Comments on Canadian Business Mag's Rich 100 issue

Today I was reading the winter 07/08 issue of Canadian Business Magazine, which just happened to be the issue detailing the 100 Richest people/families in Canada. Now in looking through this list, you recognize a few names, some as assholes and others as unknowns, some outright criminals, and other low level thieves. Some may be good people, but it would be hard to separate them from the rest of the list.

Each of the 100 got a short description of there business history (very brief) and a kind of financial year in review (ups/downs, sales/purchases, criminal activity, etc). Many of those on the list were currently under investigation or facing law suits. Many shady characters indeed, not all, but most. How many of these, the richest people in the country, actually earned there money? How many made there riches off the back of the tax payers through non-guaranteed loans, political favors, hand outs, freebies or other shady government activities?

I don't claim to know much about these people personally, and many I don't know at all. So I'll stick to what I know, our local man on the inside, John Risley of Bedford, NS, the #78 richest man in the country according to this review. I've been following a lot of Mr. Risleys activities over the years and as far as I can tell he never earned a cent of his estimated $676 million net worth, all his business ventures were funded by the public tax system, most of which was never paid back (non-guarunteed loans, payroll rebates, and th like). To illustrate how some of these people get rich, let me tell you a little about John Risley, dealings with the provincial and federal governments and his abuse of the system that makes the Atlantic Regions Business community the most heavily subsidized in Canada.

First off, Mr. Risley has never been able to stand on his own two feet, he has been at the public tit since he began doing business. His father, a well connected man in the Mulroney government insured his son would never have to pay a single cent of his own money for any business adventure he ever embarked on, by helping Mulroney become the Prime Minister, through his dominance in Nova Scotia. This relationship would eventually yield all sorts of advantages for Risley’s Clearwater Seafoods, including numerous dips into taxpayer dollars through ostensibly legitimate front organizations set up by both federal and provincial government departments as “business development loan agencies ” that, strangely enough, seem to have a preponderance of “party faithful” as the main beneficiaries.

Between 1995 and 2004 government assistance to John Risley and his business totaled over $41 million. In 2007 alone this nearly doubled with a government hand out of 30 Million dollars for a new fish oil processing plant in Dartmouth NS. Ocean Nutrition, makes Omega-3 oils from fish products, and employed 117 people in its Dartmouth plant. Risley laid off all these employees along with many others around the Atlantic provinces in the same quater. He moved processing plants in NS and NB to China and the US. For this he received $15 million, $7.5 million in non-guaranteed loans (ie. free money) and another $7.5 million as a payroll rebate for creating what he claims will be 'new' jobs at the "New" processing plant in Dartmouth. $7.5 million dollars was removed from the already hurting NS tax system and given to the 78th richest person in Canada.

Why does the 78th richest person in Canada with a net worth of over $600 Million dollars need to STEAL money from Nova Scotia Tax payers? He doesn't, hes a greedy piece of shit, and so are his politician friends.

Through the government bodies that have been set up to funnel money to business and friends for kick backs and wonderfully high paying jobs when they leave office, John Risley and other like him have been STEALING money that would otherwise go to ESSENTIAL SOCIAL SERVICES that this region desperately needs. Doctors, Teachers, Nurses, Primary and Secondary roads, etc, etc the list goes on and on and on. The Atlantic Provinces are facing serious hardship and what does our government do? Gives money to the rishest people in the country.

To the Nova Scotia Business Inc (NSBI) and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) that give away hundreds of millions of tax dollars to there friends every year I say FUCK YOU.

I hope someday that voters will wake the fuck up and pay attention to what there elected officials are actually doing in this country and hold them accountable. Question the people your voting for, and hold them to there campaign promises. FORCE them to perform the will of the people.

I also hope that someday we can elect an honest government, provincially or federally, both would be an amazing accomplishment.