Formula 1 Racing Fiddles While Montreal Burns With Rage

It was with a measure of disgust and frustration that I watched the Formula 1 race from Hungary last Sunday.
As seen in the picture, the race was run to a half full house, with tens of thousands of seats unoccupied.

Formula 1 has always nurtured an image of exclusiveness and owned a well-earned caché of decadence.
Rich tourists with fat bankrolls, expensive sports cars, beautiful women, Dom Perignon, Cuban cigars, famous pop singers and movie stars, that's what the Formula 1 organization promised to deliver to the hosting venues.

When the Grand Prix came to town, it was a chance for the hoi-polloi to rub up against the gliterrati, the rich and famous jet setters, for a weekened, anyway.

Watching the Hungarian Grand Prix play out before an empty house was deflating and image busting. It can't be good for the sport.

Here in Montreal, the Grand Prix always ran to a packed house and everyone involved with the event including the racing teams, the organizers, the sponsors and the fans were in love with the summer event, everyone that is, but Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1’s boss.

Next to Monaco, Montreal was the highlight of the racing calender, the worldwide television audience numbers proved it. No other host city put as much effort into making the event successful and memorable. The city transformed itself into a Mardi-Gras type atmosphere with street closings, parades, parties and special events making the fun accessible even to those who don't like car racing.

Each year over 100,000 fans shelled out between $60 and $1,500 dollars for tickets.
How on earth can that not be a paying proposition for Formula 1?

Ever since Mr. Ecclestone sold the majority of his interest in the business to CVC Capital Partners for $2.5 billion, Formula 1 racing has become obsessed with wringing out as much profit from the business, without regard for the long-term good of the sport.

To fetch such a high selling price, Ecclestone had to guarantee a huge cash flow and so he regularly takes out half of the $1 billion that the sport generates each year.

This is the new reality of Formula 1, where venues are chosen exclusively for what they will pay to host the event and where live audiences and real fans have been declared redundant.

If an organizer offered Bernie enough money, he’d hold a race on the moon.

And so races take place in countries where autocratic leaders seek validation of their regime by hosting a showcase international event. They pay obscene amounts of money in the vain attempt to buy legitimacy.
No matter that the man in the street has no interest in the sport or the wherewithal to attend, it is but a side issue.

Turkey, China, Hungary, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and Bahrain are all venues where fans are nonexistent and where those who do attend, pay just a few dollars or are let in free. Worse still, in some venues people are forced to attend to give the impression that the event is successful.

The sport may return to Montreal, but I'm not sure it will ever recover it's past glory. In North America and Montreal in particular Formula 1 is damaged goods.

Fans were royally annoyed that they were so callously treated. With the elimination of the US Grand Prix, those Americans fans who made the trek up to Montreal to see the race may choose to pass on Formula 1 if it returns to Montreal.

I can't imagine what sponsors think. Allowing the sport to remain unrepresented in their most important markets seems counterproductive, but then again many things are strange.

Perhaps the chickens have come home to roost.

This week BMW announced their retirement from the sport, leaving only four engine manufacturers left in the sport. It's widely believed that another engine manufacturer will also leave by year's end.

Formula 1 continues to generate a lot of money, but for how long?

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Weekly Anglo Quebec News July 25- July 31

Want to Keep up with Quebec News in just 5 minutes?
Perfect for Ex-pats or those in a rush!
Every Saturday read a short, subjective weekly review of Quebec news with a Anglophone perspective.

Earl Jones arrested. The crook who bilked his friends out of $30-$50 million was finally arrested after crown prosecutors finally put together a case. It appears that he never really was on the lam and had been impatiently waiting for the arrest, holed up in Montreal. He was charged and then given bail, in a court appearance that lasted minutes.

