I write a little and have had some success. I am also a “first reader” for some familiar names. That means I help vet a novel before it is submitted to the publisher. If anyone sent me the following scenario I would laugh in their face.
A small businessman in a quite and relatively poor province of a major nation turns his bus company into a major energy player. He buys media outlets and transportation companies. He finally ends up owning a controlling shares of a major international oil company and a large international bank. During this time he makes friends with the prominent political leaders of the time and uses them to give entrance into the halls of government to his protégé’s. He marries his son to the daughter of the National leader…thus insuring that Leader’s family a piece of fantastic wealth. A bribe worthy of kings and counts.As those protégé’s rise in the halls of government this businessman allows the best of his protégé’s to purchase one of his transportation companies at a bargain. That particular protégé then amends the law of the country to close offshore tax evasions…except for his company. His oil company use his bank to skim millions off a sweetheart deal with a demonic dictator. His son’s father-in-law and his best protégé look the other way; that both of them also stand to gain indirectly is never exposed by the media.
Why? Because this formerly small businessman either owns, or has protégé’s running, the majority of that nations major media outlets. Furthermore, his son’s father-in-law and his Best Protégé...now the Finance Minister…have set up a deal where their political party use government funds to pay for the campaigns of the party faithful.
There is literally no one to stop the corruption. The media and the lawmakers are all beholden to this former small businessman.
Who can stop them? Perhaps a small band of civilians using the internet? Only time will tell!
The sad thing is that this is all true. The businessman is Paul Desmarais, his Company is Power Corp, his Best protégé is Paul Martin who owns Canada Steamship Lines. Martin and a partner bought CSL for the absurd price of $C180M. Canada Steamship Lines gets a special tax break from their Barbados connection. Desmarais owns a controlling share of TotalFinaElf and of BNP Paribas, both of which are tainted by the Oil for Food Scandal. Desmarais’ daughter married the son of Chrétien.
Canada’s Liberal Party has been giving grants to advertising companies, most of whom are from Quebec and who have also worked for MP’s supported by Desmarais, which siphoned off better than $C100M to various campaigns and causes.
Can the Canadian bloggosphere bring justice here? I don’t know, it seems that many of them, such as this one, seem to think they are the press. They observe the Ban on speaking of the current Gormery Commission investigation. Does this mean that they, like the majority of the Canadian Press, will turn a blind eye towards the unseemly at best influence of Desmarais?
Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, interested parties should read Small Dead Animals for some of the comments are devastating and make one wonder how the hell this has gone on for so long in Canada.
“and make one wonder how the hell this has gone on for so long in Canada” ———The answer is in mainstream Canadian media. Owned corporately (incestuous TV, newpapers and radio conglomerates) they are and have been left leaning and Liberal govermnet “Lickspittle” for decades. The CBC is government force funded by taxpayers and a mouthpiece of all things left wing. Sadly we do not have the likes of a FOX News version in Canada or this corruption would have been oncovered ten years ago.
While I don’t exactly think of myself as “press” per se, I do believe that if bloggers want to be given the same respect afforded to the MSM, we should respect the laws and rules that govern them, i.e. checking facts (except for CBS, of course), obeying the law, etc. I decided to check the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms today, and found that in this specific circumstance, it contradicts itself.
Section 2(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication
Okay, so that means we have the right to publish Gomery testimony. Except…
Section 13: A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence
So where does that leave us?
Right Girl,
If I were the Liberal Party I’d be screaming for the ban to be lifted. Right now the only coverage is from rightwing American sources. The Asper family must be beside themselves because they can’t spin this.
Good article regarding Paul Desmarais – but one correction – it is Desmarais son that is married to John Chretien’s daughter whose name is France. Chretien also appointed her to the bid committee of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC. You missed that an employee of Desmarais for many years is one Maurice Strong – check him out – he wrote the Kyoto Accord and has been appointed as the Special Envoy for Kofi Annan at the U.N. – It just gets deeper …
Being south of the border, I read about this scandal and draw parallels to Bush Cheney et al.
Except that it is so integrated into the political system that nobody does anything about it.
Someday, some way, the US will have its Watergate II, probably bigger than this level of chaos..
Ontario… Wake Up!
This scandal will just get bigger and bigger. It’s like a big soap opera. A small businessman in a quite and relatively poor province of a major nation turns his bus company into a major energy player. He buys media…
I’m a Canadian and never new that so much was going on around me. Thanks to my friend Howard Galganov, who has quite an an archive on what has been going on, the last number of years, or I’d be none the wiser. We have so many monopolies
in this Province of Quebec that it’s sickening. The most important issue is the language one. Howard has written and
spoken on this issue and it just goes on as if the Quebec Gov’t was operating the province as a seperate country andthey are always first at the trough to get hand outs from the Canadian Gov’t. What a farce. And like lambs we all accept
and follow in their actions.
WOW WOW WOW
The BAN has been lifted ! People who voted Liberal are either bastards 
! or stupid 
You choose
!!