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"We" are not amused about Chretien's royal honour
By Licia Corbella, Calgary HeraldJuly 18, 2009
We are not amused! By using the royal "we" I really mean I am not amused and I want Queen Elizabeth to know it.
On Monday, Good Queen Bess proved she is indeed a very foreign monarch and out of touch with her colonies by appointing former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien to the Order of Merit, an honour that is limited to a maximum of 24 living people at any one time. As the National Post asked in an editorial Wednesday, "Is Chretien really one of the 24 most meritorious humans on Earth?"
The Queen should, but may not, know that Chretien was the finance minister back in the Trudeau years and was responsible for leaving this country with the largest deficit by far in the history of Canada in terms of percentage of GDP, and he increased the country's debt by 1,100 per cent, something we are still digging out of. Even Chretien later admitted that he and Pierre Trudeau left Canada's "cupboard bare." That he stopped running deficits while PM was largely thanks to his Finance Minister, Paul Martin, and the hard economic slogging done by Brian Mulroney and company beforehand.
She also likely doesn't know that Chretien vowed to "scrap," "get rid of" and "eliminate" the GST, but after he was elected, he told voters that we should have read the fine print in the Liberal Red Book. He also vowed to "tear up" NAFTA --the foundation of much of Canada's prosperity. Never mind small mercies, thank heaven for big lies!
Does Queen Elizabeth not recall that under Chretien, this country was never so divided? Canada very nearly split apart in the 1995 Quebec referendum and during Chretien's reign, separatist sentiments in the West grew like a prairie grass fire. He actually said, on the record, that he didn't like dealing with westerners and he proved it; he hardly ever visited Alberta other than to fundraise for his re-election. Yes, Chretien won three majority governments, but he never received more than 41 per cent of the popular vote and he holds the dubious distinction of having the phoniest majority in the history of Canada with just 38.5 per cent of the popular vote.
Also, Chretien seemingly never met a despot he didn't love. He was involved in the APEC scandal that saw the RCMP attack lawful Canadian protesters in Vancouver to protect the feelings of murderous Indonesian President Suharto, and the embrace he gave Zimbabwe's even more murderous President Robert Mugabe, was a shameful moment for Canada. But, he did keep us out of the war in Iraq and that surely wipes those foreign affairs missteps--and much else besides--clean.
I know many readers are waiting for me to bring up the sponsorship scandal, in which $100 million of taxpayer money was funnelled into Liberal coffers to help the party win those phoney majorities. Yes, it's true, Chretien presided over the most scandal-plagued government in Canada's history. But there is another story that got little play by Canada's mostly Liberaladoring media.
What Chretien and his cronies did to Francois Beaudoin when he was president of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is a frightening example of abuse of power and process.
Beaudoin was the guy who had the gall to say "no" to Chretien in 1996 and was nearly destroyed as a result. Beaudoin refused to approve a $1.6-million loan to Chretien's associate, Yvon Duhaime, a convicted criminal with a bad credit history and the owner of the Grand-Mere Inn in Chretien's Quebec riding. This is the inn Chretien once co-owned and was adjacent to a golf course Chretien was still owed money for.
Even though Chretien repeatedly denied to the public that he lobbied Beaudoin to give Duhaime a $1.6 million loan, he was later forced to admit that he did. Outraged that he could not control Beaudoin, Chretien appointed two loyal cronies to the BDC--Jean Carle, Chretien's former director of operations became the bank's VP of public affairs, and Michel Vennat was appointed chairman of the BDC.
That's when a $615,000 loan was given to Duhaime, and Beaudoin was given the boot.
But the abuse of power didn't end there. Through leaks and press releases, Vennat and Carle set out to destroy Beaudoin's reputation in what a Quebec judge called a "vendetta" when they accused Beaudoin of "irregularities" and they stripped him of his BDC pension.
Quebec Judge Andre Denis ruled in 2003 that Carle and Vennat's actions against Beaudoin were "an unspeakable injustice" designed to "break him and ruin his career." Beaudoin's home and cottage were searched by BDC lawyers and accountants. Later, Vennat formally requested that the RCMP investigate Beaudoin for "misappropriation" of funds. The RCMP raided Beaudoin's Montreal home and his locker at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. The Prime Minister's Office even tipped off a reporter about the raid on Beaudoin's house BEFORE it happened. Beaudoin, however, was vindicated in court. Denis ruled Carle lied in court and Vennat's testimony was not credible. So, Chretien used the government's deep financial resources, his appointing and police powers to get even with someone who defied him.
Perhaps if the Queen knew all this, she too would not be amused. By giving Chretien this rare honour, she advertises in neon that she really is a foreign monarch, distant and unknowing.
lcorbella@theherald. canwest.com
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