Generally, I try not to rant more than once a
quarter. It is bad for business and bad for my health. I break the
rule this month! We are living in extraordinary political
times.
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| name="valign" top > MICHAEL ATKINS |
I am grumpy because I am really, really sick of
dishonest, self-dealing, mealy mouthed politicians and their
hangers on who are slowly bit by bit bringing this country down. I
don’t like being put in this position.
Politics is a noble calling. What the hell is
going on?
Last month I talked about Paul Martin, and his
politics of achievement and tax avoidance.
This month we learn about the fabulous Common
Sense Revolution and how it worked for senior players in our last
provincial Tory government.
As they laid off workers from the Ministry of
Natural Resources and the Ministry of the Environment, there was
another set of rules for Tory insiders who found ways to raid the
almost bankrupt Ontario Power Generation.
They didn’t think they would get caught because
they were on their way to privatizing it.
There is Paul Rhodes, former spokesman for Mike
Harris and communication director of the last Tory campaign,
collecting $335,237 in an
untendered $15,000-a-month consulting agreement
that, to be charitable, got them little to no advice worth paying
for.
There’s Michael Gourley, adviser to Ernie Eves
and former deputy finance minister, earning $105,000 in an
untendered contract ($40,000 in the first month) to provide a note
on the importance of privatization.
Companies he was associated with earned (I use
the term lightly) $3.7 million in fees. There’s Leslie Noble,
co-chair of the conservative election campaign, clocking in at a
quarter of a million and then of course the wonderful Tom Long,
politely known as a senior Conservative strategist, pulling down
(or at least his companies) $1.3 million.
Federally, before we even talk about the missing
hundred million, we have Jean Chretien’s hotel and golf courses in
Shawinigan, Paul Martin’s “oops I guess I did do more than $160
million worth of business with the government after all,” and Brian
Mulroney’s $300,000 consulting contract, which took place after the
PM retired, with Karlheinz Schreiber, the controversial
German-Canadian lobbyist.
After the former PM said he hardly ever met the
guy, Mike Harris and his cohorts raiding OPG and let’s not forget
Mel Lastman’s City of Toronto leasing policies into which there
continues to be a year long judicial inquiry.
The three largest governments that to do business
in this province, (the federal, the provincial and the City of
Toronto governments) have got some explaining to do.
It’s a wonder we don’t have to pay bribes at the
counter to get a driver’s licence.
If the ordinary folk in this country took their
cue from some of their leaders, we’d be in a jurisdiction that
would make Nigeria look like student government.
What I don’t understand is why do these people
think it is all right to skulk around and fix themselves up at
public expense.
Why do they feel entitled to take what they can
get their hands on because they can?
How did they get to the top, and then fall into
the muck. I doubt very much they got into politics to get an
untendered contract somewhere. They started with a belief, or at
minimum, a career interest.
Judging from the minimal comment we are getting
from them, they still think this stuff is just fine.
We could write another 10 books on this material.
Just follow the donations to political parties in this province
over the last 20 years and it would tell a story that would make
the hair rise on the back of your neck.
For starters, track who bought land from either
the federal or provincial government in the last 10 years.
We must amend the laws of Ontario to restrict
donations to political parties in the same way it has been done in
Quebec and now the federal government. If we want to reduce
corruption, we have to pay the price to keep it clean.
Dalton McGuinty, when I ask him, (now three times
in the last year), says he agrees, but I never hear him talk about
it. It is a great policy initiative for a guy with a big deficit.
It won’t cost much at all.
The reality, however, is that if our culture is
approving this kind of nonsense by looking the other way in
disinterest, no laws will save us from ourselves.
We have a problem. It is not one level of
government. It is not one political party. We have a pervasive
abuse of the public trust in this province and this country, and it
won’t stop until the people of this country say they have had
enough.
The arrival of a new mayor in Toronto is
encouraging.
Let’s see what the rest of us have to say.
Michael Atkins is president of Northern Life. He
can be reached at [email protected].
