Charity begins at home

Philanthropist:  A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthrophy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes or organizations. The term may apply to any volunteer or to anyone who makes a donation, but the label is most often applied to those who donate large sums of money or who make a major impact through their volunteering, such as a trustee who manages a philanthropic organization.

A philanthropist may not always find universal approval for his/her deeds. Common accusations include supporting an unworthy cause (such as funding art instead of fighting world hunger) or having selfish motivation at heart (such as avoiding taxes or attaining personal fame).

Charitable organization:  A charitable organization (also known as a charity) is an organization with charitable purposes only. Trusts, foundations, unincorporated associations and in some jurisdictions specific types of companies, may be established for a charitable purpose or may acquire such purpose after establishment. Charities are all non-profit organizations, however, not all non-profit organizations are charities. Organizations that are only partly dedicated to charitable purposes are sometimes considered as, or treated as, charities, depending on specific regulations at a given jurisdiction. Some charitable organizations may be established by companies as part of tax planning and strategies.

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If someone wants to be a philanthropist, more power to them - volunteers and their money are are always welcome. If someone wants to spend their time involved with charitable causes, more power to them - volunteers and their money are are always welcome. When it comes to a society they’re like the garnish or sprig of parsley on the side of the plate, the ambiance, or even using the good cutlery and heirloom dishes on special occasions

A tax is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority and is any contribution imposed by government whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name. Using money raised by legal authority for philantropic projects, or charitable projects is an abuse of power.

The Upper Fort Gary project will end up exactly as the Forks project did - an excuse to use tax payer money to provide a commercial venue. It’s irritating to the extreme to see the continued level of hyprocisy. The existing Forks site is just as valid a venue for the Fort Gate and plans, except for one thing. Between parking for Sam Katz ball park and the so called Asper Museum, which has nothing to do with being a museum except the word museum - Proposed Features, there is no space for it.

Let’s look at some more hypocrisy - Heritage Winnipeg and The Forks for People Not Profit

Who is Heritage Winnipeg?

Heritage Winnipeg is a non-profit charitable organization, established in 1978 which promotes the restoration, rehabilitation and preservation of Winnipeg’s built environment.

Mission

To promote and encourage the conservation of historic/heritage structures and sites and attend to those matters which enhance and complement this purpose. Emphasis will be on restoration, revitalization, preservation, education and advocacy, in order to augment the cultural inheritance of the community, with consideration for pertinent logistics and feasibility.

Of course things like Upper Fort Gary have to be handled by another group - The Friends, because Heritage Winnipeg efforts from 2002 went no where, but they have managed to screw up a lot of downtown redevlopment projects in the Exchange district.

Our downtown core was quite viable, attractive and active, until special interest groups started trying to control development. Far from trying to revive downtown it was the tampering that has led to the current problems which will only continue to grow worse and worse. It didn’t happen overnight, or for some mysterious reasons. The writing of John Sewell and James Lorimer about Toronto provided all the insight required three decades ago.

I don’t have anything against philanthropists and charitable organizations. I just want them to pay for their own pet projects and stop taking money out of the mouths of those can least affort it in this city - something we have in abundance - the poor and the elderly, and it’s long past the time it stopped. History and green space in this city is not a charity - it is a right and excessive costs for business shouldn’t be borne by those who can least afford it.

  

 

Grave concerns

Chuck Cadman is dead as a door nail and I’m quite sure he’s going to stay that way. Moreover I could care less what his wife, daughter, son-in-law, pet gold fish, book writer or some political hack has to say about what discussions he may or may not have been involved in about his vote to support the Martin Government before he croaked.

Actually no, I find the antics and aspirations of the people I named quite disgusting. I believe he was publicly asked twice by the media if anything had been promised to him in regards to the confidence vote and he replied no. It doesn’t really matter if the question hinged on mention of the name the Harper or Conservative party, the import of the question was quite apparent, and clear to any normal and reasonable person.

Regardless, if he wanted to indulge in that type of game of semantics, which I highly doubt given his reputation as a straight shooter, he’s dead so it doesn’t make any real difference because he can’t be questioned. From what I’ve seen and heard of his wife on TV, she strikes me as a being not overly intelligent, a bit of a hypocrite, and certainly not above using sympathy and respect for her husband for her own personal gain.

