LARRY ZOLF:
Paul Martin's freebies
CBC News Viewpoint | December 4, 2003 | More from Larry Zolf
"MARTIN TOOK RIDES ON PRIVATE JETS" is a recent headline in the National Post. The sub-head reads: "Ethics commissioner clears (Martin) because planes were owned by 'close personal friends.'" Martin's close personal friends with jets included Wallace McCain of McCain Foods, Paul Desmarais of Power Corp., multimillionaire Lawrence Pathy, Martin's backer in the purchase of Canada Steamship Lines, and Gerry Schwartz of Onex Corporation.
Here we go again. The National Post, Martin's favourite newspaper, now points a finger at Martin's ethics; once again commissioner Howard Wilson sees nothing wrong in these flights taken for pleasure and business when Martin was finance minister; none of these titans of industry and finance gained anything from the free flights that they weren't getting anyway from their close friend, Paul.
Martin's holdings were all in a blind trust and he always excused himself from cabinet when something came up that was close to the bone. Martin and his rich friends didn't have to talk shop. They could relax and enjoy themselves, just a minister of finance and his pals.
The Conflict of Interest Code does allow for benefits from "close personal friends" and these are Martin's. There is no real story in the Post except the use of a headline making Martin look like an Air Irving junket minister with all the follies and foibles of, say, an Allan Rock. This is dirty pool on the part of the Post.
Wilson says he asked Martin to "reimburse Mr. Demarais and Mr. Schwartz for the trips because they involved some Finance Department business." Martin also personally reimbursed Schwartz "for accommodation at a B.C. fishing lodge they went to in 2001 and later flew back to Ottawa on the Onex plane."
It looks like Martin covered all the bases. Still, the story does dent the Martin halo one week before he's sworn in as prime minister. The story comes with a picture of a laughing Paul Martin and a smiling Gerry Schwartz whooping it up at a Raptors basketball game.
But nothing ignominious happened on these flights. Martin got some free vacation time and relaxed with the people who count most in his life, the plutocrats of Canada. Still, this is not the image of himself Martin wants out there.
Martin wants to be taken seriously as a deep thinker, a sincere reformer, a fighter against bank mergers. Above all, Martin wants to be seen as standing up to the big interests on behalf of the average Canadian, the little people that Jean Chrétien so ably represented.
Instead of looking like an urban reformer, Martin looks like he's part and parcel of a corporate elite that sticks together and plays together. He now seems to be just another fat cat enjoying the company of his close friends – other fat cats.
But it's not as if this like the Beauharnois Scandal that so badly burned Mackenzie King in 1931. King went aboard Senator Wilfrid Laurier McDougald's yacht for a holiday in Bermuda. The senator was chairman of the Beauharnois Power Company, which gave the Liberals $700,000 in secret campaign funds in 1930 in exchange for power rights on the Beauharnois River.
The scandal broke when King was leader of the opposition; he discovered that his hotel bill of $283.53 was paid for by Senator McDougald. King was made to look a fool by his "close friends" who'd paid his room and laundry bill.
Paul Martin hasn't got those kinds of personal or political problems. The free flights and vacations make for bad optics but that won't last. Martin is too rich and wealthy to be bought by anybody, least of all his "close friends." Dishonesty or hypocrisy is not at stake here. What is at stake is transparency and a prime minister who speaks for the people, not the plutocrats.
Speaking for the people is what Paul Martin has spent a lifetime in politics trying to achieve. In 1988, he took a working class riding in Montreal. In 1990, he came out in favour of Meech Lake and made himself a ton of friends. Martin's agenda is that of an urban populist and a modern reformer.
To sustain that image Martin must be squeaky clean and above suspicion of any kind. Martin didn't need the freebies he got from corporate Canada while he was minister of finance. The freebies made it look like Martin had something to hide, that he was perhaps involved in special business discussions with special business friends. Ordinary taxpayers don't get that chance.
But then Martin is not ordinary. As the richest finance minister ever and the richest prime minister ever, Paul Martin will always have rich friends. But it is his private wealth that guarantees Martin's probity, honesty and directness. Paul Martin is rich enough to really worry about the average Canadian – and that's worth a lot.
