Harper and Mansbridge the Christmas Message

Can't Wait

Tuning up the old violin here today as I await the Christmas/New Year fireside chat between overpaid Mansbridge and unwanted Harper.

The two - civil - casual - well coiffed pair will sip some coffee - put on a serious but welcoming face - and quietly discuss all the abhorrent behavior and lies of the Prime Minister.

You'll smell shortbread and turkey from your television as they oh so quietly tip-toe around the ghastly details. Elite to elite they will hypnotize you; Peter with his voice and Stephen with his blue eyes.

As Stephen quietly dismantles any thought that Duffy and Wright are not the only ones involved - Peter will toughen up and say but - but and then let the Prime Minister repeat the speaking notes.

Both men like who they are - no they love themselves - and certainly we must love them too. Peter - after all is the only newsman in the land that Stephen will address - minus the media police. Peter will be "free" to ask the tough already agreed to questions - and the Prime Minister will not refuse to answer with the already prepared responses.

The CBC - having lost hockey will rebound in spades - as they and only they will get the holiday visit.

The Prime Minister has been surrounded by corruption, incompetence, lies, and crooks - and he appointed them all. Peter is the patriarch of our public broadcasting system - slightly less popular than Don Cherry - but filled with grace and finesse.

Yes I'm looking forward to another year where Stephen Harper controls the media - while we the public do not get the direct answers - out of his mouth.

I wonder whose suits they will be wearing - and what colour ties. Think about it - the PM interviewing the PM - matching  monogrammed Towelettes?

So this year - we will once again - get to feast on a turkey and a ham.

Next year who knows - perhaps Rogers will get a 10 year exclusivity contract for chats with the Prime Minister.

Rural Broadband Initiative expanded - how about the bundles?

The people of St. John's Metro and larger regional centres are inundated with bundles.

How does one get a bundle if they use one company for telephone and then need another for highspeed?

What about those who want the Aliant connection as they have always had for their telephone - however Aliant only has dialup in the area?

Rural initiatives? Forced choice? Surely it is not equal access right?

Danny, Dean, and Brian Flip this Utility.

Still is a "Solid Gold" idea - right?

Make it expensive, make it confusing, make it political, make the system unstable.

Somebody is getting rich and you are paying the tab.

Prestigious National Award for NL Business Owners

CICPO Wins Prestigious National Lifetime Achievement Award

Celebrating Newfoundland and Labrador professionals and business owners on the National Level.
Read the full story: PRESS HERE

Flip this House (Utility)

First Posted in 2007 by Sue's Blog

I guess most of the readers are familiar with the various TV shows on flipping houses - where the buyer picks up a property - renovates and or adds an addition and flips it for a profit.

Newfoundland and Labrador has it's own new program now - called Flip this Utility. I cannot for the life of me figure out why CBC or NTV have not picked up the pilot and a couple of completed programs in the can. The least the Telegram or VOCM could do is give the reader and listener some highlights of the new series so we can encourage one of the TV networks to pick it up. I don't expect "Out of the Fog" would be interested.

The program is filled with energy as the hosts and flippers are interesting well known characters - that give it a kind of soap opera appeal - mixed with a tinge of a reality series.

The creator of the series is a well kept secret but I think it's fair to say that Brian Tobin might be the producer and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador acts as a partial financier of the renos.

Te pilot takes place in Newfoundland and Labrador when Tobin was the Premier. He decided after some encouragement by the local cable company that it was time to reno the government's communications contracts. So Tobin without an RFP or tender call picks Cable Atlantic for the investment.

Cable Atlantic picked up the government contract and away they went. Shortly after the owner of Cable Atlantic flipped the property for a tidy profit to Rogers - not a (local) company.

Dean MacDonald - Danny Williams - Ken Marshall - and Brian Tobin are featured predominantly in the pilot and the backdrop is priceless - as one of the flippers - apparently not believing that Tobin's government had done a good job became the leader of the other political party and went on to become Premier.

The second program starts off with one of the flippers of the first property picking up Persona - and while Danny is becoming Premier - Dean Macdonald leaves Rogers - the purchaser of the renovated Cable Atlantic - and starts to work on Personna. Not to be left out Brian leaves as the Premier and he ends up on the Board of the new property to be renovated and does work for the company that picked up the first flip.

