Monday, March 17, 2008

When will Harper come to the rescue of the falsely imprisoned income trust investor?


Mexico sure is a backward place for anyone to get justice.

Just ask Brenda Martin who has been falsely imprisoned on trumped up charges.

Mexico is getting as bad a reputation as Canada and the events of Halloween 2006, when Jim Flaherty thought he would make Canadians saving for retirement more captive to the financial wares of Corporate Canada.

The democratization of the Canadian Capital markets was not in the interest of those extremely narrow interests who felt threatened by Canadians' clear preference for the investment model known as income trusts.

To bring about this false captivity of income trust investors, simply required a set of false trumped up charges. The foremost of which was the fraudulent claim that income trusts cause tax leakage , or the false claim that income trusts have a negative effect on the economy.

Now that former Prime Minister Paul Martin has been to visit jailed Canadian Brenda Martin in jail, Stephen Harper is in catch up mode. So he dispatched Jason Kenney to Mexico to secure her release. Dispatching Jason Kenney to Mexico conjures up two very “income trust moments”. One was the raucous Jason Kenney town hall meeting reported on Global News and the other in the Globe and Mail, as follows:

"Paul Desmarais Jr., the well-connected chairman of Power Corp. of Canada [but not a registered lobbyist], even railed against trusts in a conversation with Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a trip to Mexico, and told him he should act quickly to stop the raft of conversions, according to sources."

Brenda Martin was charged with being involved is some internet fraud scheme that was masterminded by Alyn Waage that bilked investors of over $60 million. Meanwhile back in Canada we have Jim Flaherty masterminding (is that an oxymoron?) the income trust scam that has bilked investors of over $35 billion of their life savings. Hence the Liberals and Green, parties have both called for investigations into alleged tax leakage and to ascertain the truth.

Maybe then we can get some justice back into the Canada, and free Canadian trust investors from their false imprisonment. Maybe we should make Brenda Martin our spokesperson. I understand she is quite effective at awakening the moribund Canadian press, who wouldn’t know an injustice if it came up and robbed them blind and threw them in jail or tax leakage if was hidden under 18 ages of blacked out, trumped up documents

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

To be jailed in Mexico is one thing---the system of laws & government are archaic at the best of times--corruption in the justice system runs rampant--the Brenda Martin case is closer to the norm than the exception.

This is fine for Mexico.

What is our excuse here.

Our government is democratic & is to be run for the people & by the people.

The unfortunate thing is that it is being run by a minority & for the very few who have the government`s ear.

Income trust investors would be no worse off in Mexico than they are here--at least there we would not have been foolish enough to believe any promises made.

Dr Mike.

Oldschool said...

Mexico is a sh1t-hole country . . . corrupt to the core . . . anyone who goes there should be told they may wind up robbed, murdered, arrested or otherwise inconvenienced.
That is why a large percentage of the population is in the US illegally, cause poverty in the US is far better than success in Mexico.
If one wants to sit in the sun . . . go to Panama, where they have no hurricanes, two oceans within a few hours drive, good medical and dental care and a stable govt.
On the Income Trust thing . . . when my broker tried to interest me in IC's a few years ago . . . I said to him "these are too good to be true" . . . . I passed, guess I was right!!

Anonymous said...

Old School

The way the markets are signaling collapse , you may have to eat your words on income trusts.

These are about to become a breath of fresh air in a mass of rot brought on by the very people who should have known better.

Can you imagine an income trust with their monthly accounting getting themselves in a mess like this.

Not in this lifetime.

What you called "too good to be true" turns out to be "too good to pass up".

Mike.

Anonymous said...

Re the Brenda Martin case: what more can the Canadian government do...cut off diplomatic ties...declare war? Why don't all the people who are in such a snit over this case get togeher and petition the U.N. Human Rights Commission; lots of other single-issue groups have done so. My advice to would-be ex pats...if you want to have the same legal rights and protections that you get in Canada, then stay home!
Re the income trusts. According to the Canadian Business publication "income trusts have grown by 17.8% annually over the past 5 years." These trusts always were, and always will be, a scam for big corporations to avoid taxes. And, I suspect, the only reason 'Juicy' John McCallum is in such a twitter is that he passed on some "insider" information to his fat-cat buddies prior to the budget and then was made to look like the fool that he is.
Powell lucas

Anonymous said...

Powell lucas

I am sure you already know that taxes paid on trusts were far larger than the taxes paid by these entities as corporations---studies were done making the comparison---I have the figures if you require them--please let me know & I will be glad to forward them to you.

Of course , if you wait for a few months , the Auditor general will be able to supply these for you---her study on tax leakage from the trust structure will hopefully get under way very soon.

I will be happy to forward your comments to Mr McCallum for his perusal & maybe then you can be the recipient of one of Mr Harper`s most favorite "Libel" suits.

Check your facts before you speak next time.

Dr Mike.

Anonymous said...

Powell Lucas:

You are a really bright light indeed.

Are you any relation to the Lucas electric company of the UK who supplied electrics to MGs, Jaguars and the like?

I thought so, since Lucas was better known as the Lord of Darkness. Your comments are pathetically unenlightening.

Anonymous said...

Dr. Mike:

Good idea. Why don't you forward my comments to "Juicy John". If he has trouble with the words containing more than two syllables, I'll be glad to explain them for him.
Powell