Another idiotic honour crime in Montreal. This one not as serious as the one where four women died as of a result of an honour killing in Kingston. Not one day after Mohammad Shafia and his clan were arraigned in relation to the murder of their three daughters and the ex-wife, another honour crime took place in the LaSalle neighborhood of Montreal, where a couple has been charged with assaulting and threatening their teenage girls. The girls, aged 14 and 15 had snuck a boy, aged 11 into the family home when the parents were out. They were discovered and a beating was administered to all three. The father called 911 and told the operator that the boy broke into their home. Police arrived and figured out what had really happened. Arrested was Zahid Hussain, his wife and her mother, all charged with various crimes including assault, uttering death threats, using violence to force their children to give a false statement to police and obstructing justice. Yikes! Link

Ponzi anyone? A Montreal lawyer alleges that investment counsellor Lance Townend sold phony investments in Progressive Management Ltd, a company that was nothing more than an empty shell, according to him. In a previous life, Mr. Townend worked for Triglobal Capital, a company which illegally invested several millions in the Cayman Islands and then went bankrupt. It's owner, is currently on the lam.


Comedian Lewis Black did a bang up job when he was pressed into service to host a comedy gala after John Cleese suddenly took ill. The audience was treated to a wonderful performance by one of comedy's giants. For comedians, bringing local content to an audience is always a challenge, but apparently not for Mr. Black.
Commenting on his ride into the city from the airport which took him across Montreal's infamously crumbling Turcot Exchange highway, he quipped that; "There are aqueducts in Rome in better shape than (Montreal's) infrastructure."
His words were sadly prophetic. On Monday morning, a construction worker was seriously injured when a piece of concrete, the size of a football fell off that highway and onto his head.

High school graduation rates continue to be dismal for Quebec students, especially males. 65% of boys haven't graduated five years after starting high school. Now a more shocking statistic has been released. As bad as that situation is, nothing compares to what is going on in the high north of Quebec in schools that teach natives. Only 4,2% students in schools run by the Commission scolaire Crie graduated, five years after entering high school and the situation is only slightly better at the Commission scolaire Kativik, where 9,8% graduated within five years.

Arturo Gatti's murder has turned into a suicide according to Brazil authorities. His wife, who up to now has been in prison in Brazil as the prime murder suspect was released. The boxer's family is skeptical and demanded a second autopsy.

Montrealers salute Michael Jackson with a flash mob rendition of the classic video 'Beat It'. Click here to view the video, I guarantee you'll enjoy it! The event was inspired by the original which took place in Stockholm, Sweden which was even more impressive.

Montreal Airport suffers a huge drop in business this last quarter, as flights drop by 8%.

Quebec City suffers extreme weather including a tornado and a storm that dumped 23 mm of rain on the city in less than an hour. In Montreal another rainstorm on Sunday caused the L'Acadie Circle underpass to flood once again. It happened last year under the same circumstances. The province blamed the city for the flood, the city blamed God. “I can’t control the heavens!” said Sammy Forcillo, vice-chairman of the city of Montreal’s executive committee.
Once again nearby homes were flooded. The class action suit filed against the city, in relation to last year's flood has yet to be heard.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT
(Weekly review of interesting crime stories and court room antics)

Another 'Car Surfing' accident. A 17-year-old girl was in critical condition with head injuries in hospital this week after a car-surfing incident in Drummondville, a town about 100 kilometres east of Montreal. The teen driver was arrested. This follows an earlier incident where a man died in Montreal when he fell off an SUV. What exactly is car surfing? Here's a video.

Drunk driving champion Réal Quinn, of Pintendre was convicted for the 17th time in the Quebec City courthouse. He was arrested after a women called police after she noticed him getting behind the wheel, clearly drunk. What made her suspect that he was drunk? He had just staggered out of a depanneur after attempting to pay for beer with a CAA map. During his trial, in which he maintained his innocence, his friend, who was in the passenger seat at the time told the court that Quinn offered him money to lie in court and say that it was he who was driving. He'll be sentenced in the fall.

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Why Earl Jones Got $30,000 Bail.

Those affected by the Earl Jones scam are scratching their heads in frustration in light of Earl Jones' $30K bail and his quick exit from jail.

Sources close to the investigation shed a somewhat different light than what you are reading in the newspapers.

As soon as Earl Jones had his investment scheme blow up on him, he knew that the jig was up. He could of flown the coop, but instead went to see his lawyer, Jeffrey Boro at the Place D'Armes office near the Montreal courthouse.

Mr. Boro informed the police as to Mr. Jones whereabouts, but there was no arrest warrant issued because prosecutors had not developed a case. During this time Mr. Jones travelled to the States to visit his daughter with the full knowledge of the police.

Mr Jones made several visits to his lawyers office during the three weeks when he was supposedly on the lam.

