March 22,2010

By JASON HEWLETT
Daily News Staff Reporter

The head of Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. says he knows nothing about a Facebook message implying the B.C. Liberal government is helping his company move a controversial gasifier elsewhere.

ACC president Kim Sigurdson said Sunday he’s never received a message from the supposed author, Interior Science and Innovation Council executive director Bill McQuarrie, via Facebook or any other medium.

He also denied the message’s claim that the province is helping him find a new home for the gasifier, saying no promises have been made.

“I’ve never received any letter like that from Bill. That letter, I’ve never seen,” he said, adding he’s had a Facebook account for years but never uses it.

He said ACC abandoned the Kamloops project at Mission Flats due to public opposition. The company has all the permits needed to operate.

The message was circulated by permit appellant Ruth Madsen after it was posted on McQuarrie’s Facebook page for about two hours Thursday.

The posting was addressed to “Kim” and talks about the next steps for Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp.’s proposal for a gasifier. The text implies Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake told McQuarrie a gasification permit would be approved elsewhere as long as it isn’t in the Fraser Valley.

It also makes reference to a press release hours before Sigurdson announced in a release that ACC was pulling out of Kamloops.

McQuarrie could not be reached for comment Sunday. He told The Daily News last week he didn’t post the message and that he doesn’t use Facebook for business purposes.

ISIC worked with ACC in locating the project in Kamloops.

Jason Wassing, the previous owner of Sweetwater Web Media in Kamloops, specialized in website design and maintenance. He said it is possible for someone to hack a web user’s username and password and hijack his or her webpage.

That is done with Malware: software designed for infiltrating a computer system without the owner’s consent. Wassing said this practice is becoming common on social network sites like Facebook and online video games like World of Warcraft.

“That would be my immediate thought, that someone got hold of his username and password,” he said. It’s also possible McQuarrie left his account open on a computer and someone sat down at his terminal and posted the note, he added.

Wassing, who knows McQuarrie through the Internet industry, believes it is unlikely McQuarrie accidentally posted the message via a cellphone or BlackBerry, as this is hard to do, he said.

jheweltt@kamloopsnews.ca