A gravy train that has helped maintain many
retired Ontario premiers in their comfy Florida condos is no longer
providing an easy ride, and some must feel wary of stepping on
board.
 |
| name="valign" top > ERIC DOWD |
Ex-premiers have long accepted well-paying posts
as directors of wealthy corporations to keep their heads above the
poverty line. However, these positions usually come with strings
attached.
Former Progressive Conservative premier, William
Davis, has resigned from the boards of two companies dominated by
auto parts manufacturer Frank Stronach, citing personal and health
reasons, while they explained he wants “less corporate
involvement.”
But anyone who knows Davis has been waiting for
this other shoe to drop since he supported Frank’s daughter for
leader of the new Conservative
Party of Canada.
Belinda Stronach was awkward and wooden. She
could not answer key questions, including whether she would have
sent Canadian troops to Iraq.
She is not the same shade of Tory as Davis — more
to the right, while Davis is to the left.
She could not speak French, while Davis’s
inability to speak French was among the reasons he would not run
for federal leader when he was under huge pressure in the
1980s.
Davis also believed politicians should work their
way up and almost never gave a cabinet post to anyone who had not
served an apprenticeship on his back benches.
An exception was when he appointed his friend
from university days, Roy McMurtry, attorney general. But McMurtry
had been a noted trial lawyer and turned out a dominating attorney
general and, more recently, an activist and progressive chief
justice of Ontario.
Davis would never have freely endorsed Belinda
Stronach for leader, but must have felt he had no choice, because
her family’s companies paid him highly.
Davis was not seen lobbying for Stronach in her
optimistic, losing venture.
On the other hand, Mike Harris was. This former
Tory premier was on a Stronach board, closer to her philosophically
and probably needed the money more.
But Davis must have been embarrassed, and
concluded he could no longer be in a position where he had to give
support, even lukewarm, to a candidate because her family paid
him.
David Peterson, the former Liberal premier, has
had more than his share of problems over directorships. Last year,
he was criticized by an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)
disciplinary panel.
Peterson had become a director of a high-tech
company, YBM Magnex International Inc., incorporated in Canada but
with headquarters in the United States. Police there suspected the
company was linked to organized crime.
The company raised $50 million through a stock
issue and then collapsed. Its shares became worthless, and the OSC
claimed Peterson was aware of the police suspicion beforehand, but
failed to make it public.
Peterson countered he tried aggressively to find
if the company had organized crime ties and was told this was only
an unconfirmed rumour.
Peterson chaired a high-tech company, Microforum
Inc., but resigned after a departing chief financial officer
accused its chief executive and largest shareholder of
mismanagement, and it was revealed he had been convicted of
fraud.
Peterson also chaired the board of giant book
retailer Chapters Inc. when small booksellers complained it sold at
cut-throat prices and forced them out of business.
The federal Competition Bureau said it had
concerns about Chapters, which damaged Peterson’s party because it
claims it helps small business.
The OSC is trying to draw up guidelines on
qualifications people should have to serve on company boards, so
the future may not be as bright for former premiers who want to
cash in.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s
Park press gallery.
