he 'championed the harbour dredge' in his high-cost high-gloss brochure, during his 2012 Mayoral campaign. Now, he intends to ride the same dead horse container terminal to a 2016 victory. You may recall that in the same Mayoral brochure that he claimed he 'saved the Cape Breton Railway', that was then in American hands, and sucked up tax dollars like a vacuum, and is now scheduled to cease operations this spring. He also bragged about his great involvement in negotiating with Newfoundland for offshore oil rights. I won't spoil the surprise, go back and look at that deal yourself, and draw your own conclusions. ;) I a fair deal, both parties benefit. In corrupt deals, one side manipulates, and gets more than what is fair. Some people confuse ethical capitalism with crony capitalism, or they are unaware that there is a difference. Crony capitalism is what the Old Boys Club in the CBRM deal in. Having their political puppets give them tax-payer dollars and tax-payer own infrastructure. How can I write such an accusation about NSP duping the tax payers, and not worry about getting sued? Easy. Use their own statements, media reports and throw in facts, historical context and logic. You can't refute the provable truth, you can only choose to accept it, deny it or ignore it. When trying to uncover corruption or corporate crimes, one only need to look at who benefits from the corruption and corporate crimes. In this case, after the dredge, experts have estimated that NSP saves roughly $1-million every 6 months, on bringing in larger shipments of coal. Yes, this is repetitive, but people have to remember it, or the truth is useless too them. If you don't understand the cause of the scam, then you can't out it. This company known as Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a subsidiary of Emera, and profit is their purpose for existing. This is not a moral crime, in and of itself. However, when the controllers of company fool politicians (or collude with them), to invest $37-million of tax-payer funds to benefit their company only, while putting tax payers on the hook, that is theft of public funds, plain and simple. Between the harbour dredge, the purchase of the Greenfield site, consultant fees, legal fees, travel, etc etc etc, $50-million would be a very conservative estimate as to how much was spent on this cover story of a container terminal which saves Nova Scotia Power $1-mllion every six months, and keeps getting Cecil Clarke elected. Far too many people 'believe' politicians cover stories. If the container terminal pipe dream could come true, it 'might' employ a few hundred people, at the very most. That would not save the CBRM from going bankrupt (like the path it is on), or keep the CBRM from losing its charter and becoming an entity of the Provincial government. You 'would' also get the corruption, crime and pollution that comes with container terminals, if it 'could' happen. If you thought about it, you would see that it should not happen. However, you should rest easy knowing that for many reasons, it is not going to happen. Add to this nonsense, is that Cecil Clarke wants to give away Cape Bretoners land to a company that is predominantly owned by the Communist Chinese government which has state owned execution vans in their cities to murder people, and the nations government treats their working class citizens worse than animals. They sell canisters of Canadian 'fresh air' in Communist China because of they polluter their own air. Our ancestor fought and died defending us against Nazism, communism and fascism. Read the promises in the article coming from the executive at Nova Scotia Power suggesting they would 'pass on the savings', if the government chipped in 99% of the cost. Did Nova Scotia Power pass on the savings to you? Was there a rate decrease I was unaware of? Broken promises seem all too common, these days. :( It is like people expect they are being lied to, and they are pleasantly surprised when a community leaders actually speaks the truth. People need to take the theft of their tax dollars, more personally. That's not negativity. That's reality. Some Additional Afterthoughts: Nova Scotia Power's top executive would likely have been paid $100K for looking after OUR electricity, when the utility was owned by Nova Scotians. In 2013, the CEO Chris Huskilson made $4.7 million, for dolling out OUR power to US. Wow! The good people of Cape Breton have to top looking for governments and the Old Boys Club to gift us the big jaaawbs with the big bucks; that's just the bait they use to steal our tax money. People and resources create jobs! Not billionaires or governments! If you work hard, but more importantly work smart, and make the right decisions to position yourself for success, then you will be successful. Looking for handouts is generally not a successful strategy, unless you are a scammer. More people have to start realizing that their local elite are the biggest thieves in their community, with the rarest of exceptions. Too many working poor, spend too much of their time bashing the welfare class, when they should do their homework and see the companies and individuals that are pilfering the public coffers. The wealthiest people in every city and town, are generally people who steal the most tax money. For those people who only like seemingly positive stories, think about how negative ignorance of corruption is for everyone. At this rate, soon their will be nothing left for the elite to steal. We have to expose the corruption in Cape Breton. Then, develop solutions to rectify it, and prevent it from happening again. That would be really positive, and it would positively save the Cape Breton economy from being decimated further. We can turn this place around, if we work together, and push in the right directions. If you have any information that would help with the next two instalments, please comment below, or, private message the Great Big Break Facebook page. We can turn this place around. We just have to be wise to the scams and scandals BEFORE they happen. http://www.ns.dailybusinessbuzz.ca/section/2009-05-15/article-1904454/NS%3A-NSP-donates-$1M-to-Sydney-dredging-project/1