In his October's reports, Denis Desautels has confirmed the extent of the lack of accountability of the HRDC department(2) and highlighted the need to reestablish integral values in our bureaucracy(3). Lately, I have been writing about Jean Chrétien's personal intervention for the granting of a federal loan to his friend Yvon Duhaime, and I am realizing that the extent of governmental corruption is becoming larger and larger. And I am now becoming aware that the Chrétien's government has been following the path laid out by the Mulroney's government(4), a planned path characterized by corrupted business lobbyists swindling money from public agencies. And now I can rationalize why in the last decade our growth in real GDP per capita has been second-last out of 25 industrial economies(5). Therefore, it is not a surprise anymore to find out that some of Jean Chrétien's friends are being charged for theft and fraud. And the names of Mario Pépin and Paul Lemire keep propping up in the news again and again.

We must acknowledge Alliance's Diane Ablonczy for her painstaking work in uncovering and speaking out on the abuses of this government. We have been mentioning how Mario Pépin and Paul Lemire used their former agency, Groupe Force, as an umbrella organization to create more paper businesses, and pocket money with the assistance of the HRDC, Industry Canada and other governmental agencies(6).

Today, we have knowledge that Pépin and Lemire were the administrators of a so called LaPrade Fund in Chrétien's Shawinigan riding, and that documentation has been provided directly to the RCMP questioning the whereabouts of $343,000 of federal money provided to the LaPrade Fund(7). The scheme to set a group of interrelated businesses receiving money from both the HRDC and Industry Canada was not an original 'competitive advantage' of the Shawinigan pair. In fact, we already showed how Claude Gauthier, another Chrétien's friend, after buying a property adjacent to Chrétien's golf course was able to get some $1.2 million for his business Placeteco from HRDC; a contract worth $6.3 million for another of his business, Transelec, from the Canadian International Development Agency; and $600,000 grant for another of his businesses. This is what we know. I am questioning what we don't know, and this is what scares me. I am afraid that this pattern of setting pyramidal paper interrelated businesses with the planned assistance of governmental agencies is widespread across the country and at any level of government.

References/endnotes

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

1. Thoughts on our Governments and Justice System in Canada, by Mario deSantis, February 15, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis119/govNjustice.html

2. 2000 Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 2 - Human Resources Development Canada - Service Quality at the Local Level, http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/0002ce.html

3. 2000 Report of the Auditor General of Canada, Chapter 12 - Values and Ethics in the Federal Public Sector http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/0012ce.html

4. On the take, (The Mulroney's years) by Stevie Cameron, February 1995, Macfarlane Walter & Ross; ISBN:0921912730

5. Reducing taxes key to reducing strain on competitiveness, Neville Nankivell, April 25, 2000 National Post. Personal note: Mario deSantis is not of the opinion that the reduction of taxes, per se, stimulate economic and social growth.

6. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's involvement with the BDC's $615,000 loan. Part 5. Mr. Gauthier, Chrétien's golf course, and the pair Pépin & Lemire Co. By Mario deSantis, December 10, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis284/friends.html

7. RCMP asked to launch new probe, Lawrence Martin, December 13, 2000, Southam News http://www.nationalpost.com/news/national/story.html?f=/stories/20001213/403687.html