It's an interesting story, but hard to follow, mainly because it has been playing out slowly over the months and involves a large cast of characters, the good, the bad and the decidedly ugly.
Now as is my want, I'm going to take the completely opposite view of what is described by the mainstream media, who are vilifying Arsenault and portraying him as some sort of crook.
It just isn't true.
Now I've no axe to grind and no personal stake or friendship here and the FTQ isn't my favourite organization, but fair is fair, Arsenault was railroaded out of a job and although I have no sympathy for him or the union, them's the facts.
Before I start story telling, let's cover some background.
The FTQ (Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec) is Quebec's largest union with over half a million members representing about 44% of Quebec's unionized workers. Its president for the last few years is Michel Arsenault, the subject of this piece.
The FTQ Construction is a component union of the FTQ and had as its president one Jocelyn Dupuis, (until he was ousted) who is one badass connected to the Mafia.
The third element that you need to know about is Ken Pereira, an organizer at the FTQ Construction who turned whistle-blower and got Dupuis dumped.
The last element is the Fonds de Solidarité, a fund created by the FTQ, ostensibly to make investments in Quebec with the express goal of fostering union jobs.
In fact very little of that happens, the bulk of its investments are similar to any other Canadian investment fund, but more on that later on.
The fund receives contributions from the public via RRSP contributions and represents (on the surface) an especially good deal because both the federal and provincial government grant an extra 15% deduction, for a total deduction of 30% more than what is given to a regular RRSP contribution at a bank or trust institution.
Let me take a moment to explain.
A taxpayer making $50,000 and who contributes 5,000 to an RRSP, is only taxed on the remaining $45,000, and so the $5,000 that goes into the RRSP account is tax-free.
A taxpayer making $50,000 and who contributes $5,000 to the Fonds de Solidarite RRSP, gets the same deduction plus an additional deduction of 15% from the federal government and 15% from the Quebec government and so is taxed not on the $45,000 as above, but $43,500. Detailed Explanation
It sounds like a good deal and many Quebecers have invested in the fund because of the additional tax saving with the belief that the money is being invested in Quebec, both assumptions proving false. The Fund has performed so poorly, they'd have been better off investing elsewhere, anywhere else, in fact.
Here is a chart prepared by DAVID over at antagonist.net where you can read more about the subject.(in French.)
The chart describes what $100 invested in the year 2,000 in the various investment funds, is worth today.
The comparison is quite shocking, the $100 invested in the Caisse de dépôt (Quebec's retirement fund) grew to about $165, while the money in the FTQ-Solidarity Fund grew to just $118, while the Ontario Municipal Employee fund grew to $200, the Canadian Pension Plan grew to $210 and the aggressive Teachers fund from Ontario grew to $240.
So to those thinking that the FTQ Solidarity Fund is worth the extra deduction...think again.
And by the way, the federal government pulled the plug on its portion of the tax deduction this year, claiming that the Fund doesn't really invest much in job creation and is really just another player in the RRSP game.
But the Solidarity Fund still has about $9.3 billion in assets and that certainly is no trifle.
The fund is managed by professionals, but the President of the FTQ is automatically placed on the Board of Directors.
And here plays out the drama.
While Jocelyn Dupuis was then FTQ-Construction boss, he partnered up with some serious Mafiosi and tried to get Arsenault to use his influence as a board member of the Solidarity Fund to lend these companies money.
Arsenault demurred, telling Dupuis that the reputations of the partners made it impossible to lend them anything and considering the repercussions of turning down the Mafia, I think he acquitted himself nicely.
No harm no foul, the Fund never gave Dupuis and his partners any money at all.
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| Ken Pereira -whistle blower extraordinaire! |
Pereira took the proof to Arsenault and asked him to dump Dupuis, but Arsenault stalled, hoping to clean up the mess privately.
After all, he was dealing with a man connected to some very dangerous individuals. In fact one of them is now in jail awaiting his trial for murder.
And so it came to pass that somebody (wink,wink) leaked the documents to a journalist and when the extent of the bilking became public, Dupuis was forced to resign and was subsequently arrested for theft by the police.
Along the way, we were promised some juicy wiretap evidence at the Charbonneau Commission, concerning FTQ bosses discussing affairs, but truthfully they were less than impressive, when finally played. The recordings incriminated Dupuis, but not Arsenault.
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| Jocelyn Dupuis- masterful performance! |
A consummate actor and raconteur extraordinaire, it was impressive to see what a force he is. Calm and confident, not in the least bit intimidated, he teased with the judge and prosecutor with grinning disdain.
