9:37 p.m. - 2003-01-20
Shredding the Banksters
Phew! That was quite a rant yesterday, wasn't it? Part of the problem was that a large part of my volunteer time over close to 20 years, has been tied up dealing with the damage caused by the government in question. Summing up the essence of the problem in one essay was a huge challenge. Add in the frustration that I feel when I see things being slammed back to square one once again, and it's difficult for the torrent of words to be contained at all. There's enough to tell, with documentation, to fill several books. Someday I might do just that, although it's been gently suggested that I wait until the principals in the story die.
Why? Well, not surprisingly, other people have written books about the areas of corruption where they have first hand knowledge, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize there's a price to pay for one's temerity in speaking out.
Take Monier Rahall for starters. He wrote "Banksters and Prairie Boys" in the late 1990's. It is about the relationship between the Province's own bank - the Alberta Treasury Branch - and members and friends of the ruling party. It outlines, in great detail, how the ATB had been used as the personal piggy bank of all those trough hogs in floating the loans necessary for endeavours such as purchasing some major public properties "privatized" by party fiat or financing major boon-doggles. Insider trading and the dotcom fiasco look like child's play in comparison - not just satisfied with defrauding investors, they took a whole province to the cleaners. Mr. Rahall was able to name names - including the most senior politicians in the province - providing irrefutable documentation ferreted out of public records. His delivery in itself is worth the read as it is classic satire. Where is Mr. Rahall now? According to See Magazine in a copyrighted story by Robin Allen in 1998:
"They got a court ruling that funnelled proceeds from the sale of the book to Rahall's creditors, effectively spiking publication.[diarist's note - the ATB pulled Rahall's loans when he began this odyssey] The result is there are only a few thousand copies around. That's a crying shame. The book lays bare layer after layer of apparent corruption, secret back-room deals, collusion and conflict of interest involving Alberta Treasury Branch officials and various Tory government officials, up to and including the current gang. Rahall names names and points fingers."
Not only was Rahall financially punished, but when he tried to have the book distributed, after winning a court battle against some of the people he named who tried to block its publication, the only stores with enough courage to carry them were some of the small independents. Not surprisingly most of them went bankrupt within a year - loan problems. Just coincidence of course. There were only about 10,000 copies produced and it is likely most of them are in the basement of the legislature building unless of course they've already been torched.
Next up is a book called "Shredding the Public Interest" by Dr. Kevin Taft, Phd. Business and Masters in Community Development www.kevintaft.com/work.htm, that was published at the same time Mr. Rahall's bombshell was released. It was an exposé of the reasons for the provincial government going so deeply in debt. It had less to do with health education, and social support programs than with the government's free hand in spending on its friends and colleagues. The Principal Group, Novatel, various energy and construction companies, dams built at the behest of certain MLAs on shifting river beds (still in court), that sort of thing. The book was based on research that Dr. Taft had been commissioned to do BY the provincial government in 1980. When they chose to shred it, his conscience wouldn't allow him to keep silent - hence the title. It became impossible for Dr. Taft to secure steady employment once he stood up to the government, so his wife supported the family while he continued to write. His next book in 2000 was co-written with Gillian Steward (former Managing Editor of the Calgary Herald). It focussed strictly on the economic side of the health care debate and fully debunked the press releases issuing from the party offices. It is called "Clear Answers: The Economics and Politics of For-Profit Medicine". Dr. Taft successfully ran as a member of the Opposition party in 2000 and Ms. Steward is now teaching at the University of Regina in the Province of Saskatchewan.
The University of Alberta came in for considerable pressure because they were the vehicle of publication for Mr. Taft's work through their Parkland Institute, www.ualberta.ca/PARKLAND. I was in attendance at a conference the Parkland Institute sponsored in March of 1999 on poverty in Canada. The attendees and speakers were teachers, nurses, social workers, a couple of Canadian Senators, university professors, female leaders of the aboriginal community, street people, and community volunteers. The intent of the forum was to look for better solutions to address poverty and the needs of those trapped in the cycle. It was pretty academic until the Premier, hearing of one speech third hand making reference to conditions and attitudes in Alberta, sent a threatening letter to the University President because of the "unAlbertan bias" of the conference. Well, I and many of the others in attendance were born and raised here - we are nothing other than Albertans. The response was to ask if the McCarthy solution was to be implemented here.
See I'm much calmer tonight, dear diary. Must be the music. Last night Do You Love Me (now that I can dance) ran through my head as I was writing, so tonight I selected some of my spiritual tapes to reduce my temperature a bit. I'll save that for another time.
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