Duncan and Fired Lottery Boss in Big Battle

 Just a short 15 days ago and with great fanfare and indignation, a very serious looking Dwight Duncan, finance minister for the province of Ontario, fired with cause Kelly McDougald, the CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The same day, the OLG Board Chair and the rest of the Board all resigned or were pushed out.

Minister Duncan, who only 2 months ago got responsibility for the OLG, exposed all the dirty laundry in a Toronto media conference filled with tension. The tension comes from what appears to be poor oversight by the Board of Directors of the OLG management and some interesting spending habits. There is lots of political sting here as this is fresh on the heals of the spending and contract scandal over at eHealth.

Premier Dalton McGuinty even got into the act by announcing new rules for the people who receive these political appointments. McGuinty announced that workers at the largest 23 of Ontario's 600 agencies, boards, and commissions will have to submit their expense claims to the integrity commissioner rather than having them approved in-house. Things must be pretty bad.

The 600 or so agencies, boards, and commissions (ABC's) do all sorts of things from running lotteries to managing environmental hearings, to the LCBO. The ABC's are so numerous and so influential they could be considered a government within a government. Most of them do good and important work and stay out of trouble.

The ABC's report to one government minister or another, so there is direct political accountability. As well, the legislature has an all-party committee that has oversight responsibility for these agencies, boards, and commissions. When I served as MPP for Essex South, I was for several years a member of this legislative committee. We would hold public hearings and have several of these ABC's before the committee each year and then issue a report.

Media reports indicate that Kelly McDougald, the fired CEO, was handpicked by the Liberals for the $400,000 per year job. This makes the whole fiasco doubly embarrassing for Duncan and the Liberals.

"I am disappointed about what has been brought to my attention," said Duncan during his media conference. He went on to outline some of the spending: $7.70 pen refill, a $1.12 cloth grocery, a $30 car wash claim submitted without a receipt, $487.50 for a nanny to be paid so a worker could attend meetings from September 2006 to December 2006 - no receipts, but the expense was allowed anyway.

All of the above is small but rotten potatoes. So we have got to believe that more--and the worst--is yet to come. You don't fire a CEO with cause on the stuff we have been told so far.

McDougald, according to Toronto media, will soon file a $9 million lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. This is bad news for Duncan, McGuinty and the Liberals, as all sorts of damaging political information is sure come out. In fact, one of the members of the OLG Board of Directors who resigned said she quit because the Liberals failed to act on the board's advice to strengthen accountability. Stuff like this will be used against the Liberals both in the court of law and the court of public opinion.

Stay tuned.

Remembering the Canadian Victims of September 11, 2001

Please click here.

What to do with Afghanistan?

The current War in Afghanistan officially began on October 7, 2001, when the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in response to the attacks of September 11th. The then-stated aim of the mission was to find Osama Bin Laden and to find and destroy Al-Queda. And, finally, to remove the Taliban government which gave protection and safe harbour to the terrorists.

The American and coalition forces were able to defeat and depose the Taliban government within a few weeks, but have never found Bin Laden or destroyed Al-Queda. The war grinds on.

We as Canadians have invested heavily in Afghanistan, both in blood and treasure. Since 2002, 129 Canadian soldiers have died as part of the Afghan mission. In 2008, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page reported that the mission would cost $14 to $18 Billion by the time it ends in 2011. That works out to about $1500 for every household in Canada.

As we all know, the people of Afghanistan recently participated in a vote. Current President Hamid Karzai is the 12th President of Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai was made Chairman of the Transitional Committee in December 2001. In 2002, he was named Interim President, and in 2004 he was elected President.

Governing has been difficult for President Karzai. He is surrounded by warlords who have their own armies. It is speculated that some of these warlords and maybe some senior officials in the Karzai government are involved in the heroin trade. As Canadians, we read on a regular basis of the interference from Pakistan, and media reports tell of safe havens for the Taliban on Pakistani soil. We hear horror stories of schoolgirls being attacked and brutalized for attending class. Indeed it appears to the outsider that in general very little has changed for women in Afghanistan.

Anyway, everyone keeps trying to build infrastructure and institutions in order to make Afghanistan a stable member of the international community. Without a doubt, it is in our interests to do so.