Letters:
Surely you can't be serious. "Paul Martin is rich enough to really worry
about the average Canadian"? If Paul Martin were really worried about the
average Canadian, i.e. one who has to work for someone like Paul Martin,
don't you think he would have by now taken concrete steps to make our
lives better? The simple fact that as Finance Minister he used surpluses
in the "Employment Insurance" fund to reduce the deficit is a dramatic and
telling illustration of Martin's real feelings about working Canadians.
As for the "probity, honesty and directness" that Martin's "private
wealth... guarantees" - consider George W. Bush, who has consistently made
policy that directly benefits his "rich friends". How long do you think
Martin's pals will hang around if they don't have direct access to the PMO
and Canadian fiscal, internal, and foreign policy? The McCains, Demarais,
and Schwartzes didn't make their fortunes by befriending working
Canadians, and neither did Paul Martin.
Patrick Goddard | Montreal
In defending Paul Martin Jr's corporate freebies, you state that because the man is wealthy, he "is rich enough to really worry about the average Canadian - and that's worth a lot." You also state that Martin's wealth "guarantees Martin's probity, honesty, and directness."
I think that sitting in your "cushy" office for too long may be allowing you such great leaps in logic to assume that wealthy men spend their days bemoaning the fate of the less fortunate. Were such a world true, Martin would not be lowering corporate taxation by 4% over the next two years and eliminating capital taxes (data from Department of Finance). The only way to replace these revenues are from the paycheques of "average Canadians", who do not have the luxury to sit around in offices on Parliament Hill worrying about themselves. They are too busy working to try to keep up, while wondering how our universal health care system will look under the auspices of American corporate leadership, and how much their children's education will cost under a free market-free trade system. (They will certainly not be free and universally-accessible, as when Martin grew up.)
Please, get up out of your cushy chair, do some research, and see if you can't get that old hamster wheel spinning again. Either that, or make room for someone who will.
Thomas Folkestone
Likely, Mr. Martin is just rich enough to not have an inkling of what it
means to worry for the average Canadian. Thanks Larry. Thank you for
pointing that out for us. You old smoothie. Using that reverse psychology
stuff and all.
I saw Bernard Lord in the drug store a while back. Based on what he was buying, I think his wife sent
him. I bet this guy worries about the average Canadian. I'm not a
Conservative. Particularly because I think the present Unite the Right is
better stated as Unite the Wrong. On the other hand, I'd be pleased as
punch if Mr. Lord pulled a Jean Charest the opposite way (ha!).
Michael Black | New Brunswick
^TOP
|
|
 |
 MENU |
|
|
| ABOUT VIEWPOINT: |
Viewpoint is CBC.ca's place for informed opinion and commentary. Our goal is to provide a range of informed perspectives from around the world and here at home on issues of interest to Canadians. All material published in the Viewpoint section is subject to CBC’s journalistic policy, standards and practices.
Writing for Viewpoint
We accept queries from people with significant expertise in their field and previous writing experience. We are interested in domestic and international contributions. We do not accept unsolicited finished pieces.
If you want to contribute to Viewpoint, please send your query to letters@cbc.ca with VIEWPOINT in the subject line and please include three samples of your published work. Columns are typically 800 words in length and focus on timely issues, events or personal stories with wide appeal. Please familiarize yourself with our content before submitting your ideas. Only those accepted will be contacted.
|
|
| FEEDBACK: |
|
|
| BIOGRAPHY: |
LARRY ZOLF
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR
Veteran journalist and Canadian political expert Larry Zolf is a regular contributor to CBC News Online. Larry has been a critic, reporter, producer and consultant for CBC news and current affairs since he joined the CBC in 1962. Born and raised in North End Winnipeg, the hotbed of general strikes and socialism, Larry has covered stories such as integration in Mississippi and the October Crisis in Quebec. He was one of the hosts of the CBC's flagship current affairs television show "This Hour Has 7 Days." He is now retired.
|
|
| MORE: |
|
|
|
