Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's involvement
with the BDC's $615,000 loan: |
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Nipawin - December 7, 2000 - by: Mario deSantis | |
Beaudoin |
Mr. Chrétien called three times Mr. François Beaudoin, president of the Business development |
Bank of Canada (BDC), he mobilized his assistants to attend after Mr. Duhaime's needs and | |
as a consequence the BDC bank approved a loan for $650,000(1). Mr. Chrétien kept the secret | |
of his phone calls to Mr. Beaudoin till November 2000, when Mr. Beaudoin filed a lawsuit for | |
wrongful dismissal against the BDC bank. | |
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crown corporation |
In his statement of claims filed November 3, 2000, Mr. Beaudoin states that he was |
constructively dismissed and that this occurred when he repetitively suggested to foreclose | |
Mr. Duhaime's loan on account of missed payments. This is a very important political | |
interference in the running of a crown corporation, and it affects the integral administration | |
of our institutions. | |
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malicious wrongs |
The importance of this lawsuit goes beyond the private interest, and I just hope that Mr. |
Beaudoin will proceed going to court and have a judicial decision which proves the | |
persistent malicious wrongs of Chrétien's government. | |
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Chrétien's behaviour |
Anyhow, Mr. Duhaime got his loan and proceeded with the expansion project for his hotel. |
As we follow some events characterizing Mr. Chretien's involvement in the Grand Mere's | |
affair, let us keep asking the question: Was Chrétien interested in the welfare of his loyal | |
friends? Or maybe he was interested in the greener amenities of his golf course? Or maybe | |
he was interested in creating jobs for his electoral riding? Your common sense will provide | |
an answer, and as you repeat this question and as you share your answers, the closer you | |
will get to the truth characterizing Mr. Chrétien's behaviour. The events outlined below have | |
retained, as much as possible, the same English construct as per the original references. | |
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Chrétien's |
The Grand-Mère Inn's expansion, and the financing partners |
One source has stated that Chrétien was very interested in the financing of the |
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Grand-Mère Inn's expansion. In particular, this expansion had an immediate |
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financial reflection on the value of Mr. Chrétien's golf course which was adjacent |
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to the hotel. |
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scaled |
In the first phone call of April 12, 1996 to François Beaudoin, then president of |
the federally owned Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Mr. |
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Chrétien mentions a $2-million loan for the expansion of the hotel. However, in |
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his first loan application to the BDC, Mr. Duhaime submitted a $3.5-million |
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expansion project; later the expansion project was scaled down to $1.5-million, |
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and eventually in early 1996 he got a $650,000 loan from BDC. |
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Other |
Other financing agencies for the Grand-Mère Inn's expansion project, known to |
both Mr. Duhaime and Mr. Chrétien were: the Quebec Federation of Labour |
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Solidarity Fund, the local caisse populaire and the Groupe Forces, an economic |
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development agency. |
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fifth |
It is interesting to notice that in November 2000, while Mr. Duhaime confirmed |
that there was a fifth financing partner, Mr. Chrétien had denied the participation |
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of a fifth financing partner. Mr. Duhaime has not disclosed yet the name of the |
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fifth partner and Mr. Chrétien has not confirmed the participation of the fifth |
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financing partner. |
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In the next related articles we will cover a web of relationships connected with the Grand-Mère's | |
business and political environment. | |
-----------References/endnotes: | |
List of relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign | |
The author can provide specific references of the cited events in the Grand-Mère affair. He also acknowledges the following news organizations: National Post, Canadian Internet Network, The Ottawa Citizen, The Globe and Mail, Canadian Press. The author read articles written by Robert Fife, Andrew McIntosh, Joël-Denis Bellavance, Peter Shawn Taylor, Andrew Coyne, Gordon Gibson, and Diane Francis of the National Post; Paul Adams and Daniel LeBlanc of The Globe and Mail; Lawrence Martin and Kate Jaimet of The Ottawa Citizen. | |
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's involvement with the BDC's $615,000 loan: The granting of the BDC's loan to Yvon Duhaime, by Mario deSantis, December 5, 2000 |