Do I believe the bit about a couple of Tory backroom boys making him an offer? No, but I certainly believe they were trying to cut some kind of a deal with him that while it may be morally repugnant wouldn’t cross the line of legality. A ‘million dollar life insurance policy’ that hinged on employment in some government capacity if he were defeated in the next election are highly likely. MP’s all have life insurance through the Treasury Board same as do all public servants, and the executive level insurance payout is worth big bucks.

It’s also quite common for major corporations to carry group life insurance policies on their head honchos, with coverage being changed by simply adding and deleting names. For all I know the Conservative Party may have bought some kind of group life insurance policy coverage for their elected representative and backroom boys as a hedge against constituency or party debts in the event someone dies.

The point is each and every day for several decades now the taxpayers have been getting less and less of a bang for their buck, and the business of government has turned into a combination media circus and soap opera. I’d like to see Paul Szabo and Pat Martin deported along with Mr. Schreiber for their expensive and time wasting game playing.

Nothing is to be gained there. At the end of the day Mulroney will still be regarded with as much contempt as he was when both he and his government got turfed, and there isn’t a hope in hell of ever recovering any money, even in taxes, or Revenue Canada would have done it after his well publicized 6 year free ride on the Schrieber money.

It must bug the hell out of the power brokers, Ottawa’s political mandarins, and lobby groups that a minority government serves the taxpayers much better than a majority one. I still don’t trust Harper, but at least he’s managed to keep the Alliance/Reform lunatic fringe of the party in check without them demanding a necktie party, along with letting the NDP make complete fools of themselves.

The last great Canadian political leaders are dead just like Cadman and none of them are coming back, get over it and get on with the business of government, quit wasting taxpayer money, and the media should stop wasting taxpayers time with stupidity.

  

 

The naked machine

No, the woman in the picture is not the naked machine. Her name is Susan Hallowell, director of the United States Transportation Security Administration’s security laboratory, and going on five years ago she willingly demonstrated a new generation of airport screening device that became dubbed the ‘naked machine’. Sadly, IMHO she’s a hell of a lot easier on the eyes in this version than in a normal picture.

The following year the person who supposedly coined the phrase ‘the naked machine’, George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen published a book called the ‘Naked Crowd‘ which was an examination of technologies that were being used and developed to help create a safer society and citizenry - but with some costs.

Lately there’s been some discussion of the use of technology to combat crime by trying to place it in the context of an alternate form of terrorism. There’s no reason to fear that civil liberties are at risk with surveillance cameras - after all there’s already hundreds of them in place in private businesses taking pictures that people aren’t even aware of.

Why a picture from security camera on top of a government facility in the west end was the key to taking a child predator off the streets after his car was identified. Sadly the cameras in the Empire Club weren’t operating when someone was being shot and stabbed, but if they had been it would have been a slam dunk.

Oh sure there’s abuses like the security camera images from the underground concourse that ended up on You Tube where one of them ‘pesky drunken Indians’ took a dump in a potted plant. Rumours circulated about how the people responsible were disciplined or fired, but after all people had a right to know about such horrid acts. After all, our society is filled with crime and dangerous people and we have to take steps to protect ourselves.

There’s nothing wrong with cops flying over the city using thermal imaging to detect pot houses, or driving through neighbourhoods ’sniffing’ for tell tales signs. Drugs are a serious problem, and the houses soon become a health problem. How about meth labs and crack houses.

What would be wrong with under cover cops going through dumpsters and people’s garbage looking for empty containers of products commonly used in the manufacture of the drugs. After all it’s a serious criminal offence. How about private security agencies going through people’s garbage containers looking for evidence in civil matters.

But, but, but how about if it’s just someone who’s involved in identity theft, or just being nosy - maybe because somewhere along the line you did something to offend them and they’ve decided that a personal vendetta is the way to go? After all it isn’t illegal for someone to go rooting through your garbage, unless they’re trespassing on private property to do it, and have been warned once not to do it.

It was a couple of stories in the Sun that started me thinking about privacy issues. The first was written by a part time columnist and retired Winnipeg Cop Robert Marshall - We have privacy, but at what cost?on the subject of Patient Health Information Act (PHIA). He has a point I suppose in what he was writing about, but it might have been more helpful if he’d also mentioned the Manitoba Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), and Federal Privacy Act - even if it was just in passing - since none of them exist in isolation of the other.

But it was the second story based on something that happened a week and a half ago that drew my focus. Written by what appears to be another part-time columnist, at least based on his email address John Mohan - Dealing with ‘Paintball Rambo’ it outlined events that have never made an awful lot of sense to me.

