He did not get a dime in the form of a government grant. ACOA signed a contract with Bren Power stating that the facility had to remain open for 10 years. It did not make it. If he sells the facility before the tenth year, he must pay back the money in an amount declining by 10% each year until the tenth year. In other words, he still owes a pile of cash on that building.
There was local opposition to the project. In November 1998 business people started complaining. Chris Newman, the owner of a local sports shop, complained in the press by saying that was built with their tax dollars to provide in return direct competition with other local businesses. Here is some guy who owns a sports shop and then the federal government funds a huge percentage, almost all, of another sports complex. He asks how he is supposed to make a living.
I bet you would hate, Mr. Speaker, to see government coming in and building a nice big hefty bakery just a couple of blocks down the road on White Avenue. It would make it pretty hard to sell those baguettes and cinnamon buns. Ralph Matsson, owner of the local Jungle Jim restaurant actually went out of business after the Don Cherry restaurant opened. He cites the government assisted competition of Don Cherry as an important factor in the closure. Now the Don Cherry restaurant has moved into the old Jungle Jim location in the St. Jude Hotel downtown.
An undated ACOA backgrounder indicates that the media reports the sportsplex facility contains a Don Cherry sports bar which is not well received by local business. Bren Power advises that while the sportsplex was publicly funded, the restaurant and sports bar were funded with private funds. Don Cherry is a good businessman. He builds Don Cherry restaurants and he gives great commentary on Hockey Night in Canada . However we see what happens when we get tied into government phoney funding. It skews the whole business community and makes it very difficult for businesses to make a go of it. Don Cherry has moved downtown.
An ACOA backgrounder indicates that it did not know that a restaurant would go into the space in the sportsplex. All it knew was that space had been allocated for food services. It sounds like a cafeteria. ACOA's environmental screening report dated April 24, 1997, indicates that a pro shop and a restaurant would be part of the facility.
The project received some letters of private support. However the mayor of Clarenville indicated publicly that the local town's letter of support was sent to Mr. Power after a presentation he made to council. Council did not know that infrastructure funds would go toward the sportsplex.
We would probably define infrastructure funds as sewer, water and making sure that everything works okay regarding water and sewers so that if I build a building on top of it everything will be okay. That is infrastructure. Then the superstructure is built on top of it.
The mayor said that the town of Clarenville would never support the fact that the provincial or federal government would divert much needed infrastructure money intended for water, sewer and roads into a private development. That is our concern about the whole matter. Everyone in this area would support such a project, but everyone in this area would not expect the provincial government to take money away from the chronic care facility of Clarenville and put it into that. They just took the money, put it in there against the mayor's good judgment and that of lots of other people. It is just unreal.
I will tell the House about the owner of this facility. His name is Bren Power. He is from Clarenville. He ran for nomination for the provincial Liberals, whoops, in the riding of Trinity North in 1992 against Doug Olford.
The centre has already been the subject of controversy in the Newfoundland house of assembly. Mr. Jack Byrne, member for Cape St. Francis, said during question period:
Are we looking at pure, partisan politics and Liberal patronage to the uppermost levels?
They could figure it out. These things are politically motivated. Mr. Byrne repeated in the press on March 1:
I'll say it again, it's another case of political patronage.
Mr. Power reportedly raised funds for the member for Trinity—Bonavista—Conception. No Liberal donations have been found. The gym equipment has reportedly been sold to another pair of businessmen who also received an HRD grant. On and on the saga goes.
Here is just a grab bag of a few miscellaneous boondoggles. Rama Reserves, a tiny reserve near Orillia, Ontario, has 600 band members. The Majikaning band has operated Casino Rama for three years and has full employment. An HRD office opened in that area in June 2000 at an initial cost of $164,000. The band just negotiated a deal with the province of Ontario to share casino profits. The deal is worth $123 million. Not bad. That is $200,000 for every man, woman and child on the reserve. This was reported in the Toronto Star on February 9, 2000.
Wal-Mart has a market capitalization of $250 billion and profits of $1.92 billion for the three month period ending January 31, 2000. It paid Metrus Properties, another huge company with longstanding Ontario Liberal connections, to build a huge $60 million warehouse in Cornwall with 172 loading docks. Metrus received a $300,000 transitional jobs fund grant, yikes, thus benefiting Wal-Mart. That is a pretty good deal with 300,000 bucks off the bill.
American based RMH Teleservices was enticed to the riding of the minister of HRDC using $1.6 million in HRD grants over the protests of a neighbouring Liberal MP. Later RMH executive vice-president Michael Scharff said in an interview that they would have located there without the grant anyway. He said he was sure they would be in Brantford one way or another. It was kind of icing on the cake. Who would not take it? If he did not take it someone else would. The next guy would. That is the very frustrating part of trying to do business across Canada. We see phony, trumped up government grants. It is ridiculous.
Wiarton, Ontario, received $50,000 from HRD to hold a groundhog festival featuring the rodent Wiarton Willie II. The original one is gone. He has crossed over. It is not like Peter Donolo who has crossed over to Italy on a plum post. Wiarton Willie has really crossed over.
The Canadian Aerospace Group in Nipissing, Ontario, received $917,000 of a $1.3 million TJF grant before going bankrupt without building any aircraft. Then the minister has the nerve to say that we are being critical of some of these programs. You bet we are, Mr. Speaker. When we call it the billion dollar boondoggle, that is exactly what it is. I am going through list after list.
It was supposed to be better. The Prime Minister campaigned in 1993 and again in 1997 that it was going to be good. He said as recorded in Hansard in 1991 when he was standing on this side as leader of the opposition:
When we form the government every minister in the cabinet that I would be presiding will have to take the full responsibility of what is going on in his office.
It could be her office. There are women cabinet ministers and competent ones at that. He continued:
And if there is bundling in the department, nobody will be singled out but the minister will have to take the responsibility.
Boy, Mr. Speaker, if you have not seen bungling, you have not been watching. The HRD department is an embarrassment because of the things and the bungling that have gone there. The minister says she has instituted a six point plan, which I will read in a minute, as if that will solve everything. The Prime Minister says he will make sure they take responsibility for it. There is no responsibility taken there.
The Prime Minister said on February 1, 2000, that administrative problems of this kind happen all the time. This was quoted in L'Acadie Nouvelle . They will just pick out the administrative people and say “Those horrible people over there at HRDC, I am going to get that department straight”. It is blamed on somebody else.
Here is another one. He said, “Do you think it was better under Mulroney?” The member for Edmonton Southeast ought to know because he was a member of the Mulroney government before 1993. It makes it all right because, “It was worse under Mulroney so I am not bad”. What a way to run a country. It is absolutely ridiculous that it was worse under Mulroney so maybe he is not doing too badly. He said that in the Ottawa Sun on February 3, just a couple of months ago.