While the Black Rod is probably your best all round bet for following Gary Doer’s big steaming cow pie known as the “Crocus Scandal”, today’s Winnipeg Sun has this new development;
[Manitoba] Premier Gary Doer and his cabinet instructed senior officials in the provincial finance department in 2000 to keep the Crocus Investment Fund afloat “unconditionally,” even though government knew the fund was facing a cash crisis.
At least according to newly-revealed correspondence between senior finance officials.
E-mails between three senior officials in the finance department, including then deputy minister Pat Gannon — now retired — paint a picture of pandemonium among bureaucrats as they scrambled to figure out how to keep Manitoba’s largest labour-sponsored investment fund from falling further into money problems.
Copies of the e-mails and other confidential documents related to Crocus — obtained by the Winnipeg Sun — provide further evidence Doer and his cabinet knew a great deal more about troubles at Crocus than they had let on.
The e-mails were written about the same time cabinet was briefed about the potential cash crisis at Crocus, in late November 2000.
That cabinet briefing was leaked to the news media two weeks ago, triggering a firestorm of controversy about why Doer and his cabinet failed to inform investors that the fund was in trouble.
The e-mails centre on a letter written by the Finance Department to then-Crocus CEO Sherman Kreiner, responding to Kreiner’s requests for legislative changes to help the struggling fund with its cash-flow problems.
Black Rod mentioned that leaked cabinet document on March 5th;
Take the case of Winnipeg Free Press reporter Dan Lett. Last week he was merrily writing stories about a leaked heretofore unknown secret cabinet document that proved the NDP knew in 2000 that Crocus needed to become a Ponzi scheme or it would go broke. The NDP gave their blessing.
And then he got a call from someone he calls “my Grit source.”
Like Saul on the road to Damascus, he had a mystical conversion. Hallelujah. Another sinner saved.
The truth, he wrote, had been there all along. Why couldn’t people see it ?
[…]
But who was this “Grit source” that brought such enlightenment to the Free Press newsroom?
What anonymous source would warrant such front page treatment?
Who, we ask, is friends and partners with Sherman Kreiner and would be in a position to sell the Crocus Fund’s talking points as overlooked “details?”
Would you believe the Big Grit himself?
Lloyd Axworthy.
This isn’t a story I’ve had time to follow closely – but I know there are regular readers here who have. Feel free to use the comments for supporting links to your own blog posts and related news stories.
More here at PC Manitoba.
NEW. Now up – aCrocus Timeline at the Black Rod.
I am not familiar with this at all, but it smells, at best, of Newfie greenhouses.
Why was the fund failing? I am sure that even the most incompetant fund manager can at least return even, no profit.
We need an expose.
Kate
I have been attempting to keep up to date on the Crocus Scandal over at my blog. There are several posts with links to articles which will help those that are unfamiliar to catch up.
3w.rightinmanitoba.blogspot.com
Ahh, yes, the Crocus Fund. Its failure means that my dad can’t retire this year at 55, and instead will continue to work into his 60’s.
Gary Doer and the Manitoba NDP: Screwing multiple generations of Manitobans, multiple times.
anybody else notice it doesnt matter what party, who’s in charge, the date, the circumstances, outside influences, excuses, on and on and on …..
they all do it.
they ALL use high political office as a springboard for corruption and staggering level of fraud and theft of taxes and wages and property.
so, now do you get it??? btian mulruin taking a $300,000 bribe from mr karlheinz schroder, the lieberals channeling 100s of millions into the pockets of quebec supporters, and when the new democraps get a firm foothold in the prairies, they do EXACTLY THE SAME.
do you get it now ????
In the dying days of Crocus, there was money channeled from the WCB and Teacher’s pension fund to prop up this organization.
Instead of focusing soley on Crocus, some questions need to be asked by trust funds from the WCB and Teacher pension funds were also poured down the drain.
There is a bigger story beyond Crocus and it is about insider dealing and union feather bedding at the expense of small provate investors.
Retired teachers in this province have not seen any cost-of-living increase in their pension paymnents becaue of this insider dealing withing the perimiter highway.
Bollocks, you’re probably right on the issue as a whole, but that’s not the point on this one at all. Missed it by several quarter sections.
The Crocus collapse was a result of Bad management. You had senior management spending crocus money on lavish trips, fancy cars etc.
James Umlah driving BMW X5’s as his company ride.
The NDP new all along that the wheels were about to fall off. Thats why they made the changes to the Crocus legislation at the request of senior crocus management. Doers gov’t then happily told the manitoba people to invest in Crocus, all the while they new that eventually it would collapse. Its also interesting to note that Doers wife’s company Viewpoints Research got a contract for polling for Crocus. Coincidence ? She also got the Workers Compensation Board contract for $500,000 which was run by Wally Fox Descent, who was also on the board of Crocus. She got this contract despite the fact that it was not the lowest bidder.
The NDP have stalled at requests to release all the documents regarding the crocus fund and what they new about it. They are just hoping that this scandle will just go away. Doer has just ruined the Manitoba economy. It now lags behind Sask. He was one of the reason that I moved from Winnipeg to Calgary. Doer is driving all the brightest young people away.
There’s nothing like the stench of Liberal Fartcatchers (Axworthy) making common cause with the Dippers.
BOHCA.
Loyd Backstabworthy..the name should stick.
And I’m only pissed because he loves the gun registry!
Lie-berannos…should beexterminated. Where’s a Jihadi when you really need him/her/it…
“Lie-berannos…should beexterminated (sic). Where’s a Jihadi when you really need him/her/it”
So, eastern paul, it’s okay for Jihadi to murder people if you don’t like them or disagree with their politics.
I don’t understand the surprise here….isn’t the term “dipper” derived from the habit socialists have of “dipping” into public funds for every little need, both personal and partisan?