It’s been a long time since I lived in the Osborne Village area on River, after spending a lot of my spare time as a youth in that general area. In fact that whole area from the Osborne Bridge all the way down to Stafford is very much different. I don’t find it strange that someone living in the area would have either a paintball or laser gun kicking around their house because of the years of existence of the Dark Zone at Crazy Corner.

Much of Mohan’s comments fall into the hyperbole category - self appointed block cop, trusty paintball gun which has enough power to seriously injure someone, homeless are also valued citizens - then goes on to equate it with a murder. He has no more idea than I do who the person was or what he was up to, so calling him a ‘homeless’ victim is more than a stretch. But what I found strange about the whole thing was something else.

The story about ’a neighbour’ calling the cops on him sounds a little too contrived and convenient. Dumpster divers are as much of a nuisance in the North End - where they aren’t tolerated, as they would be in the Osborne Village area. That doesn’t mean I approve of someone using a paintball gun to shoot at people in the neighbourhood, but on a sliding scale of seriousness, it isn’t in the same category of using a .177 or .22 caliber air pistol, or a firearm on people either.

For the cops to react in this manner sounds like a bit of overkill. It isn’t beyond possibility that that it either involves plain clothes cops or someone on a stakeout working for a private security firm, since there’s been a lot of activity in both those areas in the city lately. Perhaps it’s just a message that vigilantism isn’t going to be tolerated.

Whatever - it’s just as strange as the rest of the age of the ‘naked machine’ - and media that relies on part time columnists.

 

Only in Ontario you say - pity.

You may have seen Weird Al with his version of ‘Gangster Paradise’ before but here’s something to think about the next time you travel Manitoba.

 

Some more Crocus humour

There’s also another new video from Global News that has showed up on You Tube in the Crocus category as well.

I’ll say it’s a fiasco that makes one scratch their head. Much easier to just laugh at the whole works of them.

 UPDATE:  According to a story in today’s Freep it now appears the Crocus Receiver doesn’t want any part of doling out the money supposedly settled by the class action lawyers. You’d kind of think that after the Receiver said in January that he doubted the court would allow any distribution of money, that the media would realize that there’s a credibility gap as big as the Grand Canyon involved in what Bellan and the lawyers keep saying publicly about when shareholders are going to see some money, and what the facts seem to be. Maybe Marty Gold (http://tgcts.blogspot.com/) can stop polishing his badge and ‘not picking on Dan Lett’ long enough to let us all in on the real story - how about it - Blackie?

 

Deserta faciunt et pacem appellant

Perhaps tonight once again on the nightly news we will be provided scenes of disorder and rioting half way around the world in a part of the world once known as the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia or Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, or in more broad terms ‘The Balkans‘ - the crossroads of culture and religion in Europe.

The Canadian Government hasn’t committed itself to giving sanction, recognition, and support to Kosvo, unlike the United States where the politically powerful ethnic Albanians are as determined as ever to stoke the flames of ethnic hatred half way around the world - like so many other ethnic groups in that country.

Not that the indictment for crimes of Slobodan Milosevic, Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic, and Vlajko Stojiljkovic against not only the ethnic Albanians but their own people weren’t completely repugnant and deserving of punishment, but the punishment that was meted out by the United States also involved death and injury to a great many innocent Serbian civilians who were as much victims of their own political leaders power and excesses as everyone else.

It’s only been a decade, but when does war and it’s atrocity end? Is democracy in a country only a democracy when the United States declares it so, and it’s simply not relevant until then? Is this the version of democracy that our troops are fighting to create in Afghanistan?

At any rate, below is what a Serbian representative had to say a week ago to the European Parliment. IMHO it’s something to think about while you watch the scenes and listen to the stories that the media presents to us on the subject. Is it any different than what Canadians say about their dreams for Canada on the Quebec issue?

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Strasbourg, 20 February 2008

Remarks Before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament by H.E. Mr. Vuk Jeremić, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

Dear Mr. Chairman, Distinguished MEPs, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I stand before you this afternoon as a proud European, and as an ashamed European.

Proud because my heritage, my culture, my beliefs, and my history bind me to a constellation of nations that, at the onset of the 21st century, reconciled themselves, and created something so magnificent that one could say: “there has truly never been anything else like it in the history of the world”.