During this whole time, the police (and Earl's family) knew exactly where he was. That is why there was no manhunt and no comment from police concerning his whereabouts. Those who felt police weren't doing much to search for Jones can now understand why.

The investigation was hampered by the key member on the law enforcement side being unavailable for over a week (out of town).

At any rate these investigations usually take months to complete before charges are ever laid.

But as the public pressure mounted, the situation became untenable and even the police themselves, not wishing to appear inept, demanded that the crown go forward with charges even if a case hadn't be made as yet, so they could make the arrest.

Mr. Boro wrung several concessions from the police, including the one where Mr. Jones would be arrested in his law offices, instead of on the street. This actually suited the cops and they made the arrest dressed in their Sunday best, secure in the knowledge that their picture would appear in every newspaper in Canada.

Because there was never any question of flight and Mr. Boro delivered Earl as promised, prosecutors could not in good faith oppose bail, in fact the amount and the conditions were negotiated beforehand.
It wasn't magic that the $30,000 bail money was ready and waiting in court and Earl was out the door in a matter of minutes.

The rushed charges against Earl will be followed up with more charges once the complete investigation wraps up. That won't be before the next appearance in court where prosecutor's will be forced to seek another delay. But that may not happen at all, with the more likely possibility that Earl will take a plea.

It was clear from Mr. Boro's comportment that Earl won't be mounting much of a defence.
I don't think I've ever heard a defence lawyer state that it was time for his client to ' face the music' before charges were even laid!

Mr. Boro has stated on more than one occasion that Earl is in a precarious state of mind. This fact is absolutely true. Sources who know, say that he is completely freaked out and dangerously unbalanced.

His rough treatment at the courthouse, as he was bustled into a waiting car couldn't help that situation.

We are headed towards a guilty plea with no trial.

Earl has no desire to face his accusers. His consternation is real.

I also believe that prosecutors will not not accord the usual courtesy of a reduced sentence for the plea, he may get between eight and fourteen years, but alas, will probably be out in under three years.

It seems that for once the justice system is bending to public pressure as evidenced by the hurried and incomplete way charges were laid by prosecutors.

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$140,000 Theft = 1½ Hours in Jail!

With the arrest of Montreal fraudster Earl Jones, bilked investors are now looking to the justice system for a measure of retribution, since there's little likelihood of getting their money back.

If Vincent Lacroix's recent release from prison serves as an example, they shouldn't hold their breath.

Mr. Lacroix was convicted of stealing $130 million dollars from some 9200 investors and after all was said and done spent just 555 days in jail.

Those investors each lost an average of $140,000 dollars and if you do the math it works out that for each of those crimes, Vincent Lacroix spent a total of 1½ hours in prison!

Yup, each and every of one of Mr. Lacroix's 9200 victims needs to be satisfied in the knowledge that he spent a total of 1½ hours in jail for the crime he committed against them.

1½ hours in prison!

People may look at the 150 year prison term that Bernie Madoff got as being a bit excessive, but what the judge did quite rightly is add time up for each crime committed. Those victimized by Madoff can take a measure of relief that he'll rot in jail for the rest of his life.

Here in Canada we take the perverted view that 'non-violent' crime is somehow less damaging than violent crime and should thus be judged differently.

In other words, rob with a pen and you'll get a slap on the wrist. Rob with a gun and you'll get serious time.

A home invader may typically get 6 years for a first offence, but will not be eligible for accelerated parole after serving 1/6 of the sentence because of the weapon he brandished in the commission his crime. Typically he'll make off with a few thousand dollars at best.

A fraudster who uses no violence to fleece investors of their life savings will typically get the same type of sentence, but will be eligible for very early parole.

I wonder if all those swindled, given a choice would rather suffer a home invasion where they are held at gunpoint and relieved of a couple of thousand dollars, rather than losing their life savings in a 'non-violent' fraud?

While I certainly don't belittle the terror that those who suffer a home invasion go through, the vast majoirty would certainly opt for the hour of terror, rather than seeing their entire financial future wiped out.

Given everything that has occurred this last year with Lacroix and Madoff, how will our judicial system react?

Will Mr Jones get bail and walk out of jail until his eventual trial months or years later?

If convicted, will he get a sentence that reflects the gravity of the crime?

