Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Henri-Paul Rousseau Absolves Himself

As predicted here in a post this last Friday, Henri-Paul Rousseau Rousseau takes no blame for the meltdown at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

Read the article over on the LCN website entitled
"Henri-Paul Rousseau ne s'excuse pas."
Henri-Paul Rousseau doesn't excuse himself" (my translation)

You can read my Friday post HERE or just scroll down.
As the post predicts, Mr. Rousseau blames forces beyond his control for the problems.

On Friday I wrote;
"I don't know if it is a case of hubris or self-delusion, but I predict that he will take little responsibility for the fiasco. He will say many things, but nothing much.
Ultimately he will blame forces beyond his control or perhaps the infamous "Black Swan."
The only difference is that he referred to a "Perfect Storm"(an event where a combination of circumstances will aggravate a situation drastically) and I used the term Black Swan (A highly improbable event that has three attributes: rarity, extreme impact and retrospective predictability (meaning that, in retrospect, we think we can explain it).

My post went on to say;
"I hope someone in the media asks Mr. Rousseau to comment on his shameful and selfish exit."
I'm not the only one wondering. Yves Michaud, an investor rights guru, asked the same question on TV today. Here's the video and a rough translation below;



"The only question that he did not answer, because nobody asked was -"Why did you leave your position at the Caisse de dépôt months before the end of your mandate?
When you accept a position for five years you finish the term and then resign. He never answered the question".


The sad part of it was that Mr. Rousseau was applauded when he finished his explanation at the Montreal Board of Trade.