Winston Churchill equated the feeling I am trying to describe to you with a “sense of enlarged patriotism”. That was his vision of Europe, and Jean Monet’s vision of Europe, and Konrad Adenauer’s vision of Europe. It is a vision I proudly share. For the peoples of Europe, between whom rivers of blood have flowed without mercy, chose to end the feuds of a thousand years. And they sought to eliminate from their shores a zero-sum approach to the conduct of regional politics.

How could I not be proud? How could I not, until just a few days ago, without the faintest shadow of a doubt, support the aspirations of my country to join the European Union, and therefore welcome the EU’s commitment to the incorporation of Serbia and all the Western Balkans within its welcoming boundaries?

But I am also a deeply ashamed European. Tacitus wrote: Deserta faciunt et pacem appellant: “They create a desolation and they call it peace”. That is what some European Union countries have done to the Republic of Serbia, to a small, peace-loving, democratic country in Europe, a founding member of the United Nations, an original signatory to the Helsinki Final Act, and a pillar of stability in Southeast Europe.

Creating desolation out of the promise of a European future. This is what the governments of some of your countries have done by recognising the unilateral, illegal, and illegitimate declaration of independence of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am ashamed not as a Serb—for in the negotiating process on the future status of our province of Kosovo, we did nothing but demonstrate good faith and understanding for the legitimate rights of the other side. In fact, since the democratic overthrow of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, we have done almost everything right. We have overcome almost every obstacle. We have fulfilled almost every condition. We have embraced almost every standard. And we have taken on every challenge to our future with an optimism that thinkers like Alexis de Tocqueville thought had departed the Old Continent long ago.

I am ashamed as a European. As someone who knows in his heart that what has been done to Serbia is a fundamental violation of the very nature of not just the international system, but of the values that hold up the European construction.

I am ashamed, because if recognising this act of ethnically-motivated secession from a democratic, European state is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.

I am ashamed, because I see how the bedrock of values that make us who we are is being trampled underfoot. Because I see how my fellow Europeans are trying to construct the future on a foundation of sand and rubble.

And I am ashamed, because for all the talk about reason and Enlightenment, for all the pious declinations on the common good and solidarity, Europe is rapidly becoming just another place where might makes right.

Some may say I have exaggerated. Well, let us turn to the matter at hand.

The institution with primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security is, according to the United Nations Charter, the Security Council. And, in 1999, following the 78-day bombing of my country, it adopted a resolution—still operative today—that conferred upon the UN the authority to administer Serbia’s southern province of Kosovo, and explicitly and unambiguously reaffirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country. When Serbia was ruled by a tyrant, Kosovo was a confirmed part of Serbia.

It said so in Security Council Resolution 1244. And it went further than that. It placed a Chapter VII obligation—a binding obligation—on all the member-states of the United Nations to respect the borders of my country.

And now, when Serbia is a democracy, some European nations are prepared to recognise Kosovo as an independent state. They say, in effect, we did not punish the tyrant, but now we will punish a democracy—a European democracy—and we expect its citizens to take it.

They say Kosovo can be independent, while saying that 1244 in its entirety still applies, including, presumably, that part that reaffirms Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo. And they send an EU-led mission to our province without the approval of the Security Council, even though paragraphs 5 and 19 of 1244 make it abundantly clear that only the Security Council can do that.

And yesterday, at an emergency session of the Permanent Council, no European ambassador could explain to anyone with any degree of reason why what is being done to Serbia is not a violation of the core principles of the Helsinki Final Act.

They could not explain to me why what they are doing is not setting a dangerous, precedent that will create very troubling consequences to the stability of Europe and the whole world.

Recognising the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia legitimises the doctrine of imposing solutions to ethnic conflicts.

It legitimises the act of unilateral secession by a provincial or local entity.

It transforms the right to self-determination into an avowed right to independence.

It legitimises the forced partition of internationally-recognised, sovereign states.

And it violates the commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes in Europe.

It even resurrects the discredited Cold War doctrine of limited sovereignty.

By the actions of some European Union member-states, every would-be ethnic or religious separatist across Europe and around the world has been provided with a tool kit on how to achieve recognition. Does anyone in this room think that the Kosovo Albanians are the only group in the world with a grievance against their capital?

Do any of you honestly think that just by saying that Kosovo is sui generis, you will make it so? That there will be no consequences to the stability and security of the international system, just because you say it won’t?