Will the justice system listen to the desperate voices of the victims crying out for a sentence that befits the crime?

Probably not.

To underline how little faith people have in our criminal justice system, the victims Earl Jones are are organizing a demonstration in front of the courthouse today to demand justice. Victims of other frauds are also invited to participiate.

That's how low our justice system has fallen.

While justice is supposed to be blind, it appears that in Canada, it is deaf, dumb and blind!

We'd all like like to see Earl Jones get the book thrown at him.

Problem is, that in Canada the book is very, very thin.

No matter what is proven the very, very most time Earl Jones will serve is five years.

On the other hand, if things go his way, he may serve less than year!

What a travesty!

The very best thing we should do is to let Earl Jones go free and deport him to the United States.
Apparently, some of those he bilked are Americans. I bet that the US Attorney's office would love to get their hands on him. Even if he defrauded just one person in the US as opposed to the hundred or so here, he can anticipate a sentence that is three or four times longer in America. Being a foreigner, he have to serve out the majority of whatever that sentence would be.

Canadian police often are happy to cooperate and transfer dangerous international criminals to American custody because of sentencing differences.

It reminds me of the drunk Russian diplomat Andrei Knyazev, who killed a pedestrian in Ottawa while under the influence, a number of years ago. The Russian government invoked diplomatic privilege and sent him home. The public was outraged that the man would escape justice.
Privately a Russian official told me that the diplomat involved begged to be tried in Canada and to do his time here. Instead, he went home to face Russian justice, where he was convicted and sent to a Russian prison for four years! It is likely that in Canada he would have been sentenced to two or three years and be out in a couple of months!

If we want thing s to change we need to let our politicians feel the heat. They will only listen when people rise up and threaten their power.

This first demonstration is a start.

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Vincent Lacroix Represents Everything Wrong in our Jusitce System

Last week Vincent Lacroix, the Norbourg fraudster was released to a halfway house after serving just one-sixth of his 8½-year sentence in jail for a crime that severely damaged and in many cases, destroyed the retirement savings of over 15,000 Quebeckers, mostly seniors.

His saga highlights the utter failure of our justice system to deliver any semblance of justice. It is a cautionary tale of the systemic failure of our police, courts and of our penal system in general.

It highlights everything that is broken in the administration of justice in this country.

Vincent Lacroix engineered a fraud of some $130 million way back in 2005. His investors were mostly elderly, unsophisticated Quebeckers, apt to listen to their professional investment advisers, who placed their money into Norbourg, a company run by Mr. Lacroix which sold various investment funds.
Mr. Lacroix had done a stint in the province's powerful Caisse de Depot and after leaving for various other of investment-like positions, struck out on his own in 1998. His Quebec pedigree appealed to many francophone investors and brokers alike and the money flowed in.

Mr. Lacroix proved once again the old adage, that nobody can defraud you faster than one of your own.

Lacroix made irregular withdrawals from the funds placed in his trust and forged documents to hide the transactions. The money was used to buy other companies, pay employees, with a great deal of the cash just plain disappearing.

The Quebec regulatory agency, the AMF got involved after complaints and an audit revealed that just $70 million of the original $205 million originally invested remained, leaving investors high and dry.

This all happened before the great market meltdown last year that flushed out fraudsters like Bernie Madoff. The market at the time was doing quite well.

After an investigation, he was indicted on security violations and went to trial in 2007.

After a farcical trial in which Mr. Lacroix defended himself ineptly, revealing a decidedly unbalanced state of mind, he was finally sentenced to 12½ years in prison. After a failed appeal, the court did however reduce his sentence to 8½ years.

In the meantime the RCMP was conducting their own fraud investigation (which took 4 years to complete) and while Lacroix was in prison they indicted him on other fraud charges.
That trial is scheduled to take place at this fall.

Serving just one-sixth of his sentence, Lacroix was released to a halfway house last week. He spent about a year and a half in jail for a crime that impacted the lives of thousands of people and which will continues to have ramifications for the rest of their lives.

The majority of the investor were not rich to begin with, most worked their entire life to save a couple of hundred thousand dollars to finance a modest and safe retirement.
The financial disaster wrecked upon them by Lacroix meant that most had to go back to work, mowing grass, doing home repairs, or working as Wal-Mart greeters. Some were forced to sell their homes and move into rentals or worse still, move in with their children.

