XPost: bc.politics, vic.general, van.general   
   From: ConsRcons@cda.ca   
      
   15 Mar, 2013   
      
   B.C. Premier Christy Clark pushed for Bollywood awards show before May   
   election: report   
      
      
      
   Nobody should be surprised because this has become the Christy Clark   
   government's modus operendi in British Columbia.   
      
   But it appears the governing Liberals were playing politics with regard   
   to holding a Bollywood awards show in Vancouver.   
      
   According to a story in the Globe and Mail, a team led by Clark was in   
   negotiations to bring the International Film Academy Awards (IIFA) to   
   British Columbia for $15 million — IIFA was held in Toronto in 2011.   
      
   But there was a glitch. The IIFA were in June while a provincial   
   election was scheduled for May.   
      
   Sabbas Joseph, a spokesman for the International Indian Film Academy   
   Awards, said provincial government officials made a “request that was   
   almost a demand” that the glitzy awards take place ahead of the   
   provincial election scheduled for May 14.   
      
   When [organizers] held firm that the International Indian date would not   
   change, he said “that’s when the funding fell. And then from a high   
   level of interest, it became a low level of interest … It was apparent   
   that they wanted us to reject it.”   
      
   Instead, the Liberals went with the less prestigious Times of India Film   
   Awards, which will be staged at Vancouver's B.C. Place on April 6. Those   
   awards will cost taxpayers $11 million.   
      
   The story reeks of a flailing government that is desperate for votes.   
      
   It comes on the heels a damning report which indicated that the Liberal   
   Party misused government resources as part of a comprehensive ethnic   
   outreach plan.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)