The whole Afghan mission is now in jeopardy, at least in my opinion, due to the recent Presidential elections. President Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, and his supporters have claimed massive fraud in the voting. So far it looks like Mr. Abdullah may be correct. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) is investigating more than 2,500 allegations of fraudulent activity. Media reports talk of fictitious voting stations and ballot box stuffing by the thousands. In fact, the ECC called on Afghanistan's Independent Elections Commission (IEC) to conduct an audit and recount because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud in a number of polling stations." This does not bode well for Afghanistan's future.

Given the scale of this controversy, the best result might be a mandatory runoff between the two top vote-getters, Mr.Karzai and Mr. Abdullah.

All of us have too much at stake to allow the election to turn into a fiasco.

Can Venice be Saved ?

The city of Venice has a great history (and that is putting it mildly) as an financial power, maritime power, trading power and as a world centre for culture and arts. Over the centuries, Venice has played all these roles, while its main focus today is tourism, culture and arts.

I have traveled to Venice several times, with each I visit I am drawn closer to and further appreciate Venice.
Like many people from all parts of the world, I am worried about the future of Venice, one of the great wonders of the world. In fact, Venice and its lagoon is a  UNESCO World Heritage site.

Venice is located in the north-eastern part of Italy, in the wealthy Region of Veneto. Veneto is one of  20 regions in Italy and has a population of 4.8 million people. To better understand the situation, you should know that in Italy, a Region is similar to a Canadian Province or U.S State, and a Province is similar to a Canadian County. Their are 7 provinces in the Region of  Veneto. The City of Venice itself has a population of some 270,000 people. Only 30% live on the Venetian Islands in the lagoon (which we all presume to be Venice), some 70% of the city residents residing on the mainland part of Venice.

Thre are two big things going on in and around Venice that we should know and be concerned about. One is the "Moses Project". As we all know, Venice is subject to flooding or "acqua alta", as they say in Italian. In December 2008, Venice experienced the deepest flood in over 20 years, which put 95% of the city under water.

The simplest description of the "Moses Project" I have found is the following:

• "A huge structure (composed of 79 steel dams) is being strung from thousands of steel stakes where the floodwaters enter the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. These dams are each 30 meters high and 20 long, and they will be raised into position every time a high tide threatens the city. The project is expected to cost in excess of 5 billion Euros, with annual maintenance at about 9 million Euros after completion in 2013. Obviously the intention is to hold back the water – but there is concern about the effect this will have on the fragile ecosystem."

The "Moses Project" is proceeding, albeit very slowly, and is now scheduled for completion in 2014. Hopefully, this will stop the flooding and any environmental consequences from the massive construction of the dams will be minimal.

The other big situation is the proposed mainland port expansion. Italian governmental authorities have plans to expand Venice's port into a huge shipping hub. In the opinion of many, this will endanger the fragile lagoon which the slowly sinking city is built on. This port expansion calls for significant dredging of the lagoon and will allow for more and bigger ships.

The British organization, "Venice in Peril Fund", which was founded in 1966 and is one of many international organizations working to preserve Venice, has issued a report and sounded the alarm bells over what is proposed. In 1951, around 1 million people per year visited Venice, recent statistics indicate the number is now 15 million per year!!

The proposed expanded port will bring in more cargo ships and more cruise liners with more people. None of this should happen without proper studies and management systems to enusure Venice and the lagoon are not further degraded.

Happy Labour Day

Following the Great Canadian Tradition, I don't plan on working leading up to and over the Labour Day Weekend!

See you all next Wednesday September 9th, 2009.

Be safe and enjoy the great weather.

Thank you very much for supporting "Fair Play Wins" Blog!!!

How About Full Disclosure on the Internet

If you write an opinion for others to read, you should give your name. This is a basic principle that should be followed, no exceptions.

So, you want to write a letter to the editor of the local paper. What a great idea, more people should do it. And if you do, there is accepted protocol for you to follow. For example, this is the protocol at the Windsor Star:

• "Letters to the editor must include your full name, address and a daytime phone number. The Star reserves the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Letters must be fewer than 300 words." 

 If your letter gets published, your name and town gets published as well. So if I wrote a letter, my name and Amherstburg would appear.

