Prime Minister Jean Chretien's involvement
with the BDC's $615,000 loan |
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Nipawin - December 12, 2000 - by: Mario deSantis | |
personally intervened |
As we have mentioned in our previous articles, we find our truths of our own behaviour by |
finding patterns and relationships of our own experiences or events. The doling of money | |
by the Chretien's government and the related auditing by the Auditor General(1), has put | |
some light on the need to restore integral values in our governmental administration(2). | |
There have been accusations by the opposing political leaders, that Chretien's behaviour was | |
unethical when he personally intervened for the granting of a $615,000 loan by the Business | |
Bank of Canada (BDC) to the Grand Mere Inn owned by Yvon Duhaime. We have also | |
found out by a governmental official that in 1997, Chretien personally approved a HRDC | |
grant for $600,000 to the Auberge des Gouverneurs hotel in Shawinigan(3) owned by Pierre | |
Thibault, a self confessed criminal. Today, we are going to provide some additional wheeling | |
dealings of Chretien's friends. | |
Chretien's friend Mr. Claude Gauthier | |
Claude Gauthier |
In March 1998, some $1.2 million in grant money from the Human Resources Department |
was paid into a trust fund for eventual disbursement to Placeteco, a plastics manufacturer | |
owned by Chretien's friend Claude Gauthier. The deal violates department spending rules | |
and the HRDC job grant was provided even though Placeteco was before bankruptcy court | |
at the time and was ineligible for the money. Placeteco was later under RCMP investigation | |
over allegations that the cash went to cover a bank loan rather than to create jobs. This Claude | |
Gauthier, is the same Gauthier who in 1997 got a $6.3 million contract from the Canadian | |
International Development Agency for his company Transelec. And, I forgot to say that | |
this same Gauthier who in 1996 bought a parcel of land adjacent to Chretien's golf course, | |
also received a $600,000 grant(4), possibly to create additional amenities for Chretien's | |
golf course. | |
Chretien sells his golf course in October 1999 | |
Louis |
Chretien's golf course shares were finally sold in October 1999 to a new buyer, millionaire |
pharmacy owner Louis Michaud of Montreal. Chretien's share in the golf course were sold | |
after millions of dollars of governmental disbursed funds had been spent to increase the | |
surrounding private amenities of the course. | |
Chretien's friends: the Shawinigan pair PÈpin & Lemire Co | |
Mr. Pepin |
Mr. Mario Pepin and Mr. Paul Lemire, two businessmen in Mr. Chretien's riding of St. |
Maurice, have been charged of theft and fraud by the RCMP. Mr. Pepin is a veteran Liberal | |
organizer and supporter of Mr. Chretien in St. Maurice, while Mr. Lemire is also a long-time | |
supporter of the Prime Minister and accompanied Mr. Chretien on a trade mission to Asia in | |
1996. The business pair have since 1995 used up to $300,000 of federal grant money to cover | |
personal expenses such as restaurant meals while they ran Groupe Forces. | |
Group |
We recall that Groupe Forces was an investing partner in Mr. Duhaime's hotel expansion. In |
addition, Mr. Pepin and Mr. Lemire were charged with theft and fraud last July for allegedly | |
misusing $150,000 in federal job creation money that was awarded to the Canadian Institute | |
of Tourism and Electronic Commerce (CITEC). Mr. Pepin and Paul Lemire used their | |
positions at Groupe Forces to create the defunct CITEC, which itself had received $7-million | |
in HRDC money before it went out of business this fall. Group Forces was created as an | |
umbrella company to spur economic development, and this company received some $4-million | |
from different federal organizations. And Groupe Forces won an Industry Canada contest last | |
spring designed to promote "smart communities," or projects that expand the use of the Internet. | |
Industry Canada |
One must wonder what kind of criteria Industry Canada uses for recognizing our best |
communities of business practice. Mr. Pepin and Mr. Lemire used their executive positions | |
with Group Forces to create more companies for the purpose to pocket governmental money | |
rather than create new jobs. Besides CITEC, Lemire and Pepin created ARC Inc. supported | |
solely by federal government grants. We don't know much about the kind of relationship the | |
Shawinigan pair entertained with Industry Canada, what we know is that Mr. Lemire had | |
previous relationships with the RCMP and Revenue Canada, respectively for fraud and tax | |
evasion(5). However, we know that Industry Canada has recently suspended a $277,000 grant | |
directed to ARC. Inc. as the Shawinigan pair were getting closer to Jean Chretien's entourage. | |
------------References/endnotes: | |
List of relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign | |
The author can provide specific references of the cited events in the Grand-MËre's affair. He also acknowledges the following news organizations: National Post, Canadian Internet Network, The Ottawa Citizen, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Press. The author read articles written by Robert Fife, Andrew McIntosh, JoÎl-Denis Bellavance, Peter Shawn Taylor, Andrew Coyne, Gordon Gibson, David Frum, and Diane Francis of the National Post; Paul Adams and Daniel LeBlanc of The Globe and Mail; Lawrence Martin and Kate Jaimet of The Ottawa Citizen. | |
2000 Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 2 - Human Resources Development Canada - Service Quality at the Local Level, | |
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2000 Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 12 - Values and Ethics in the Federal Public Sector | |
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Shawnigan is the home town of Mr. Jean Chretien | |
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Scandal industry gives PM an easy ride, David Frum, December 9, 2000, National Post | |
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Crown weighs more charges in PM's riding. Fate of long-time ChrÈtien supporters hangs in the balance, Kate Jaimet, November 24, 2000, The Ottawa Citizen |