Lillooet – One of the monumental corporate scams in the world today is the privatization of water, meaning the legal transference of that precious element from public ownership to private investors for profit. In B.C., a related piece of chicanery, going by the name of Independent Power Projects, or IPPs, was sanctified in the recent B.C. election that retained Gordon Campbell and the Liberals in office.

That the Campbell government is promoting the water and power grab – said to be the second B.C. gold rush – is not surprising, for this government is, for all intents and purposes, just another monstrous corporation, though especially coveted because of its direct pipeline to the pockets of the citizenry. To prove the intimate connection between private and government corporate planning, I offer the following shortlist of Insiders who have moved into IPP industry, a Who’s Who of the great water/power grab:

Mark Grant, BC Liberal executive director resigned, Dec. 12, 2008, to join Rupert Peace Power.

David Cyr, former assistant to BC Liberal minister Mike de Jong, is now director at Plutonic Power.

Robert Poore, recently working under the provincial revenue minister of the province, is now senior director at Plutonic Power.

Tom Syer, who has held a variety of senior positions in the BC government, including G. Campbell’s Deputy Chief of Staff, is now a director at Plutonic Power.

Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, is now another director of Plutonic Power.

Bruce Ripley, who spent the last two of his sixteen years at BC Hydro as VP of Engineering, is now president and CEO of Plutonic Power.

Elisha McCallum, after seven years with BC Hydro as Media Relations Manager, has moved to a directorship of Plutonic Power.

Bruce Young has held several high profile positions with BC Liberal party and lobbied his own party on behalf of Katabatic Power; is now listed as a director of Atla Energy.

Stephen Kakucha, former senior policy advisor for BC Ministry of Environment, is now president and CEO of Atla Energy.

Bob Herath, former Assistant Regional Water Manager for the BC Ministry of Environment, is now with Syntaris Power.

Jackie Hamilton, who formerly held various BC government environmental assessment and regulatory positions, and is now VP at Cloudworks Energy.

Doug Bishop, formerly thirty-two years with BC Hydro and Powerex, was contracted in 2004 by Plutonic Power.

Wayne Chambers, a former BC Hydro power plant and substation operator, is now a manager at Cloudworks.

Alexander Kiess, after a long career with BC Hydro in management, now works as consultant to Syntaris Power.

Geoff Plant, former BC Liberal Attorney General, is now chair of Renaissance Power.

The above is but a partial list of government and government- related people who have joined B.C.’s second gold rush. It is a list that may contain some errors and needs updating. I don’t doubt that further study would reveal further connections.

So what do we make of these connections? Do you call this corruption? Is it mere coincidence? One thing is sure, there is big money involved in the exploitation of our streams and rivers, billions of dollars, and their status on Crown Land as treasures of our common heritage, is severely threatened. It will not be long before the signs go up: Private. No Entry

In any case, I present the above names and career changes as indicators of what is happening in the B.C.’s water/power grab, information that the public ought to know but probably doesn’t.

I leave the implications up to the reader.