Tobinism |
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Nipawin - February 10, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis | |
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"In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous" |
--Publius Cornelius Tacitus(1) |
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broke his |
It was last October that I came across the term "Tobinism" succinctly defined by Pierre |
Bourque as the art of our politicians to speak out and lie to the listeners(2). At that time, | |
Brian Tobin broke his promise to serve as the premier of Newfoundland and entered | |
federal politics after being invited by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. | |
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ethical |
Today, we have another display of Tobinism by Industry Minister Brian Tobin as Ethics |
Counsellor Howard Wilson has been proposing additional Rules of Law related to the | |
ethics guidelines of our ministers(3). Wilson's proposed additional ethical rules have been | |
prompted as a consequence of Jean Chrétien's alleged impropriety in arranging a federal | |
loan for his criminal friend Yvone Duhaime(4), owner of the near bankrupt Grand-Mère Inn. | |
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conflict |
Jean Chrétien's improprieties for arranging this loan have been raised in Parliament by the |
Opposition, and the matter of the timing of the sale of Chrétien's golf shares has surfaced | |
all over again to haunt the Prime Minister. The golf course is adjacent to the Grand-Mère Inn, | |
in Chrétien's hometown of Shawinigan, and the Opposition has been charging the Prime | |
Minister of being in conflict of interest when he personally participated to the arranging of | |
the above loan since at that time Jean Chrétien still owned share of the golf course. | |
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no trusteeship |
But Brian Tobin has come to the defense of the Prime Minister saying that Jean Chrétien |
didn't know he owned the golf shares because such shares were kept in a blind trust. | |
Howard Wilson has then responded that Brian Tobin was not correct and that there was | |
no such a blind trust. Subsequently, Tobin corrected himself saying that the golf shares | |
were not placed in a blind trust because they were sold before Mr. Chrétien became Prime | |
Minister. Again, Mr. Wilson had to correct Mr. Tobin and said there was no trusteeship of | |
any kind involved. | |
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vicious |
The morale of the story is that we try to fight the Tobinism of our politicians with additional |
Rules of Law, and in the process we lose our freedom, and as we lose our freedom so our | |
politicians arrange for more additional Rules of Law. It's a vicious circle. When are we | |
going to break it? | |
------------References/endnotes: | |
List of relevant political and economics articles http://ensign.ftlcomm.com | |
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman Historian 55~117 AD | |
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DAUPHIN" TOBINISMS, Note by Pierre Bourque, October 16, 2001 http://www.bourque.org/pb.html | |
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PM shouldn't set ethics rules, opposition says, CAMPBELL CLARK, February 10, 2001, The Globe and Mail, | |
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We must obey the Rule of Law but not trust luminary lawyer Jean Chrétien, by Mario deSantis, February 8, 2001 |