In our last article, we mentioned that Mr. Chretien personally approved a Transition Job Fund (TJF) grant for $600,000 to the Auberge des Gouverneurs hotel in Shawinigan(2), Chretien's home town. And this hotel was owned by Pierre Thibauld, a self confessed criminal. Also, we mentioned that Yvon Duhaime, received $1-million in HRDC grants to expand the Grand-Mère Inn he bought from Mr. Chrétien; and I forgot to say that at that time Mr. Duhaime had accumulated $330,000 in unpaid bills. We also mentioned that as Mr. Duhaime received part of his job creation grant, he paid $11,500 to René Fugère, an unpaid aide and Liberal supporter for Mr. Chrétien's riding of St-Maurice, for consulting services. Therefore, I can say that one motivation for Mr. Chretien in doling out governmental money in his own riding of St. Maurice was to create new consulting jobs. And Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson has stated that there is nothing wrong for Mr. Chretien in helping out his constituents, and Mr. Chretien has confirmed that his primary motivation to help his friends in his riding was to create new jobs. And you know the title of these new jobs created by Mr. Chretien? The title is "Consulting Services for Doling out Governmental Money." But the RCMP has different titles for the jobs created by Mr. Chretien, the RCMP calls them "Consulting for Influence Peddling" and "Consulting for Fraud and Theft."

Yesterday, we have heard that two Shawinigan businessmen, Mr. Mario Pepin and Mr. Paul Lemire, have been charged for theft and fraud for stealing up to $300,000 from a company they ran called Groupe Forces(3). Mr. Pepin and Mr. Lemire have been long time supporters and friends of Mr. Chretien and Mr. Lemire even took a trip with the Prime Minister on a trade mission to Asia in 1996. Further, Groupe Forces is the same agency which invested in the Grand-Mere's expansion, and which was able to attract over $4-million in government assistance for job creation. We will mention later, in another article, that Mr. Pepin and Mr. Lemire were the founders of many agencies, all interconnected and with the vision to pocket federal money and create more jobs for the RCMP.

The saga of the Grand-Mere's Inn expansion and job creation program for the RCMP in Chretien's riding of St. Maurice will continue in our next articles.

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

The author can provide specific references of the cited events in the Grand-Mère'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, Joël-Denis Bellavance, Peter Shawn Taylor, Andrew Coyne, Gordon Gibson, 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.

1. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's involvement with the BDC's $615,000 loan: Lack of Common Sense Democracy, by Mario deSantis, November 30, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis275/ethics.html

2. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's involvement with the BDC's $615,000 loan: Part 2: Thinking Recursively is a Creative Process, by Mario deSantis, December 7, 2000

3. New charges laid against two Chrétien supporters, Andrew McIntosh, December 7, 2000, National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001207/396345.html