The third show features all the same players - but this time the Premier who was a flipper on the first - decides government needs some reno work itself - and Personna who is ready to be the second property - just happen to come together with the same plan. So instead of going out to the market to find another property to invest in - government decides why not just deal with the same gang. No tender of RFP needed.It worked before. Same storyline - local company gets reno...

Now this episode gets real fun as the biggest communications (telephone) company Aliant experiences a real tragedy and has a fire in one of its buildings knocking out cell and telephone services far and wide. Danny - and Dean - recognizing this irony jump all over this to convince us that another reno is essential.

They send out a new character Trevor - to announce all the plans - and poor Trevor is all over the map as to exactly what it is they are doing for the reno and why. He fondly becomes known as the "duct tape man".

Then our Minister of Business Kevin O'Brien jumps in - to be honest witchu - and starts selling the audience on the real value in this property.

The audience is in for great laughs as everyone runs around trying to figure out if they want strands or a whole network or how many fibres they will need and whether or not they will light them. And if they are lit - who will do it. The funniest part is when the neighborhood spokesperson won't reveal who is going to pay what for maintenance and the whole meeting goes up when one of the property owners asks for an administration fee to sort it out.

Once again the appeal to us the audience is that another local property wants to reno and expand. Unfortunately - once again the audience is torn when the property is flipped to another company on the mainland.

Unlike the first flip where the profit details were available - the producer will keep us guessing as the real profit off this one will not be known.

The producer is not talking but the last episode might go something like this - Danny leaves as Premier - Dean takes that job - and Brian picks up a property to reno and appoints Danny to the Board. The new government under Dean will encourage reno's to that asset and will partially finance the upgrades - without a tender or RFP. I haven't heard yet if they will release the results of that flip and the profits which might accrue.

Marshmallow Report from the AG

The latest special Report of the Auditor General on the fibre-optic deal is a marshmallow.

I am frankly surprised that the man who likes to dig deep has barely scratched the surface on this particular task.

It does nothing to convince me that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians got the "best" deal for its investment - and is particularly weak when it comes to the Lobbyist Act.

First of all the project or "investment" of 15 million was not tendered and there was no request for proposals to achieve the government's stated objectives. On that basis alone we cannot determine if we got the "best" deal our money could buy.

Secondly - the financial assessment of whether or not our 15 million was needed was based on the cost of construction and did not include potential markets and revenues which could be generated for the companies involved. That is not acceptable.

Third - the Auditor General has a radio and a television and presumably keeps up with current affairs - he would then have known that this project was sold to the people as a "consortium" of companies - that did not have a name - as the party that needed the 15 million not Persona alone. In fact when the Electronic Warfare Associates report was - in part - made public - people questioned why Persona's finances could not be investigated - the response was that Rogers was a public company while Persona was private. This supposed consortium did not really exist as Persona is the owner of the system.

Fourthly - the AG determined that officials of Persona were not in violation of the Lobbyist Act as the Act states that 20% of the individuals time had to be spent lobbying. Clearly MacDonald could argue as the President of Persona - he did not spend 20% of his time lobbying for this project. However the Act provides for 2 types of lobbyists - in house - and consultant - The AG and according to him the office responsible for the lobbyist registry - found therefore there was no violation. They apparently ignored the possibility that MacDonald was acting as a consultant lobbyist which has no % of time associated with it.

MacDonald claimed he met with government officials on behalf of the consortium - Rogers - Persona - and MTS. This clearly makes MacDonald a consultant lobbyist as he was not only representing Persona - but a consortium. I therefore continue to believe the Act was violated.

Finally while there has been much fanfare from the AG office over the past year or so concerning the "spending scandal" and while the AG has been quite available for the camera - holding his own News Conferences - this report was floated out following the constituency allowance report on appropriateness of spending which had all taxpayers losing their stomachs and as such went under our radar.

This was a marshmallow report - which in the end did not provide taxpayers value for their money. In fact an imaginary News Release from the so called "consortium" probably would have looked very similar.

