Chairman Mo

Chairman Mo
Peter Foster
National Post
Friday, April 22, 2005

Paul Martin hardly needs another scandal, but the news that Maurice Strong has stepped down from his UN post as special envoy to Korea in the wake of allegations related to the Iraqi oil-for-food debacle is potentially damaging on several fronts.

This week, Mr. Strong, a long-time mentor and associate of Mr. Martin, admitted ongoing links to Tongsun Park, a Korean lobbyist charged in connection with oil-for-food. Mr. Park previously enjoyed 15 minutes of infamy in the 1970s as the conduit for bribes to U.S. Congressional officials, an affair dubbed "Koreagate." This time, according to Paul Volcker's independent inquiry, Mr. Park transferred funds from Iraq to high-ranking UN officials.

Mr. Park has apparently admitted that he invested US$1-million in a Canadian company associated with the son of a UN official. Mr. Strong himself immediately came forward and declared that he was the official, and that the company was Cordex Petroleums. Intriguingly, other investors in the company included CSL Group Inc., the holding company controlled by Paul Martin (which was at that time being managed in trust). Cordex's directors included Bill Hopper, the ousted former head of Petro-Canada, the state oil company of which Mr. Strong was the founding chairman and CEO.

Mr. Strong is a man of enormous informal power within the "international community." A lifelong self-confessed socialist, he espouses apocalyptic alarmism as a rationale for a much more powerful United Nations. Paradoxically, however, he has always kept one foot in the capitalist camp via an array of often messy business dealings.

The fact that he would do business with the likes of Mr. Park has raised eyebrows. The Wall Street Journal wrote this week: "Even if Mr. Strong had the best of intentions, his decision as a high-ranking UN official to be involved in any business relationship with the star bagman of Koreagate suggests seriously odd judgment."

Mr. Strong has frequently claimed that his business problems have arisen from the fact that his public commitments -- including being an advisor both to Kofi Annan and his predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali (who is apparently the other UN official implicated by Mr. Park) -- left him little time to concentrate on his personal affairs. Indeed, Mr. Strong once admitted to me that he had "neglected" Cordex while busy with the 1992 Rio summit and its aftermath. In a personal interview seven years ago, Mr. Strong said the Cordex situation had placed him in "financial difficulty."

"I was away and the only way for me to keep it afloat was for me to guarantee a loan.... After a while, we refurbished the company and got some more money."

Mr. Strong didn't mention the source of the money. However, according to Mr. Strong in interviews this week, Mr. Park's money wasn't used as a cash injection but in order to buy out another investor. It will be intriguing to discover who that investor was.

Cordex subsequently went bankrupt.

If Mr. Strong is exonerated in the matter of Mr. Park, the huge scandals roiling the UN can hardly leave him unmarked. This is the man, remember, who believes that the UN should have far more clout at the expense of the sovereignty of nations, who wants it to have taxing power, and an armed force.

As for the Cordex link with Mr. Martin and his holding company, it reminds us of Mr. Strong's influence on the Prime Minister. Where, for example, might Mr. Martin have come up with the idea for "global equalization," which amounts to the fulfillment of The Communist Manifesto? Indeed, when it comes to his international posturing, at times Mr. Martin has seemed less like a Liberal candidate than The Manchurian Candidate (original version). We might also remember that after Gomery, the Liberals' next biggest policy headache is the one masterminded by Mr. Strong at Rio: Kyoto. With friends like Mr. Strong, does Mr. Martin need any more enemies?

A year ago, Time magazine declared: "Not since Lester Pearson has a Canadian Prime Minister devoted so much intellectual energy to the UN" which, allegedly, is "what really winds Mr. Martin's clock." Mr. Strong was instrumental in Mr. Martin's appointment as co-chairman of a UN commission on Third World development while the future PM was waiting to be crowned Jean Chretien's successor. And who was the first international VIP guest of the new Martin government? Kofi Annan. Mr. Strong himself declared that Mr. Martin and Mr. Annan have "a high degree of chemistry." Indeed they do, unfortunately. They're both heading institutions that are threatening to blow them up. We shall have to wait and see if Chairman Mo survives the explosion.

Liberals Strong for Maurice

For Immediate Release
April 22, 2005

Ottawa - The federal government continues to stone-wall when it comes to questions about the long time relationship between Maurice Strong and Paul Martin, even in the face of Mr. Strong's sudden resignation from his duties at the United Nations.

In question period yesterday Stockwell Day, Official Opposition Foreign Affairs Critic, asked "Mr. Speaker, Maurice Strong, long time Liberal, long time mentor of the Prime Minister, long time business associate of the Prime Minister and companies such as Canada Steamship Lines and Cordex, has suddenly resigned his post at the United Nations. To date the government has refused to stand up and answer questions about the Iraqi oil for food scandal at the United Nations. Canadians are wondering why the Prime Minister will not just stand up in his place and state categorically that there has been no implication of Canadians or Canadian companies in the UN oil for food program. Where does this all end? Why will he not just stand up?"

Day has been asking questions related to any possible Canadian involvement in the Oil-for-food-scandal for several months, all with no response from the government.

"We want to presume innocence on these matters," said Day. "However the government's peculiar silence only leaves the questions hanging in the air"

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For more information, contact: Aaron Scheewe at 613-762-5465