*updated* This one is for Dermod: When is arms length decision making, not?

Posted on by Laila

Of all the valued friends or colleagues I’ve had who have passed on in recent years, Dermod was the one I could never find words for, after he passed. I think its because I have never met anyone else like him, and probably never will. He had an exquisite mind and it worked in such a way that marvelled many. He would send me something with no explanation whatsoever, and know that I would know exactly what it was about…and I could do the same to him. He was like that with most of his closest colleagues and friends i think.

He remembered everything and forgot nothing. His heart was big and sensitive and not everyone got to see that, but as a female friend perhaps I got to see that more than some. His loss leaves a space in my world and I know others share this feeling in theirs.

Sometimes we know much someone means but the exact impact isnt felt until they are no longer there, a sentiment many feel still about Dermod. His capacity for empathy seen in so much of his work, for Tibetans, to untold stories, and in the personal sharing of the Dalai Lama’s wisdom of insects, on a photo of a bumblebee I had saved by offering water.

He was delightfully awkward sometimes, but Dermod was dangerously sharp and ruthless when it came to matters of justice and integrity, and many feared falling under his scrutiny. He was a man not to be underestimated and never lauded his achievements, many go unrecognized still. He was unique in his ability to see connections and pull on threads fine enough no one else could see, and build something solid with it. I still find myself coming across something and thinking ” Ack I have to show this to Dermod…” and then the magnitude of the space left by his absence hits all over again. Because often he was the only person who would ‘get it..

I know there were quite a few who did not shed a tear when he passed. He wouldn’t have cared. He held every politician to account regardless of leaning and it made many angry. Thankfully, much of his work lives on for reference on the Integrity BC facebook page. I went through some of it today to bring you the sideshow below, but there is so much more.

I think he’d be smiling to see these particular posts circulated again. You can share directly from Facebook by searching Rich Coleman directly on the Integrity BC page here: https://m.facebook.com/IntegrityBritishColumbia/

Now onto the rest of this post, made possible by Dermods past work. It’s not unusual for different people from government and corporations to mingle at events – it’s how its always been done. But it is notable when a minister who must maintain an arms length from those directly with a vested interest in the decisions made, is repeatedly seen socializing with the Executive Vice President for stakeholder relations and responsible gaming of a casino company currently under examination.

BTW, its also interesting to see the massive amounts of shares sold by Keeling in the last year, along with others who have all but liquidated their stocks in the last year.

Two directors sold shares on the last day of the year, a common tax loss strategy often used to offset capital gains.

Rodney Baker sold almost a million shares in one transaction worth over $51 million.

Terrance Michael Doyle sold a block of shares valued over $7 million on the same day.

Now, that could have been done with the intent to mitigate financial damage elsewhere, but it could also be because of the Cullen Commission underway. Either way, its interesting.

https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/TSE/GC/insider-trades/

** update 8 pm. In a twist, just hours after posting about the insider trading sell-off of stocks above , Great Canadian Gaming announced it had sold itself to a Wall Street Distressed Assets specialist who will help the company recover 🤣 ( nothing like taking the money and running) https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/great-canadian-gaming-corporation-enters-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-funds-managed-by-affiliates-of-apollo-global-management-for-c-39-00-per-share-829561274.html

This one is for you Dermod. I miss you.

p.s: I noticed some posts are missing from Rich Colemans official Facebook page. The header photo is one of them. 😉 Thank goodness Integrity BC had a screenshot!

13 thoughts on “*updated* This one is for Dermod: When is arms length decision making, not?”

  2. I think you read wrong?

    Keeling dumped a lot over the last year going back into summer 2019.

    Two director dumped almost $60 million between their two transactions on the last day of 2019. Likely a tax loss strategy bit considering the Cullen Commission its worth looking at all these transactions imo.

    Yeah, his mind was a thing of awe. 😪 A huge loss for #bcpoli and for what’s right and ethical in this province

    Like

    1. That would have been something to see RossK. BC owes a lot to both, whether people realize it or not. The sheer bulk and depth of their work is really astounding.

      This is also how I know we are all getting up there too…we are old enough to know some these ‘new’ revelations actually go back to when some of the youngsters in #bcpoli were in highschool 🤣

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  8. First of all, Dermod leaves a massive hole in reporting political matters in BC; as he was concise and fact checked, something our mainstream media is loath to do.

    The problem as I see it is massive corruption in our political parties and the influence of professional criminals in our political system.

    Years ago my Aunt (well third cousin but with a family that can hold a reunion in a broom closet, the differences meld), who was married to Don Cromie, the former owner and publisher of the Vancouver Sun, told me the Gordon Campbell would usher in a whole new era of corruption in the province as the man believed government was a tool to enrich friends and nothing more.

    His tenure as premier brought in a new and more sinister form of corruption which still lingers in Victoria to this day. I won’t touch on BC Rail, BC Ferries, the Canada Line and that was making revenue off Casinos. He and the BC Liberals decided to make money off of money laundering and thus the Vancouver Model of Money laundering was born.

    To keep everyone on board, they had to make money and lots of it, so it comes as no surprise that.

    Added to this, the stock market and trading stocks is one of the biggest scams in today’s economy and with so many government agencies (pension funds etc) so tied to this scam that they are powerless to rid the system of professional criminals, lest the economy crashes.

    This story has never received the ink it should.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/finders-keepers-pays-off-for-vancouver-cop-1.184805

    Vancouver cop finds $1 million in a backpack at Clinton park in Vancouver and after much due diligence by the Van. Police,and the RCMP, went to court and won the right to keep the money as he was off duty at the time.

    I do know a former senior VPD official and at an event around 2010, after a few beers, asked him what the real story was.

    It wasn’t drug money.
    It wasn’t kidnapping money.
    It wasn’t lost money.
    The officer who found the money was put under a microscope and there was absolutely no malfeasance to be found.

    The only thing left was bribe money.

    Bribe money for who? The mainstream media would not ask and the Attorney General of the day did not want to investigate.

    Makes one go Hmmmm.

    By the way, if it were not for the CBC, this story would be scrubbed from the internet.

    We can now trace corruption in the province to early 1999 and then there was Bingogate, which caused Premier Harcourt his job.

    Here we have it, corruption, plain and simple, the problem is corruptions vast tentacles reach almost everywhere in BC.

    Who is NOT afraid to bell the cat?

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