So there you have it. A good policy as far as I am concerned. The same or similar policies hold true at other publications as well. 

My question is, why no such policy for online stories by the Windsor Star and other publications? Why the veil of secrecy? Why allow anyone with a throw-away email address and some goofy moniker to spout his or her opinion? What opinion can be of value or fair under such circumstances?

Let me give you an example.

On September 2, 2009 someone named Tumble Weed wrote the following:

 "people in Windsor are sick of unions. be gone with you. i wish you into the corn field"

in response to an online article titled: 

"Labour Day parade hits wrong note with musicians' union"

Now I know this "letter" by Tumble Weed is pure genius and Tumble Weed is certainly within the 300 word limit. So good so far.  And, of course, this is what you get when you have no standards.

Banking will Never be the Same

Technology is changing many things we do and how we do it. Banking is no different. The TimesOnline did a really interesting story of how you might be banking in the year 2020, not that far away, really.

From The Times August 29, 2009

What high street banking will look like in 2020

Banking technology is developing so swiftly that soon you’ll be able to buy things without your PIN or plastic

Imagine a world where, when you walk into your bank, messages and adverts pop up that address you by name. A world where debit and credit cards are extinct and business is done by a swipe of your mobile phone. A world where you make payments using an iris scan and do not have to remember those pesky PINs.

It might sound like the premise of the futuristic 2002 film Minority Report, based on the novel by the science-fiction master Philip K. Dick. But the technology to make all this possible is already being developed. What sounds far-fetched now could be the norm in just a few years.

For the rest of the story click here.

Revolution In Japan!

For only the second time since World War 2, voters in Japan have chosen a political party other than the Liberal Democratic Party to lead their government. Japanese society is very careful in all endeavors, and such change does not happen easily.

I made an official visit to Japan around 1988 in my capacity as Minister for Disabled Persons. I was rather very young looking at the time, and can still remember the surprised looks I received as I was introduced at formal gatherings. I also remember a private meeting with the Canadian Ambassador, who was startled when I told him he could be more ambitious in defending Canada's car sector.

What I noted first in my visit to Japan was how hard working and industrious the people seemed. The next thing I observed was how orderly and clean everything appeared. To this very day I marvel at how something as simple as taxi service is so well managed in Japan. Just think, to have a taxi driver who has taken a bath and picks you up in a clean car! This happens only on occasion in Toronto, at least from my experience.

For a society where saving face and being orderly is important, change in political leadership is worth noting. Yesterday, Japan's voters opted massively for change. Voters stampeded to the Democratic Party giving them a projected 303 seats of the 480 seats in the powerful lower house or Diet. This result far surpasses the 112 seat held by the Democratic party before the vote. Early reports indicate that voter turnout may top 70%, the highest in 2 decades. Yukio Hatoyama is leader of the Democratic Party and will soon be sworn in as Prime Minister.

So here we have it: for only the second time in 60 years, voters have turned away from the Liberal Democratic Party. The only other time was in 1993-94, and only for 10 short months.

Why this big change?

This is my theory. The people of Japan are faced with high unemployment, a huge national debt, and, most disturbing for Japanese society, media reports claim that one third of all workers are in low-paid, vulnerable jobs. Obviously, in my view, such a situation will not be tolerated by a society that prizes civic order and hard work.

Is there anything that our Ontario or Canadian governments can learn from this big change? I think there is. While we in Canada are more free-wheeling than the Japanese (and by this I don't mean the Japanese don't have fun--they do, and they do it well), we would still like to be able to plan a future.

Here in Canada the unemployment rate is hovering around 8.5%; in Ontario the number is closer to 9.3%. In Windsor the unemployment rate is 15.2%. Compare this to Japan, where the unemployment rate is 5.6%--very, very high by their standards.

Japan's debt is the size of Mount Fuji! It is closing in on 10 trillion US dollars. We, of course, are a long way from this fiasco. However, the Ontario debt is growing fast: a projected 14 Billion will be added to our debt this year alone. The Canadian national debt is also rising quickly and is somewhere near 500 Billion. Yes, this is a long way from Japan, but may I suggest that our level of debt is making Canadians uncomfortable. And sooner or later, we the taxpayers will have to pay this down.