No recommendations - no concern about the lobbyist act - and no concern about the "best" value for our dollar.

Between the election call - the constituency spending - and conferences - and regular news events - the media did not have time to blink. I hope when the dust settles this report gets more scrutiny and more questions are asked.

Remember now - one of the key reasons government gave was that one partner of the "consortium" was a local company. Well Persona just as Cable Atlantic before it has been flipped to out-of-province interests.

For further background material on the Lobbyist Act refer to these previous posts:

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Summary

Is this a Pork Barrel?

A pork barrel,The term is commonly used as a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents or campaign contributors.


Let's look at the situation in its very basic form.

According to government - they wanted to own strands on a fibre optic network.

According to Dean MacDonald a consortium of Persona - MTS Allstream - and Rogers wanted to build a second fibre optic infrastructure in the province.

Aliant currently operates one fibre optic facility.

If government wants to own strands - then issue a Request for Proposals outlining specifically what government wants - for how long - including what additional services and maintenance may be required.

No - not here - not in Newfoundland and Labrador - the place of Kings - where our piece of geography is essentially owned and controlled by various families.

There is no consortium! There is an owner of the new fibre-optic infrastructure (Persona) and clients purchasing/renting/leasing strands.

It was pointed out originally by government that the consortium of MTS Allstream - Rogers - and Persona required government investment. It was later learned - that was based on a consultant's (Electronic Warfare Associates - Canada Ltd.) report which stated in part:

"Persona has declined to disclose its financial statements for the reason that they are privately held company and that they are involved in many other projects in other parts of the country which are not of concern to this project."

I guess Bragg Communications had no problem having a look before they agreed to buy them right?

This is it in a nutshell - Dean MacDonald wanted Persona to build and own a fibre optic network in Newfoundland and Labrador. He found two parties who would buy/rent/lease strands from the new infrastructure - he then wanted the government to invest 15 million in the deal - thereby gaining another client for the strands and additional value for Persona. That does not include the maintenance management fee and risk for catastrophic failure + renegotiated positions in 20 years.

Dean asked his buddy's government for the investment and got it. Now Persona is being sold having just reached the legal deal with government for the initial investment and other services. Dean will gain personally from his buddy's government investment.

The government should not have travelled this route and should have issued an RFP. There is more than a potential conflict here - there is an ethical conflict.

Dean MacDonald having brokered the deal with his buddy's government - is now involved in the sale of that same company to a wholly owned subsidiary of Bragg Communications in Nova Scotia.

The best part is - they only just signed the legal papers - yet the network is almost built. The Auditor General is "reviewing" the deal - but the legal papers are signed.

Regardless of the advantages Williams or Taylor espouse regarding cost savings - there was no reason for an RFP not to be issued - and there is no proof that an RFP would not have netted a better deal.

We were clearly told that all parties who could be in this "consortium" were. First of all it is not a consortium - secondly - the entirety of Persona is being sold to Bragg Communications - why couldn't they be involved in the so-called original consortium.

This was a flipper for MacDonald who had just come off the sale of Cable Atlantic to Rogers - shortly after invested in the purchase of Persona - and is now flipping it in 2007 - with increased value partially paid for by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

What a crock - people - what a crock.

We have not seen the complete deal with Persona and there are many serious questions that need to be asked - regarding maintenance and equipment to convert the dark fibres to lit fibres - and the risks associated with catastrophic failure. Also - how much of the network (strands) percentage-wise will we but/rent/lease? Will the complete contract be released?

And Trev is on open-line trying to commend the deal.

Don't miss this Blueberry Festival

Six weeks before the next provincial election - a blueberry happening of major proportions is occurring - be sure not to miss it.

It's taking place P.O. Box 220 Oxford Nova Scotia - the mailbox of Oxford Frozen Foods Limited and now the mailbox of Eastlink Persona Holdings Inc.

Now up until Thursday of last week Eastlink Persona Holdings Inc. was named 4402511 CANADA INC.

This is important because the CRTC last Friday posted the following request:

Ottawa, 24 August 2007
The Commission has received the following applications. The deadline for submission of interventions/comments is 13 September 2007.