Is this the way proud Europeans behave? Is this the way European values are put into practise? Is this the way to treat friends?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Notwithstanding everything I have witnessed and all that my country has gone through, I have not lost faith in Europe, even though I am ashamed by the actions of some within it.

I have not lost faith in Europe because I still hold out a measure of hope that Europe will live up to its values; that Europe will pause for a moment and recall the principles that drive its own decision-making in Brussels and Strasbourg. I’m talking about compromise, concession, and consensus-building. That’s how it works: by engaging in a process of deliberate, patient, and sustained, good-faith negotiations until a compromise is struck that all stakeholders can abide by.

In the case of Kosovo’s future status, only a solution that is acceptable to the sides can be viable, sustainable, and lasting.

Only a negotiated solution can pave the way towards a common, European future.

Only such a solution can consolidate the regional gains made, reinforce the geo-strategic priorities achieved, and restore the drive for change in Southeast Europe.

The imposition of a one-sided outcome—the recognition of an independent Kosovo—does the opposite. It sets back the achievements of European visionaries in our region; it uncouples the Western Balkans from its future in Europe; and it fosters a view throughout the region that Europe is in the business of imposing outcomes.

This is where we are. It’s a shameful place to be. And it’s not where we should be.

Where we are is at the precipice, facing down into the shadows of uncertainty. Uncertainty over the future of the Western Balkans. Uncertainty over democracy in Serbia. Uncertainty over the safety of the Kosovo Serbs. And uncertainty over the fate of our holy sites—the central element of our national identity.

Yet we also face forward. We can see beyond the break, and beyond the discord. We can still see Europe for what it is, for what it can become, for what it can accomplish.

But also for what it can harm: the dreams of a proud, democratic, European country that has surmounted more obstacles since October 2000 than most other nations have in a hundred years.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I assure you, with the fortitude of a unified nation, Serbia will not go quietly. We shall strive for what is just, for what we believe in, for our future, for what is rightfully ours.

The Republic of Serbia shall not tolerate this illegal act of secession. Our Government and National Assembly have declared this action by the authorities in Pristina null and void. And we shall undertake all diplomatic and political measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty.

As a responsible member of the international community committed to the peaceful and negotiated resolution of disputes, the Republic of Serbia will not resort to the use of force. For violence cannot bring a peaceful settlement to any crisis. Violence only destroys—lives, property, hope, ambitions. It destroys everything and creates desolation.

We are for peace. We are for agreement. We are for concord. We are Europeans.

Kosovo shall remain a part of Serbia forever.

 

Laughter is still the best medicine

No really - laughter is the best medicine. Don’t you feel much better after following along with the yoga exercises in the video? Well after reading this latest entry - Market pummels Medicure - Huge sell-off of firm’s stock as study results disappointby Freep star business reporter Martin (’Press Release’) Cash you’ll be in shape to be ROTFLMAO (rolling on the floor laughing my arse off), and it won’t require any recreational or medical pharmaceuticals.

Of course being a reporter has never stopped Cash from carrying on as if he was a columnist throwing his opinions into the mix, but actually that’s the start of the humour.

“Close to 26 million Medicure shares changed hands Monday, driving the price down from 80 cents at the start of the day to 11.5 cents. When the smoke cleared, Medicure shareholders lost more in one day of trading — $89 million — than the 34,000 Crocus shareholders have lost ($67.5 million) since that fund ceased trading in December 2004.”

It’s funny Cash should mention Crocus since there’s quite a few of his Freep stories about Medicure in the Crocus news release archives. I also say funny because while he compares the one day loss to the total loss to Crocus shareholders, much of it apparently due to over valuations, he fails to mention that the Crocus Receiver in his latest court report shows an investment of $850,000 in Medicure shares at the end of 2007.

What this effective translates into is an additional loss on the order of turning that $850,000 in shares into $122,000 in shares over and above the numbers Cash is talking about. Now don’t be scratching your head over who to be laughing at - Cash, the Receiever, the Court (because it’s under the Court’s supervision Holmes operates the Crocus Fund), or is it the Manitoba Securities Commision, because they asked the Court to put the Fund in receivership. Never mind. Just have a good belly laugh at the whole works, they all deserve to be laughed at.

 Oh but we’re not done yet. The story then goes on to cite the words of the head man at Biotech.

Despite words to the contrary from Medicure’s ever-optimistic co-founder and CEO Albert Friesen, the company’s ability to continue to operate as a drug-discovery operation is likely severely curtailed. Not only that, but the repercussions in the small-but-growing Winnipeg biotech scene may be felt for some time to come.