I was unable to find statistics for Canada on vulnerable, low-paying jobs. But my instinct tells me the number could be very big. Take a test; just talk to your friends and neighbours.  Ask them what their children are doing.

In Ontario and Canada, those who enjoy political power and wish to keep it, and those who don't have political power but want it, will have to have a salable plan in answer to these 3 very sensitive issues: current unemployment, massive debt, and vulnerable underemployment. Let's start the political debate now.

Remembering Ted Kennedy

"The Lion of Liberal Politics in America"

Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009

Harmonized Sale Tax

The new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is going forward, set to start July 1, 2010 according to Premier Dalton McGuinty. The 13% tax will without a doubt take money out of the pockets of consumers. How much, and on what items is what we would all like to know.

I have written numerous stories about the HST and have asked some fairly simple and straight forward questions. I have implored our local daily paper, the Windsor Star to do a real in-depth analysis of this tax. For starters the Star should publish a complete list of products that will cost more because of this new tax. The Federal and Provincial governments may have studies on how this tax could impact the job market. If so lets see them. The other big question for me is whether this tax will impact the cost of health care and education. If so how?

Why can't we get the answers to these questions? Windsor Star Chief Honcho Jim Venney and assistant chief honcho Marty Beneteau have all the resources they need to write endless stories about the Ambassador Bridge. They can devote huge resources and space to tell us about the pay and perks of the new General Motors Board of Directors. But for some reason they just can't seem to assign supersnoopers Dave Battegello and Grace Macaluso to give us the real goods on the implications, good or bad, about the biggest tax change since the introduction of the GST.

And finally those proposing the tax should be given the chance to tell us why its good for us.

In today's online edition of the Toronto Star we read the following:

McGuinty battles grumbling on HST
Full steam ahead for 13% blended tax, premier says

Aug 27, 2009
Rob Ferguson
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau

The 13 per cent harmonized sales tax is set in stone, Premier Dalton McGuinty has warned Liberal MPPs in a special caucus meeting on the controversial new levy.

For the full story click here.

This is How You Play Hardball Politcs

As my readers will know, for 11 years, I worked for the companies that own, manage and operate the Ambassador Bridge. I am very proud of my time there and helped the companies and their bottom line a great deal. In the fall of 2004, I retired but launched a new career from scratch, not many people would have left such a secure well paying job to start all over again. But I wanted to do new things, you can catch up on my new activities by visiting my website.

For the record, I have maintained, always and to this very day, that the owners of the Ambassador Bridge face opposition to their plans for a variety of reasons. Sometimes these reasons are not honourable. The Windsor Star opposition being the most dishonourable.

The opponents to the Ambassador Bridge plans have without a doubt played hardball politics now they are getting some in return.

In yesterdays online edition on the Detroit Free Press, I found this article.

Detroit legislator faces recall efforts over 2nd Detroit-Canada bridge

BY KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A series of three recall petitions were filed Monday against state Rep. Rasihda Tlaib, D-Detroit, for her stance on a second bridge across the Detroit River.

Click here to read the entire article.

General Motors Should Keep Opel

General Motors (G.M.) is now safely out of bankruptcy. All investors in G.M. have taken a "haircut" to trim its financial obligations. It has received billions in aide from both the U.S. and Canadian governments (including billions from the Ontario government). In fact, the United States government is now the largest shareholder. The company has new cost cutting contracts with both the United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers. So the G.M. of today is not the same company it was a mere six months ago.

I think it is very prudent for G.M. to take its time and even reconsider, as the company is doing, the sale of its European entity, Adam Opel GmbH. Opel is a substantial company with approximately 50,000 employees in Europe, 25,000 of them in Germany.

There are 2 serious bidders for Opel. One is the Belgium holding company RHJ International and the second is a joint bid by Magna International and Russian bank Sberbank. I am sure both would do a very good job. I favour the Magna bid because Magna is a large Canadian company. My  readers will remember that Fiat also made a play for Opel as the company was closing its deal on Chrysler. The Opel deal is very political, and politics played a big role in Fiat/Chrysler being ruled out.

Right now there is an election going on in Germany. So saving Opel and all these jobs is a big election issue. The German government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel is willing to provide 4.5 billion euros ($6.9 billion Canadian) in loan guarantees.