1.Across Canada Application No. 2007-0791-1

Persona Communications Corp. (Persona), on behalf of itself and Bragg Communications Incorporated (Bragg), filed two applications that would authorize 4402511 Canada Inc. (4402511 Canada), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bragg, to acquire ownership and control of Persona and its wholly-owned subsidiary Northern Cablevision Ltd. (Northern). One application is seeking authority to transfer the shares and effective control of Persona to 4402511 Canada and a second one is seeking authority to transfer the effective control of Persona’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Northern, to 4402511 Canada.
Persona is the licensee of cable distribution undertakings in Sudbury and Timmins, Ontario, Marystown, Newfoundland and Labrador and Delta and Sechelt/Gibsons, British Columbia, and of a radiocommunication distribution undertaking in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. 4402511 Canada is committed to operate both undertakings under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under their current respective licences. Persona also owns some 600 Class 2 and Class 3 broadcasting distribution undertakings across seven provinces.
Northern is the licensee of a cable distribution undertaking in Grande Prairie, Alberta. 4402511 Canada is committed to operate that undertaking under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the current licence.
The Commission is consequently inviting comments on the particulars of these applications, as well as on the potential effects that approval of these applications would have on the broadcasting industry as a whole.
Applicant's address:
P.O. Box 12155, Station "A"
17 Duffy Place
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
A1B 4L1
Fax: 709-754-3883
E-Mail: dmacdonald@personainc.ca

And today - just a couple of days later - the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador signs the fibre-optic contract that gives great additional value to Persona - right upon the sale of the company.

And was it the great deal talked about?

Who knows?

The government issued a -

SUMMARY OF CONTRACT

between

Persona Communications Corporation and Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - not the consortium talked about during the whole debate on the potential conflict between the head of Persona - Dean MacDonald and our Premier.

From the details provided - MTS Allstream - Rogers and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador are owners/users of numbers of strands on a network - that Persona will build and own - referred to as the Atlantic Cable Facility.

Indefeasible Right of Use Agreement (IRU) - The IRU granted between Persona and the Provincial Government is for an initial term of 20 years, with the right to renew.

Does this mean we own the strands for 20 years?
Who has the right to renew - at what cost?
I thought we would own them!

Then there is this:

All fibre strands are "dark", that is, the equipment necessary to use the fibres will be the separate responsibility of government. Persona will make available, should the Provincial Government request it, space, electricity, back-up power, air conditioning, etc. at any of its equipment shelters along the fibre route.

How much will it cost to have use of the Persona equipment?

Will that form another agreement - value adding to Persona again?

Then this:

The Provincial Government has an initial 10-year period in which maintenance will be provided at Persona's cost. After this period, the actual average annual cost will be determined and shared amongst the IRU parties based on a sharing formula, with Persona performing the work for an administration fee based on 25 per cent of the costs.

Well now - after 10 years and after Danny is gone - we have maintenance costs - which we cannot know - because we don't have the sharing formula - we don't know what percentage of this we "own/lease/rent".

And to top it all off we add value again to Persona by contributing to an administration fee equalling 25% of the maintenance cost (?).

And last but not least this:

Persona and the IRU parties will share in the cost of catastrophic failure of the cable. For instance, should a break occur on the underwater portion, a ship would be retained to raise the cable and repair it. Costs will be shared on a formula based on the number of strands each party owns in the segment that failed.

We have no clue what portion of what segment we own - we are not told - but we could be responsible for close to an entirety of a catastrophic failure - even though we are not the owners of the facility - we are IRU's for 20 years. Once again adding to the value to Persona.

And all of this comes on the wake of CRTC announcing the request for Personna to be sold to Bragg Communications under a wholly owned subsidiary - and a few days after 4402511 CANADA INC changes it's Corporate name.

What is the value to Dean MacDonald personally from this transaction?
What value has been added to this pending sale based on the contract with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador?

Remember what was said when we all asked why a Request for Proposals was not issued by government for a new fibre optic arrangement. It was said and widely reported by government and Dean MacDonald that all parties that could be involved were.

That's strange - because on the heels of the sweetheart deal with Persona - Bragg Communication has no problem getting involved - in fact they are going to buy Persona - to get in on the action.