“When big money is made it makes people bullish,” said one longtime business-development executive in Winnipeg. “If a lot of folks take a bath on a biotech investment it makes others skittish to do it.”

Now where have we seen that name - Albert Friesen before? Well aside from another Crocus investment in a business called Genesys Venture Inc. to the tune of a $100,00 promissory note and another $125,000 in shares, and on the list of Dipper Doer’s Economic Advisory Committee  it also happens to show up connected to the Manitoba Science and Technology Fund which happens to be in hock to Crocus for roughly $2.4 million.

Come on yuk it up. Dipper Doer along with his friends, as well as anyone ever connected to Crocus, are starting to look more and more like the bunch on the raft circling the toilet bowl in the Tidy Bowl commercials, and that’s hillarious. So now we come to the last two paragraph’s of Cash’s story.

Garold Breit, the director of the University of Manitoba technology transfer office, agreed that since Medicure was able to develop MC-1 as far along as it did, it gave Winnipeg a more favourable profile among the investment communities in places like New York, Toronto and San Francisco.

“We know this happens every day in every major city in North America,” said Breit. “But when you add it to the other things we have seen (including the collapse of Crocus and the dearth of venture capital) when one of our brightest lights loses some of it lustre it could have an impact.”

Could have an impact. Naw. I’m sure the movers and shakers in major cities understand exactly what the failure of Crocus was all about and it just gave them something else to laugh about besides “Spirited Energy‘.  After all the locals got smart real fast and stopped providing any money for venture capital, and they’re at least as smart as folks from the big cities.

Nope, we might as well join everyone else in North America that’s laughing at some of the business people and government in this province and get some enjoyment out of it. After all it’s cheaper than drugs and a hell of a lot safer - for both the heart and wallet.

The clock’s ticking on your legacy Gary, think you can round up a few more million in taxpayer funded gifts to this sector of the economy without anyone noticing?

 

The Emperors new clothes

It’s in the air - spring is coming. Not only can you see the little melt craters in the snow around where debris has collected over the winter, but there seems to be a different smell in the air as well.

Of course that brings back to mind something I meant to comment on a couple of weeks ago that has to do with dealing with a public nuisance that I was reading about. Even though mosquitoes are a spring and summer nuisance here, it seems that even the people in Jolly Old England are in an uproar over a device being widely used to fight the pesky critters because it uses sound that only young ears can hear and the Children’s Commissioner for England has launch a campaign against the device because it’s claimed to drive British teenagers away from public places.

Well that subject lead to thoughts of a nuisance of a different kind, the so called Crocus settlements which are nothing more than nuisance suit settlements. For those that are unfamiliar with the term nuisance suit, it’s the payment of a few dollars to avoid lengthy and expensive lawyers fees in a court battle.

It’s become such a serious problem in the United States the Harvard law school has been working on a proposal to put an end to the practice in the American courts because not only does it tie up a lot of court time, but in many instances the money is being paid out by businesses that underwrite error and omission policies for business.

We’ve already seen the effect that has in Manitoba when the Board of Directors of Crocus were no longer able to obtain any liability insurance and the Receiver was appointed by the court on application of the Manitoba Security Commission. Ultimately it’s the consumer that ends up footing the bill when the insurance industry starts encountering a problem, so this sort of thing is not good news for either shareholders or business.

A more graphic illustration is suing the government of Manitoba for 200 million $$$ then agreeing to a 1% settlement on behalf of both the government and Manitoba Security Commission of a little over 2 million $$$. It is absurd in the extreme. The taxpayers of this province aren’t actually going to be out of pocket too much on this one though because the Government of Manitoba happens to own 2 million $$$ in Crocus shares, and as a secured creditor are likely to received their money back in full.

But aside from this change of direction of the Doer Dippers, it was actually another story in todays Freep that made it painfully obvious that Doer is looking at his legacy more so than any realization that he and his cronies have been screwing the living daylights out of this province.

Doer wants to pull plug on Spirited Energy. Of course this news came by way of MFL/UFCW sycophant Robert Ziegler, a co-chair of Doer’s Economic Advisory Council.

Sorry, it’s too late Gary. You can pick and choose which suits you are going to settle, but you are the naked emperor, and no one is to blame but yourself. The people of the kingdom are no longer in any mood to smile and nod, although I’m sure your advisors are still willing to tell you how magnificent you look in your new clothes.

