BC Experiences a Boomtime for Threats & Lawsuits

Interesting comments about what's happening over the ICBC scandal. It's totally dropped off the radar of the mainstream media. There are no less than 5 investigations into conduct. These comments from BC Mary's Legislature Raids are quite informative. One might speculate about whether individuals involved in Organized Crime have been able to get in on some of the ICBC stuff, since high end SUV's & trucks are the vehicles of choice for a lot of them. You see them driving around. It's pretty noticeable in certain areas. Organized crime is everywhere in BC, most people have no idea how extensive their reach us and how "legit" many of them present.

Express Collision Shop Said,

Speaking of organized crime. Whistleblowers have it tough in BC. I just got off the phone with a friend and lawsuits and threats are rampant in the past few weeks. It seems that these threats are all being made to the whistleblowers and trade association that are helping expose this ICBC mess. The RCMP, media, lawyer's and the Competition Bureau have been notified of all threats.

The investigation has found that this mess is getting larger by the day. Many of the vehicles that were talked about being high end SUV's and trucks and sports cars maybe the tip of the iceberg. There are some really nice vintage, antique, classic cars under investigation now. Were not talking about $40-$70 thousand dollar vehicles here, these are worth a hell of a lot more than that. "Zero Tolerance For Fraud.
****
Another interesting thing is I know of other lawsuits being filed against folks for blowing the whistle on various bad things happening in other sectors. Also a lot of intimidation, coercion and other nasty stuff. I know some of the media involved are also having legal action taken against them, but that may be karma, since some of them have allegedly violated sources who came forward in good faith. It also might be the case that the police authorities are advising the media to stop reporting on certain cases, there is a lot of information making it into the public domain these days when citizens are making comments, things that often should be getting reported to the investigating police.

At this stage of the game, I would advise anyone of thinking of going to the media not to do it, there is absolutely no certainty over who is trustworthy these days and I include anyone related to the NDP in that. They know a lot of stuff they are not bringing forward, they pick & choose what fits their agenda. If people have any direct involvement, or evidence about anything, go to the police investigating complaints, or in some cases, initiate your own police complaint.

As many whistleblowers learn the hard way, when they start making waves internally, asking questions, or have too much knowledge about what's happening within certain organizations, they're in for a rough ride and character assassination & defamation of character are part of the offenders' modus operandi (m.o.). This reinforces silence and fear amongst other staff. Those are the simplest reasons why so many of these corrupt organizations continue with these heinous and often illegal practices for so many years. Workers who know, or stumble on the truth, are afraid to speak up and when they do, they and their families are the ones who suffer, while the "bad guys" continue on their merry way, often being promoted and continuing to prosper and take advantage of insider privilege. This in itself also convinces some "good" people that its the path of least resistance to start getting in on the action, thus continuing to reinforce the organizational dysfunction and sometimes criminal activities taking place within. Most people aren't in a position where they can be fired and out of a job with one day's notice. And that happens more than most people know. And the employers' often just get away with it all. If you're a unionized worker in BC, Employment Standards are not in force for you. Many people don't know that. It's part of the Liberal changes. CCPA wrote a great report on that, called Negotiating Without a Floor.
And, the Labour Relations Board contains Liberal appointees from both employer and labour sides. The LRB will use their authority to get around taking direct complaints from unionized workers as well. And, its' really unclear how successful harassment complaints are at arbitration, many unions won't even let those get to that point, some won't even let their own workers file harassment and discrimination complaints.
****
But, How Bad Is the Record has some other thoughts on his blog:

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Whistleblower Threats

There is a very interesting developement on BC Marys' blogsite The Legislature Raids about how whistleblowers from some quarters in the ICBC Scandal have been threatened. A person who calls themself Express Collision Shop has reported the threats. He goes on to say that the police have been made aware of these threats.

Now I don't know about the rest of you folks, but I know that threats to anyone for any reason is a criminal offense. And if the RCMP are aware of this, and it is true, it should be reported to the public. I personally have no doubt that what this person says is true. They have been reporting on this case from the get-go and have been quite accurate in what they are reporting. Get the mainstream media on it NOW. This is outrageous.