News for Youse: Sears closure predicted, robocalls reviewed, and premier asks teachers to work

This morning, people have woken up to the news that Sears will be leaving its location at the corner of Robson and Granville streets.

But signs of trouble were there for quite some time. In Kreskin-like fashion, Vancouver retail consultant Phil Bonhame predicted the departure in an interview with the Straight last fall.

Speaking of the intersection of Robson and Granville, Bonhame declared: "The southwest corner is ripe for redevelopment. So is the southeast corner. Sears will not be there, within my opinion, in five years."

Bonhame, who wrote a big, bulky report on Granville Street for the city many years ago, said that the sales-per-square-foot ratio at Sears wasn't nearly high enough to justify the lease rates.

Another sign of trouble? Nearly two years ago, the Straight reported that Sears had filed an appeal to the Property Assessment Appeal Board to try to get its assessment reduced, which would lower its property taxes. While that was not necessarily an indication that the store was going kaput, it suggests that the company was concerned about the cost of its downtown outlet.

The big winner is the Hudson's Bay Company and its high-profile president, Bonnie Brooks. The Bay reported its highest quarterly sales in history in the fall quarter of 2011. Not bad for a former editor-in-chief of Flare magazine.

Meanwhile in the political world, the Conservatives and the CBC have come up with wildly different versions of what's now taking place at a call centre in Thunder Bay.

CBC has reported that the Conservative Party is reviewing tapes of every call made by the Responsive Marketing Group in advance of the arrival of Elections Canada investigators.

The Conservatives, on other hand, deny they're reviewing the tapes. Of course, if they're not reviewing tapes, they will be in no position to destroy any evidence, will they? So who are you going to believe: the Conservative party or the CBC?

This scandal is becoming more like Watergate every day. The next thing you know, there's going to be 18-and-a-half minutes of missing tape, and the prime minister will be pinning the blame on some secretary.

In a strange twist, the kings of the smear campaign, the Conservatives, are now claiming that they're somehow being persecuted. Liberal Leader Bob Rae wryly noted: "The prime minister and his colleagues have remarkable ability to turn themselves into victims."

Enough of robocalls. I'm sure there will be lots more to report on this in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the biggest provincial story is the Liberals' plan to legislate teachers back to work.

This afternoon, kids will be leaving classes and heading down to the Vancouver Art Gallery to hold a demonstration in favour of the teachers. On Monday, the teachers begin provincewide strike action. And NDP MLAs will be filibustering in 30-minute increments to delay passage of Bill 22, known as the Education Improvement Act.

It might as well be called the "Fine the Shit Out of Teachers Act", given that it includes penalties of "not less than $1.3 million for each day" if the B.C. Teachers' Federation violates a section requiring its members to return to work. Individual teachers will be dinged $475 a day.

Premier Christy Clark has asked teachers to forgo job action because they're just going to be ordered back to work anyway. I'm surprised the BCTF hasn't replied by asking Clark to forgo bringing in any more legislation because she's just going to get creamed in the next election. Given recent opinion polls, the only remaining question is if Clark herself will be reelected to the legislature.

There's a rumour that former NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton might take the bullet in Clark's constituency of Vancouver–Point Grey. This would free up the premier to run in a safer seat, such as Vancouver-Langara or Vancouver-Quilchena. But that would require sitting backbenchers Dr. Moira Stilwell or Colin Hansen not to run for reelection.

So far, there has been no indication that they're going to throw their careers on the bonfire just so Clark can become an opposition MLA.

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.