There are big German car companies doing well in North America, Mercedes and Volkswagen come to mind. Nothing wrong with this.  In the interest of Fair Play and if G.M. decides to keep Opel, the same funding should be offered by the German government to the new G.M. After all, the U.S. 3 billion "cash for clunkers" programme was offered to all car companies.

For the North American auto industry to survive long term it must have global reach and Opel provides part of this for G.M.

Mixed Messages?

Ok, let's see if I understand this right.

U.S. President Barack Obama is upset that the British Government released the convicted Lockerbie Bomber. This mass murder was horrific! On Wednesday, December 21, 1988, a Pan American World Airways jet travelling from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York exploded over Lockerbie, in southern Scotland. Everyone on board, all 243 passengers and 16 crew members, perished. Innoncents, all of them, murdered. The carnage continued on the ground, killing 11 townspeople in Lockerbie, as large sections of the plane rained down on the community.

Pan Am flight 103 will not be forgotten.

In 2001, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, a Libyan, was convicted of involvement in this brutal massacre and got life in jail. On August 20, 2009, the Scottish Government released the convicted killer and allowed him to return to Libiya. The release was based on compassionate grounds as Al Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

The bomber received a hero's welcome upon his return to Libya. Boy, what a message that was.

All of this has upset the Obama administration and rightfully so.

There is a problem with all of this indignation from Obama. He wants to close the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp. The camp houses prisoners captured in Afghanistan since early 2002. The prisoners are classified as "enemy combatants". They wear no uniforms and mix in with the civilian population. As of January 2009, some 220 prisoners remained in the camp. Some of these prisoners are dangerous for sure, and if released will go back to the theatre of war and may even participate in the mass killing of innocents. We read about these bombings which take place in mosques, schools, and outdoor makets everyday. The word horrific does not adequately describe what is going on, and what some of these folks can do and have done.

I agree with Preident Obama: the Lockerbie Bomber should not have been released. But how does he justify the release of those at Guantánamo Bay?

Warren Buffett Speaks

Yesterday I informed you about the International Monetary Fund and their view that new tax hikes are coming because of all the recent government spending. Today as a follow-up I thought you should hear from one of the greatest investors of all time.

Take your time and enjoy the read.

The New York Times

Op-Ed Contributor
The Greenback Effect

By WARREN E. BUFFETT
Published: August 18, 2009

IN nature, every action has consequences, a phenomenon called the butterfly effect. These consequences, moreover, are not necessarily proportional. For example, doubling the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than double the subsequent problems for society. Realizing this, the world properly worries about greenhouse emissions.

The butterfly effect reaches into the financial world as well. Here, the United States is spewing a potentially damaging substance into our economy — greenback emissions.

• Click here to read the rest of the article

New Tax Hikes on the way says International Monetary Fund

According the their website:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 186 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

What the IMF Does

• The work of the IMF is of three main types. Surveillance involves the monitoring of economic and financial developments, and the provision of policy advice, aimed especially at crisis-prevention. The IMF also lends to countries with balance of payments difficulties, to provide temporary financing and to support policies aimed at correcting the underlying problems; loans to low-income countries are also aimed especially at poverty reduction. Third, the IMF provides countries with technical assistance and training in its areas of expertise. Supporting all three of these activities is IMF work in economic research and statistics.
• In recent years, as part of its efforts to strengthen the international financial system, and to enhance its effectiveness at preventing and resolving crises, the IMF has applied both its surveillance and technical assistance work to the development of standards and codes of good practice in its areas of responsibility, and to the strengthening of financial sectors.
• The IMF also plays an important role in the fight against money-laundering and terrorism

Below is the first 3 paragraphs of a story from the Toronto Star online edition of August 19/09.

OTTAWA–The International Monetary Fund says most countries will need to raise taxes to pay off the trillions of dollars they spent fighting the global recession.
IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard says in an article to be published today that governments acted properly in ramping up spending to stop the worst slump since World War II.
Soon, he says, nearly all countries will have to raise taxes to pay the recovery bill.
Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has rejected the idea he will have to raise taxes to pay off about $47 billion in stimulus spending.

-------------------------------------------------------------

It will be interesting to know how Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty intends to pay for the huge deficits he himself has forecast. If new taxes are out, what cutbacks are in?