"CSL is Big Business not Child's Play"

March 12, 2003

Why should Canadians care that for the eight-and-a-half years he was Finance Minister, Paul Martin secretly received briefings about his private corporation’s activities?  Why should Canadians care that the man who wants to be Canada’s next Prime Minister is reluctant to give up his multi-national shipping and real estate business?

Since the conflict-of-interest scandal over Mr. Martin’s business interests erupted last month, his supporters have argued that politicians cannot be expected to sacrifice a lifetime of accomplishments in order to pursue a political career.

First, it’s important to note that Mr. Martin’s corporation, CSL Group, has an estimated worth of nearly a half-billion dollars.  It controls more than $693-million in assets and enjoys annual sales of $283-million.  CSL owns more ships than Canada’s navy.  This is not your average shop around the corner … a differentiation that matters.

Mr. Martin’s “family” business is closely dependent upon Canadian domestic and foreign policy.  CSL interests are significantly impacted by the decisions of several federal departments, including Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Industry Canada, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and Human Resources Development Canada. 

Consider the following Canadian government issues of concern to CSL management: shipping, ports policy, environmental spills (a spill by a CSL ship was the subject of one of the secret briefings), federal cuts to VIA rail (which would affect Mr. Martin’s Montreal-Ottawa bus company operations), CSL ships that fly ‘flags of convenience’ to avoid paying income tax, CSL’s coal shipping services for a company partially owned by the son of former Indonesian dictator Suharto.

When he was Finance Minister, Canadians were under the impression that Mr. Martin’s corporate empire was being run by a “blind trust”. 

Yet it wasn’t so blind after all since Mr. Martin was being regularly briefed on CSL activities by company executives and “Ethics” Commissioner Howard Wilson.   If everything was so ethical and above-board as Mr. Wilson continues to claim, why are Canadians just learning about the briefings now?  Why the secrecy? 

Just as Mr. Martin and Mr. Wilson couldn’t grasp that CSL involvement wasn’t appropriate for a Finance Minister, they don’t understand that it isn’t acceptable for the Prime Minister of Canada to own controlling interest in a multi-million dollar multinational corporation. 

Regardless of the example set by Jean Chrétien, most Canadians still believe that a Prime Minister must aspire to avoid even the perception of a conflict-of-interest.  Sacrifices are a reality in political office.  It’s time for Mr. Martin and his supporters to recognize that. 

Mr. Martin has said his reluctance to give up his shipping business stems from his love of ships that began when he was five years old.  He must now decide which childhood dream is more important…to be a shipping tycoon or a Prime Minister. 

Even if Mr. Martin does divest control of his business interests to his sons, his only motivation for doing so is that the Canadian public found out about his secret briefings.  After displaying such questionable ethical judgement as Finance Minister and as a leadership-hopeful, why should we expect him to change if he becomes Prime Minister?