I may be too old for a mosquito device to be a public nuisance, but I know what a nuisance suit is, and I know your legacy is not going to be the one that you want to construct, no matter how many MFL toadies you trot out.

   
  

 

I take you seriously Tom

It’s nice to see that I’m not the only person that can “out-smart” computerized spelling and grammar checkers when they write something.

 

Complications and disadvantages indeed

The likely reason why no one was hung for treason in the Red River Rebellion is highlighted in blue. It should be noted that although legal rights hadn’t been formally transfered to the Canadian Government it didn’t stop them from begining survey work and land assignments which lead to the Red River Rebellion, nor did it stop the Government from setting in place methods of revenue on the movement of goods.

It’s interesting that despite this rejection of the claim by the Hudson’s Bay Company, many thousands of dollars in compensation claims were paid out by the Canadian Government, including $2,000 to the parents of Thomas Scott, and $2,000 to Bishop Tache for his ‘assistance’. The Upper Fort Gary Gate is a part of history, but the ground that it currently sits on is is not sacred, and in reality it has to do with the creation of Manitoba not the creation of Winnipeg, regardless of what some people want to believe. 

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Order in Council Approved: 07/08/1877

The committee of the Privy Council have had under consideration the memorandum here unto annexed from the Honourable the Minister of the Interior on a letter from the Right Honourable G. J. Goschen of the 19th June last in reference to the various questions pending between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Government of Canada - and they respectfully submit their concurrence therein, and advise that a copy thereof, and of this minute be communicated to Mr. Goschen.

A. MacKenzie

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Memorandum

Department of the Interior
Ottawa, 30th July, 1877

The undersigned has had under consideration the letter of the Right-Hon. G. J. Goschen, of the 19th June last, in reference to the various questions pending between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Government of Canada

The undersigned has already communicated to the Council the views which he expressed in his letter of the 29th ultimo, to the Hon. D. A. Smith, in reference to the differences which have arisen between the Company and the Government in the allotment to the Company of their one-twentieth of the land set out for settlement in Manitoba and the North West Territory.

The opinions therein expressed, Mr. Smith informs the undersigned were by him communicated to the Governor and Committee of the Hudson’s Bay Company in England.

With reference to the claims of the Hudson’s Bay Company to compensation for losses sustained by them in consequence of the Half Breed Rebellion in Manitoba, before that country was transferred to the Government of Canada, and while it was still in possession of the Company, the undersigned is of the opinion that the Government of Canada is neither legally or morally called upon to compensate the Company for loses at that time sustained.

The position of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the North West was not-at-all that of an ordinary private proprietor. They were a great public Corporation, possessed of a franchise which was not enjoyed by ordinary proprietors. They were endowed with the attributes of Government and powers of legislation, and were authorized to take steps not only for the protection of their own property, but for the protection of the of the property of others; and the undersigned cannot see upon what principle, while the country remained in their possession, and they were themselves the judges of what was necessary for the maintenance of public order and good government in the North West, they can look to any other party for compensation.

The Company surrendered their rights of Government to the Crown of Great Britain on the 19th of November 1869; and from that period until the country was formally transferred to Canada, the Government of Great Britian and not that of Canada controlled it’s affairs. The undersigned has no means of knowing what information the Company gave to the Imperial Government with regard to the state of affairs in the North West at that time - whether or not they advised the Imperial Government so that they might take care to secure adequate protection to life and property until the country could be handed over to Canada.

The undersigned is, therefore, of opinion that if the Company have any claims for compensation from any party, it is against the Government of Great Britian and not against the Government of Canada.

Where the Government o0f Canada agreed to purchase the rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the North West; they expected to obtain peaceable possession of the country, and it was not then contemplated that it would be necessary to send a military expedition, at  a very great cost to the Government of Canada, to acquire possession of the territory. On the contrary, they expected to have the transfer made peaceably, for the price they agreed to pay the Company.

In the opinion of the Undersigned, by the establishment of the proprietary rights of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Manitoba and the North West; many complications and disadvantages would be got rid of, and a most serious impediment to the settlement of the country would be removed.

The undersigned is of the opinion that, were we in a position to purchase the propriety rights of the Company, it would be in the public interest to do so. But he is informed by the Minister of Finance that the present condition of the public exchequer is not such as would warrant the expenditure which would be necessary to attain this object.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

David Mills
Minister of the Exterior.