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The phenomena of entrepreneurs going well beyond their limits has become almost a normal thing in business during the past decade. British Columbia's Scalbanian and Alberta's Pockington adventures not only saw the lending institutions take a bit of hit, but both provinces suffered serious losses with these and other flamboyant business gamblers. In Michael Shamray's case, the province of Manitoba may have gotten off lucky with losing as little as $7,000,000, but the over all cost to the people of the province and the hardship of those who had depended upon these businesses for their livelihood, will be much more difficult to assess and may not be just a matter of dollars.

It is important to point out that the entrepreneurs mentioned here seem not to have been directly or deliberately involved in fraud or illegal behaviour, as was the case with BREX, but rather these individuals set out to build financial empires that in one way or another, went off the rails. The illustration at the top of the first page is take from TSG's beautiful brochure and it is interesting to reflect on what the brochure says about trust:

Taken for granted when present, but most valued when absent, it is our integrity that is our most protected asset. At TSG our integrity begins with our word which, in turn, is supported by an unwavering commitment to action - action that upholds our promises and adds to our hard earned reputation of excellence.

The four hundred skilled workers at Schmidtke Millworks will take little comfort from the pronouncement of trust as they have no work to go to today and their last pay cheque was worthless. However, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Saturday that there were businesses very interested in purchasing Schmidtke and some of the other components of Shamray's business domain, because the odd thing about this situation, was that all of these businesses were extremely successful, with orders for products and a steady cash flow. Some business analysts have suggested that Shamray was a victim of his own to rapid expansion, while at the same time TSG was about to purchase several other companies during this month.