When asked why he associated and partnered up with so many mobsters, he told the commission that he believed in giving criminals a chance to rehabilitate themselves. PRICELESS!!!
Read a story on his testimony
So not a pretty story. But as for Arsenault, I can't really find fault .
He never did anything crooked and his only failing was in not rooting out Dupuis and his mobster friends.
But I'd like to remind readers that these people are extremely violent and volatile and I myself would consider long and large before taking a heroic stand.
Now let's go on to the second part of the FTQ story, this one is even more interesting.
It concerns Pauline Marois' controversial husband, Claude Blanchet.
Here's what I wrote about him back in 2011.
Would you lend this guy money?Madame Marois has always been an expert political 'operator' cut from the same cloth as Jean Charest. She has survived her own scandals with barely a scratch.
Madame & Messier Pauline Marois
Her detestable husband, Claude Blanchet, is wealthy in his own right. While Marois was a cabinet minister in the PQ government of Jacques Parizeau, her husband was appointed, as director of a new Quebec government investment agency, the Société générale de financement du Québec but was eventually forced out over charges of gross incompetence. During his five year tenure at the helm of the agency, it lost over $800 million, during which time, he and senior management paid themselves generous bonuses, year after losing year!' When he was finally ousted, he negotiated himself an $80,000 pension for life, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance!
I've been told off the record, by businessmen who know him professionally, that he's the type of guy that you count your fingers after shaking hands with him.
The power couple live in a controversial eight million mansion on Île Bizard, which was the subject of considerable controversy at one point. It was alleged in the Montreal Gazette that the couple paid off someone in order to legitimize a zoning change for the property. Read: How estate was built on public, farm lands.
See breathtaking pictures of the chateau Here
The couple sued the Gazette for $2 million over the article, but when the controversy petered out as expected, they settled out of court with the newspaper. The Gazette in the strangest of settlements, admitted that the story could have caused the couple harm, but was in fact true...Huh? Link{Fr}
Read the entire post
It seems that the Solidarity Fund did just that,
Now for Arsenault the FTQ boss, it would just make business sense to cosy up to the husband of the then opposition leader, a good investment that would pay off, should she become Premier, which of course she did.
The loan was a trifling sum to a 9 billion fund and let's face it, Blanchet and Marois would be indebted whether the investment was successful or not.
Of course it was not.....
Now Marois met with Arsneault twice, once before the loan and once after, ostensibly to discuss public matters and maybe that part is true.
But that is not the point, the meeting cemented a relationship and that is what Arsenault wanted and got.
Who could blame him, it was just good business and there was no ethical lapse on his part at all, no more than offering NHL tickets to a purchasing agent.
To those of you who think that this is unethical, welcome to the real world.
AND during all this, Arsenault was subject to a police investigation which included wiretaps and surveillance!
But it was not Arsenault that broke the ethical bounds, rather Marois, who should never, never have taken such a meeting.
To highlight the power that Arsenault exercised over the PQ, when the crap hit the fan over the mob's attempt to get loans from the Solidarity Fund, the opposition demanded that Arsenault explain himself before a National assembly Committee.
Marois steadfastly refused, protecting Arsenault from testifying, but when Arsenault himself decided that he was better off appearing, the Premier reversed herself.
At any rate, it should never have happened, the Charbonneau Commission was looking into these things and this Parliamentary circus was nothing more than a distraction.
Now back to the loan..
It seems that the full board of Directors of the Solidarity fund is required to approve any loan of three million dollars plus and so that is why the loan to Blanchet's company was $2,999,999, a dollar short of the threshold.
Draw your own conclusion...
One last thing.
During Dupuis' testimony, it came out that the FTQ-Construction union, the entity that Dupuis led, gave quite a bit of help to André Boisclair and the PQ in the 2007 election.
Hundreds of FTQ-Construction workers put up signs, manned phone lines and provided security and babysitting services.
Now there's nothing illegal at all about that, as long as nobody was paid to do the work and Dupuis claimed that to be the case.
But what is interesting, is the fact that Dupuis admitted to sharing a few meals with Boisclair to discuss strategy.
Now the LCN news network dug up an old André Boisclair interview where he told the interviewer that the days of the PQ leader being a pal with union leaders is a thing of the past and that he would not be conducting business over liquid lunches, so to speak.
A direct contradiction of the facts.
In Boisclair's upcoming defamation lawsuit against Jacques Duchesneau, and Francis Legault, I think the defence team should pay notice to the fact that Boisclair was untruthful.
As they say on the TV court room dramas...'goes to credibility, your honour!'