And back to that mailbox - Oxford Frozen foods sells quite a few blueberries.

Blueberries can be pretty potent when left to ferment - and then any politician can get drunk with power.

Anybody other than me find it ironic that the new fibre-optic facility is called Atlantic Cable? That's original - the last one the boys sold was Cable Atlantic. I wonder is this just an inside joke?

Newfoundland and Labrador is not their oyster...

This Province and potential opportunities from resource development must not be restricted to a few close buddies or a "special" corporate group.

I recognize that right now - it is difficult for one to question Premier Williams on anything he does - as the "fan power" right now is similar to one NFL player before they found dead dogs on his property.

One example - the Sullivan boys from the Southern Shore. Loyola - after just leaving as the Minister of Finance for the province - emerges to become Canada's new "Fish Ambassador" - Karl - Senior Manager of the Barry Group - has managed to steer assets - quite cheaply into the Barry Group's list of holdings with government guarantees - and just the other day - significant assets of FPI purchased by Ocean Choice - of the Penney Group - with Ches Penney flanked by Martin and Blaine Sullivan President and CFO respectively.

Think about the various potential conflicts or influence here - and within one of our most important resources - fish.

Then let's look at the fibre optic deal - remember that one? Persona - whose chief is Dean MacDonald and his buddy's government pumps a 15 million dollar investment that way - without any Request for Proposals - arguing that anybody that could be in the deal already was - Rogers - Persona - MTS Allstream. That's if first you can get past the potential conflict or influence with Rogers involved - with the Premier's selling of his company Cable Atlantic to them or the Premier's former law and business partner Steve Marshall's brother Ken Marshall remaining in a senior position with Rogers.

Then there was the whole mess of Aurora Energy appointing Dean MacDonald to the Board when the company is involved in uranium potential for energy - even though Dean at the time was the Chair of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro including the responsibility of the Lower Churchill Development. Although MacDonald quit the Aurora Board within a couple of days after Sue's Blog and then media pointed out the potential conflict - we are left to wonder what type of influence Aurora has and more importantly Altius - which as at January 2007 held a 10% interest in Aurora - 30% Rambler gold-copper mine - 37.5% interest in Newfoundland and Labrador refining corporation (you know the refinery proposal) and then there was and is their proposal for financing the Lower Churchill project described this way:

Altius has also made a proposal to the provincial government for financing the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project. Its proposal was put on the three-bid short list; its proposal (involving a royalty foundation for provincial residents) has the benefit of benefiting the local populace, a sensitive issue in a poor province where many projects have been sold to outside interests. Altius’ proposal could also be combined with other financing proposals. Currently, the provincial government is working on the development plan. Once this plan is complete, after three or four months perhaps, then it will turn again to the financing proposals. If successful, Altius would likely end up with a free-carried interest generating cashflow, for very little initial cost.

So there we have the fisheries - minerals - oil and gas - hydro - and communications all wrapped up in a little corporate gang.

For more specifics refer back to the following posts:

Dean MacDonald Please Resign

Why it's okay to question Dean and Dan on the Fibre Optics

The Fibre Optic Deal and Lobbyist Part 1

The Fibre Optic Deal Part 2

The Fibre Optic Deal Part 3

The Fibre Optic Deal Part 4

Political Patronage "Persona"fied

Now we can fight with Ottawa (as we should) but there is no plan to correct the deficiencies in our federation - and it will do wonders to keep our eye off the ball.

Williams is becoming the master of red herrings - to cover for:

rural Newfoundland and Labrador decimation,

FPI fiasco,

Paper Mill in Stephenville,

the Metis,

continued loss of our graduates and job fairs to Alberta,

Danny's friends and colleagues and positions of influence,

no energy plan,

net outmigration,

high unemployment,

giveaway of wind power resources - in part to the Government of Italy,

Persona and fibre optics,

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro hires Summa to lobby Ottawa on the Lower Churchill - including the employment of Timothy Powers - a strategist for the federal Conservatives - while Danny launches an ABC campaign,

Failure to release MOU with Hebron partners.

Keep your on the balls being juggled by Williams while he attempts to divert your attention with nationalistic heroism.

