By Mario deSantis, February 14, 2000

In the article "A summary of the review of 459 grants at HRDC" I did not make any comment regarding the gross administrative problems at HRDC as they surfaced from an internal audit of 459 grants. However, at this time, I am quite confident to say that the HRDC is a corrupted department, where our governmental politicians in concert with the bureaucracy have put for sale our democracy to the highest bidder, and in so doing they have cheated our taxpayers at large, they have broken current laws and regulations for the granting of funds to create jobs, and they could have committed potential criminal acts as well. I am not going to digress on everything which is wrong with the HRCD, after all I get only second hand information. However, what is very important for us to know is that we cannot trust our governmental politicians and their bureaucratic friends, and that we, the public, must take any avenue to change this state of widespread corruption across the country. Therefore, I am going to highlight some facts as reported by the recent issues of the National Post to support my statement that our democracy is for sale.

• One "jobs grant" was actually used to buy jewelry and The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is considering a suit against the government for breach of the law that forbids the improper disbursement of tax dollars.
• Jobs grant money went to Liberal ridings where unemployment was not a problem. The riding of Honourable Jane Stewart, the Minister of Human Resources, received $30-million over the past term, even though this riding consistently had an unemployment rate lower than both the national average and the 12% required for jobs grants.
• Pierre Thibault, a Belgian businessman and Liberal donor, received more than $2-million in government grants and loans for a resort in Mr. Chretien's hometown. His $600,000 jobs grant was supported by an internal HRDC memo stating that Mr. Chretien had personally promised the money and therefore there was "no choice" but to approve Mr. Thibault's grant -- though it violated rules against funding jobs in restaurants or bars.
• In the fall of 1997, police charged Pierre Corbeil, a top Liberal fund-raiser in Quebec, with influence peddling. He had told businessmen that a donation to the Liberals would determine whether or not their grant applications would be approved. Mr. Corbeil avoided a politically embarrassing trial by pleading guilty.

Marie-Josee Kravis of the National Post has succinctly described the state of corruption of our politicians by saying "Elections have become auctions: Whoever pays the heaviest price wins" and even a Liberal, MP Larry McCormack, has stated "Canadians are not willing to accept the abuses that are in the system."

Our democracy is for sale and we cannot do anything about it, can we?

A list of references

A summary of the review of 459 grants at HRDC, by Mario deSantis, February 13, 2000

Stewart stonewalls her fellow MPs. Minister refuses to release list of job grants by riding, Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief, National Post, February 11, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com

A growing disgrace, Daily Editorial, National Post, February 11, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com

The questions of the HRDC scandal. How can we trust a government that is not responsible?, by Marie-Josee Kravis, National Post, Friday, February 11, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com