[SPAM] Grant Devine's Alternative Truth
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1473 .... August 25, 2017
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Grant Devine's Alternative Truth:
The Tory Caucus Fraud Scandal of the 1990s
J. F. Conway
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"When it comes to the crime of fraud, single mothers
who, out of desperation, cheat on welfare, have most
often gone to jail... Impoverished family breadwinners,
who, also out of desperation, cheat on unemployment
insurance, have most often gone to jail... [Some] who
illegally obtained money from the government... by
means of false expense claims have gone to jail,
though not all."
Queen’s Bench Justice Ross Wimmer upon sentencing
Michael Hopfner, former Tory MLA and Caucus Whip,
for fraud to 18 months in jail and a restitution order of $56,000.
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You may have noticed that former Tory premier Grant Devine has returned to public life in Canada. Brad Wall, the current premier of Saskatchewan, has... appointed Devine, his old mentor, to the Board of Governors of the University of Saskatchewan. This marks Devine’s second attempt at a return to public service. Back in 2004 he declared his candidacy for the federal Tory nomination in the district of Souris-Moose Mountain. Though Devine had strong local support, the party’s interim national council nixed his candidacy and leader Stephen Harper made it clear he would not sign his nomination papers. Devine was on track to win the nomination and inevitably the seat -- the Tories could run a dead dog in Souris-Moose Mountain and win handsomely. But Devine had too much negative political baggage and the prospect of his joining the federal Tory caucus was just not acceptable to the party, despite his cringing whine, "People in government do make mistakes... They happen."
Wall obviously has more political courage than Harper. On the other hand, he probably knew he was about to resign as premier when made the gesture honouring his mentor when Wall was a lowly ministerial assistant. Wall won’t have to live with the political fallout that may come.