Who needs MP's or MHA's - Get a Lobbyist

Despite the ignorance of Ryan Cleary and those who continue to quote him - lobbyists have to be registered in Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada.

Danny wanted to get rid of the Gary Ansteys of the world so he said we will have the legislature enact "lobbyist" legislation. Apparently that fell short when Dean MacDonald was lobbying for provincial funds for the fibre optic deal nevertheless there is a registry for everybody else.

In either case - seeing how Ryan and flunkies want to lay cards on the table let's see who has been and who is a lobbyist. Working the front-rooms in the back-room trying to get their clients some leverage with governments one way or the other. These are the people who have government's ear.

Who are they? Well many of them are politico's who have sucked up to some leader or party and are deemed to have a "close" relationship with a PM or Premier. Others are just our politicians - retired - who can do more for people after they get out.

For instance back in the Liberal days:

Gary Anstey was federally registered as a lobbyist for:

Kruger
Voisey's Bay
Petro-Canada
FPI
Husky Oil
Hibernia Management and Development
Iron Ore Company
North Atlantic Refiningand the list goes on...

Based on what was accomplished and all the perks and giveaways the people say the Liberals did under Tobin/Grimes et al. he basically wrote the Liberal Policy Book.
And these guys want a chance to do that again. Remember there was no provincial lobbyist registry at that time.

Winston Baker (remember him?)

He was registered as a lobbyist because some company wanted to buy the Newfoundland Dockyard Corporation.

Or how about Ed Roberts ( you know our Lieutenant Governor)
Well he has lobbied on behalf of the St. John's Port Corporation and in the registry was listed as a lobbyist for Mel Woodward's company (Coastal Shipping) from 1997 - 2005.

Then there's our Brian (Tobin) who is up there now lobbying for Rogers. He also lobbied on behalf of SeaRay dealers (boats and yachts) to avoid any retaliation from the US during the softwood lumber dispute. Of course he was also the lobbyist for the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association. (Dean were you ever the head of that?)Brian - the so called Liberal with the really good Tory connections.

And John Crosbie - he lobbied for Texada land Corporation a real estate developer in BC. They bought up thousands of acres of land in an environmentally important area. Residents of the area were in the process of trying to preserve it when the purchase occurred. So I guess Texada needed a hand to sell the property to government - federal or provincial.

And this is just the tip of that iceberg. Where is John Fitzgerald - the fellow we pay to get things done in Ottawa. You know set up meetings etc. - what is he doing? dodging lobbyists?

This is how it works people - your MP's are useless - get a lobbyist. Apparently Tim Powers an unelected spin doctor is seen to have more influence with the Prime Minister than Loyola Hearn our Minister? What about our Minister of Energy - what about Kathy Dunderdale? Can you get a meeting or what? Any chance Dean MacDonald or Ed Martin can get in there?

And what is Tim exactly lobbying for? Does he know what the yet unreleased energy plan says?

This is just the federal scene. Let's really look at who is being paid to influence politicians.

When you try to take the feet out from under a citizen lobbying on behalf of people -unpaid - and in public - you should really remember who the real lobbyists are. You live in really big houses but they are made of glass.

The Amazing Persona and the Magic Hat

That always sounded like a magic act to me. And presto - now you see em now you don't.
I wonder if that's what happened to the Dean Macdonald "this is a local company" cable operator?

One thing for sure - this company with it's partners in the great "Newfoundland" fibre optic trek - apparently needed money to make the "second" line project viable.

The thing that bothers me most about this magic trick - is the company that ended up buying out the Amazing Persona.

Here's the News Release

What's up with this?

You see - if you think back and remember what was said regarding the contribution of public money to the fibre optic project - Macdonald and Williams along with Minister Taylor explained the money was needed because there were no other possible partners to go in on the deal. They had the only possible partners in the deal - so government money was needed.

Now let's be logical - East Link - Bragg Communications can afford to buy out the entirety of the Amazing Persona but what? Could not afford to be a partner in the fibre-optic project? I think not!

So what is the truth?

Where does this leave the Auditor General's review - considering a portion of it would be to review Persona's need for Government money?
Which companies are involved in the fibre-optic project now? Which one received government money? Is there an official consortium yet? Does it have a name?

