Incognito,
At the Stettler accountability meeting, CWB staff insisted that kickbacks were normal business.
Here is an Australian view on this matter:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2006/s1613087.htm
"WHEAT FARMER: If it had have been the Americans, they would have said "That's the cost of doing business." There wouldn't have been any words said at all.
JONATHAN HOLMES: But corruption is not the normal cost of doing business in the Middle East. At least according to one veteran of the international wheat trade. Clinton Condon is retired now. He and his wife Lorraine spend their time between Melbourne and the Gold Coast. As chairman of the Australian Wheat Board in the '80s and '90s, he visited Iraq several times.
CLINTON CONDON: In the Middle East, of all the time when I was chairman for nine years, I was never, ever asked to pay kickbacks or bribes to anyone. In Iraq they were the same. No-one ever asked me or put any pressure on in the slightest way for any sort of kickbacks.
JONATHAN HOLMES: For decades, Iraq had been one of the Wheat Board's best markets. It had plenty of money, little agricultural land and Australian hard wheat proved perfect for Iraqi bread. But then came the invasion of Kuwait and the imposition of UN sanctions.
With its assets frozen, its exports of oil blocked, Iraq had no money to buy Australian wheat or anyone else's either. By 1995, when Clinton Condon last visited Iraq, sanctions were still in place. And the situation for ordinary Iraqis was getting desperate.
CLINTON CONDON: They were blending barley with wheat flour. They were, you know, trying to put all sorts of rubbish in tea to make it go a bit further. And women and kids, little kids, were in all sorts of trouble. So walking down the street was nearly enough to make you cry."
The question must be asked; did single desk monopolies facilitate the slide into corruption in the grain trade: because they have no set cost of sales... and are not transparent and were protected by governments in Australia and Ottawa.
It is well known that Goodale's favorite pet was the CWB... and that he protected it like it was the blood and soul of the Liberal Party itself.
What exactly did Goodale/CWB do in the Iraq issue, and why did they deny so carefully... that they were not involved at all?
Marg Redmond (past CWB Legal Council for many years)and Bill Spafford are assumed to be principal CWB staff who dealt with this problem.
Surprise... they are both retired now from the CWB!
How much did the Chairman and CEO know?
Why exactly did Chairman Ritter tell me in CWB debates during past elections; that if I had any clue how the AWB operated... I would not want to have anything to do with them?
If the Iraq corruption had been stopped in it's tracks... in 2000 when the CWB and Canadian Gov. (Goodale presumably should have known as CWB Minister)
Would, or Could have the Iraq conflict have been avoided?
Shouldn't we take some responsibility as Canadians for allowing Saddam to become so arrogant... which pushed us into this war: as we were compacent in the scheme?
Why doesn't the CWB have an audit... yearly...by the Auditor General?
What was Goodale hiding?
At the Stettler accountability meeting, CWB staff insisted that kickbacks were normal business.
Here is an Australian view on this matter:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2006/s1613087.htm
"WHEAT FARMER: If it had have been the Americans, they would have said "That's the cost of doing business." There wouldn't have been any words said at all.
JONATHAN HOLMES: But corruption is not the normal cost of doing business in the Middle East. At least according to one veteran of the international wheat trade. Clinton Condon is retired now. He and his wife Lorraine spend their time between Melbourne and the Gold Coast. As chairman of the Australian Wheat Board in the '80s and '90s, he visited Iraq several times.
CLINTON CONDON: In the Middle East, of all the time when I was chairman for nine years, I was never, ever asked to pay kickbacks or bribes to anyone. In Iraq they were the same. No-one ever asked me or put any pressure on in the slightest way for any sort of kickbacks.
JONATHAN HOLMES: For decades, Iraq had been one of the Wheat Board's best markets. It had plenty of money, little agricultural land and Australian hard wheat proved perfect for Iraqi bread. But then came the invasion of Kuwait and the imposition of UN sanctions.
With its assets frozen, its exports of oil blocked, Iraq had no money to buy Australian wheat or anyone else's either. By 1995, when Clinton Condon last visited Iraq, sanctions were still in place. And the situation for ordinary Iraqis was getting desperate.
CLINTON CONDON: They were blending barley with wheat flour. They were, you know, trying to put all sorts of rubbish in tea to make it go a bit further. And women and kids, little kids, were in all sorts of trouble. So walking down the street was nearly enough to make you cry."
The question must be asked; did single desk monopolies facilitate the slide into corruption in the grain trade: because they have no set cost of sales... and are not transparent and were protected by governments in Australia and Ottawa.
It is well known that Goodale's favorite pet was the CWB... and that he protected it like it was the blood and soul of the Liberal Party itself.
What exactly did Goodale/CWB do in the Iraq issue, and why did they deny so carefully... that they were not involved at all?
Marg Redmond (past CWB Legal Council for many years)and Bill Spafford are assumed to be principal CWB staff who dealt with this problem.
Surprise... they are both retired now from the CWB!
How much did the Chairman and CEO know?
Why exactly did Chairman Ritter tell me in CWB debates during past elections; that if I had any clue how the AWB operated... I would not want to have anything to do with them?
If the Iraq corruption had been stopped in it's tracks... in 2000 when the CWB and Canadian Gov. (Goodale presumably should have known as CWB Minister)
Would, or Could have the Iraq conflict have been avoided?
Shouldn't we take some responsibility as Canadians for allowing Saddam to become so arrogant... which pushed us into this war: as we were compacent in the scheme?
Why doesn't the CWB have an audit... yearly...by the Auditor General?
What was Goodale hiding?
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