Lacroix was released, as officials explained, because the law is the law, non-violent first time offenders are eligible for accelerated parole. This, in spite of the fact that he is currently under indictment for fraud.
The official response- "He hasn't been convicted, so that fact is irrelevant."

And so the investors who were fleeced look on in disgust and horror, the short period of his incarceration another cruel stab in the heart. Mr Lacroix's quick exit from prison another betrayal, another disappointment. The protest vigil held in front of the halfway house that accepted Mr. Lacroix is evidence that the wounds are still fresh.

Aside from the overwhelming enmity that the victims feel for Mr. Lacroix, they are also enraged by;

• The incompetent financial regulators who allowed Mr. Lacroix to exist. Unlike Earl Jones was Norbourg licensed.
  
• The incompetent AMF and RCMP who took years to prosecute.
• The uninterested court system that barely considered the magnitude of the tragedy in punishing Mr. Lacroix.
• The ridiculous parole system that allowed him to escape any real measure of punishment by awarding him early parole.
  

It's perhaps unfair to compare the Canadian justice system with the American justice system, Canadians are by nature more forgiving, but there are some telling differences that are fair to examine.
While we may consider the American overly harsh and unforgiving, the vast majority of Canadians view our system as even more flawed, with sentences much too lenient.

One thing that nobody can deny is the relative efficiency displayed by the Americans justice system in moving the process along.

Bernie Madoff was investigated, tried, convicted and dispatched to jail in a matter of seven months! It took over three years to send Lacroix to jail. The RCMP investigation culminating in the charges Lacroix currently faces, took over 4 years to complete! If convicted, he'll likely be jailed six years after the fact.
As the saying goes "Justice delayed is justice denied."

Lacroix is not the only high profile crook to spend years free before finally being convicted.
Between 1993 and 1998, Garth Drabinsky and his partner Myron Gottlieb, executives of the theater company Livent engineered a fraud in which they cooked the books of the company, resulting in misstated company profits. The company was later sold at an inflated price based on the fraudulent numbers. In March of this year, 16 years after the beginning of the fraud, the two were finally convicted. As of today they still haven't been sentenced or sent to jail! Arrrgggh!!!!

Drabinsky is currently working on the CBC's program Canada's next Triple Sensation, acting as an on-air judge, giving advice and coaching contestants. What Chutzpah!
Could you imagine Bernie Madoff offering advice on CNBC while awaiting sentencing? What on earth was the CBC thinking?

Is it unreasonable to expect that by now, the only involvement Mr. Drabinsky would have had in the entertainment field, would be the organization of a talent show in Kingston Pen?

Don't think that it is only rich people that get to delay their day in Canadian courts. Any cynical person charged with a crime can engineer delaying tactic after delaying tactic, with the full cooperation of judges and lawyers.

An accused Quebec drunk driver, Guy Gagnon has successfully postponed his sentencing 32 33 times! Four years ago he ran down a child while under the influence. It isn't that complicated a case, he's argued everything under the sun to delay his imprisonment, including a demand for a new trial because the crown prosecutor who won his conviction has been appointed a judge. He's been out on bail all this time.
How do you think the victim's family views this farce?

Somewhere along the line Canada's penal system warped from being a system of punishment, to a system of rehabilitation. It seems that the old adage -'Do the crime-do the time' does not apply north of the border.

Canada's prison sentences are among the lightest in the world and coupled with one of the most lenient parole system in the world, criminals, especially first timers, spend little time in jail.

Whether punishment serves as a deterrent is perhaps beside the point. Reasonable sentences are crucial if the public is expected to respect and trust the justice system. When victims of crime see the perpetrators of their misery punished, it serves as cathartic salve and provides a form of satisfactory closure.

When criminals are let off with a slap on the wrist, it sends the message that society views the pain and suffering of the victim as unimportant.

Can things change? Probably not.

When the Conservatives recently proposed harsher sentences for paedophiles, the Bloque Quebecois party stymied the legislation.

Why? Because that's what they do.

If our dysfunctional Parliament can't agree on tougher sentences for the most egregious of crimes, how will they ever impose harsher sentences for financial scoundrels?

The administration of justice system remains one of the great flaws in our country.

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