The sale made the whole thing look more questionable to me - who will go after the answers?

Are MTS and Rogers still involved?
Will their interests in the project be bought out?
Did the government money help the sale potential of Persona?

Anybody remember the Fibre Optic Deal?

As the fibre optical illusion slips from our memory ROGERS reminds us once again why they don't need our 15 million dollars.

This is a paragraph from story in the Globe and Mail

Ted Rogers could be forgiven for enjoying a moment of schadenfreude as his company, cable operator Rogers Communications Inc., reported growing demand for all its services last year, leaving phone companies in the dust.

Revenue increased 14 per cent in the fourth quarter, driven by the addition of wireless, Internet, basic and digital cable, and phone customers, along with rate increases earlier in the year. For the full year, revenue rose 21 per cent.

Read the story and see if you can find one reason they need taxpayer dollars to build infrastructure.

Here's another piece of the story!

Rogers forecast that revenue this year will rise to between $9.7-billion and $10-billion from $8.84-billion in 2006. It expects an increase in 2007 operating profit to between $3.25-billion and $3.4-billion from $2.89-billion in 2006. And free cash flow is expected to jump to between $800-million and $1-billion in 2007 from $543-million last year.

If the Premier is upset at the oil companies looking for a handout via a tax break - what must he think of Rogers looking for provincial cash.

The Cable Guy...

The Cable Guy

Remember that movie? The creepy Cable Guy who wants people to like him and "no" is not an acceptable answer. Well I woke up this morning and I think the Cable Guy has arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Here were Ray Dillon - President of the Board of Trade - and employed by Rogers (cableco) and Ron Ellsworth St. John's City Councillor - and President of CableLync (cable serviceco) and sits on the Premier's Business Advisory Board - talking about tax hikes for taxpayers.

I rolled over and thought - my god - the Premier (past owner of Cable Atlantic cableco) sold to Rogers (cableco) with Ken Marshall moving from Cable Atlantic (cableco) to Rogers (cableco) and sitting on the Board of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. Then of course Dean MacDonald past partner with the Premier in Cable Atlantic (cableco) who then moved to Rogers (cableco) and now heads up Persona (cableco) and now Ken and Dean are getting the 15 million commitment from Danny for a new super (cableco) yet unnamed. Don't forget Dean is the Chair of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and Dean sits on the Premier's Business Advisory Board - with by the way Ron Ellsworth (cableco) and Paul Hatcher of Persona (cableco).

Now all of that was worrysome enough until I got to the computer and found a new buddy in the (cableco) network - none other than John Risley (FPI) infamy is making money down south from a group that came from the old Persona (cableco) now into let me see now Columbus Communications which owns Cable Bahamas Ltd. (cableco) - Carribean Crossings Ltd. (cableco)
Merit Communications Ltd. (cableco) - FibraLink Jamaica Ltd. - and the cable company of Trinidad and Tobago.

And who's with Risley on this venture - apparently George Armoyan and Risley bought into Persona Communications years back - then when Persona went to the Caribbean to expand some of the investors liked it others did not - the company was split and apparently the boys John and George bought up the Caribbean assets and we know who's involved in Persona back home. Who is on the Board of the Caribbean cable conglomerate?

John Risley - FPI and Clearwater - formerly a Board Member of Persona and currently on the Board of the cableco Caribbean conglomerate under Columbus Communications.

Brendon Paddick - past President CEO of Persona - formerly on the Board of FPI - currently CEO of the cableco Caribbean conglomerate.

Maxwell Parsons - past CFO of CHC Helicopter Corporation (Dobbin fame) and in the past held a senior position with Newfoundland Capital Corporation (VOCM and Steele connect)...This fellow Max also must know Mark Dobbin (CHC) because both sat on the Vector aerospace board Max as VP and CFO and Mark was Chairman and CEO. Mark also sits on the Premier's Business Advisory Board and did a stint at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. Not to be outdone as Max held a senior position with Newfoundland Capital Corporation he must know John Steele VP NewCap who also sits on the Premier's Business Advisory Board.

So the truth is we are being run by the Cable Guy and you'd better like him...he does not take no or rejection kindly.