eg CASTLEGAR NEWS, May 4, 1983 BEEF STANDING RIB ROAST git's5 27/9) 99 PORK LOIN ee nats ga5/] 79 CANADIAN BRANDS CIGARETTES Save $1.77 main. Regular or King Size Carton. EVAPORATED PACIFIC MILK Save 18¢ 65 ¢ 385 mL tin... 6. ee eee ecco ee LUCERNE Save 21¢ Small, white Grade A, dozen. . THE BRYCE MACKASEY STORY How the storm around him grew OTTAWA (CP) — It was the summer of 1981 and the recession was beginning to bite, tearing big chunks from the value of stocks that a year earlier looked like gold. Even shares of. Canadian resource companies wero turning into worthless sheots of paper. And Bryce Mackasey's back was brushing the wall, Mackasey, a scarred veteran of Liberal politics and former cabinet minister,'now holding a Commons seat for the southern Ontario riding of Lincoln, had invested heavily, especially in obscure mining ventures. He had borrowed more than a half-million dollars to play the market. The penny stocks included New Beginnings Resources, But Mackasey's new start vanished as his stakes began to plunge. The Bank of Montreal started pressing. At one point, Mackasey would almost lose his family home — an added humility because it actually belonged to his wife, Margaret. She later stood at his side as Mackasey told reporters he was not a lawbreaker and wanted only to clear his name, sweep away the dirt that had been thrown over it. . But that summer, he needed help. He needed a way to pay back the bank. He contacted his old friend and tax adviser, Robert Harrison, blue chip. A ch the P, Conservative leadership in 1976, was its president. Labec's lawyer was identified as Rene. Amyot, now Air Canada chairman, Labee was linked to Lord's Inn International, a holding company registered in Bermuda, but the only names ever to | emerge from behind it were’ Harrison ‘and Bruyere. . Labec's auditors were Touche Rosse. The bold idea of claiming. Labrador for : Inexplleable Sibquce were being drawn on the company’ 'g second account. Ono, for $48,843, went to a U.8.. ' “bank allegedly as payment for a piece of equipment that had already been paid for by Hall Engineoring. As the fall of 1981 passed into winter and the New Year, Harrison and Bruyere persuaded two other Montreal businessmen to join’ Les Ateliers by merging their Quebec cap’ headli but nothing took place. In the summer of 1981, when Mackasey was searching for a’ way out of his bank crisis, Harrison approached _Bruyere with the name of a sonipaay that was looking for a : buyer. MONEY LOSER : In fact, only part of a company was for sale — “the i Montreal division of a successful engineering | firm | in Hall E: with Bruyere’s, which on paper belonged to Labec. ‘Jean. Lanthier, owner of. Accessorires Techniques (Canada) Inc., and Serge, Didier, part-owner of a company called Les Industries Roladex Ltee, were told that Labec was backed by some of _ most important businessmen in Quebec, « The twomen thought the board of Les Atelicrs included Claude. Bruneau, vice-president ¢ ot the huge | Power Corp., Gilles D Id and: Ont. The C; uae had been around for decades, with sales of more than $7 million and a reported worth of $1.6 million, The Quebec division, howéver, was a money loser. Talks began between Bruyere and Hall's’ owners, Harrison played a key role, as he would in all the transac- - tons that touched Mackasey. Witnesses would later tell the he was a senior partner with the Canadian arm of a prestige-laden international firm, Touche Ross and Co. He was two decades younger than Mackasey —who was then 60 years old — but had grown up in the tough, Irish Montreal suburb of Verdun which Mackasey represented for years in the Commons. His dfath ‘8 first political 's uncle was 's aide in cabiriet. ‘NOTHING IMPROPER’ “Gentlemen, I would never let a friend and a client do anything improper,” Harrison, Montreal Board of Trade president, would later tell a Commons committee hearing evidence on Mackasey's affairs. The rescue Harri for in the MP's face last month when the Montreal Gazette reported that Harrison had told a bankruptcy hearing that . was behinda bered company paid to lobby for a troubled Quebec machine-tooling firm. Mackasey was applauded by most MPs in the Commons the day he stood to ask for an investigation of the Gazette stories and to deny he had owned the numbered company or ‘At one point, Mackasey would almost lose his family home.— an added humility because it actually belonged to his wife’ that seemed to be. the man toning everything, The takeover was sot for Sept. 1. Bruyere would buy through Labec, with a loan from the federal Business Devel- opment Bank. The name of Bruyere’s new company would be Les Ateliers d’usinage Hall Ltee. September .came, ‘but there ‘were ‘complications, It appeared that: Hall could not transfer all‘ its assets to Bruyere. The land under Hall's Montreal building was part of an Indian reserve and could not be sold. ‘The federal loan fell through: Bruyere went ahead with his deal anyway, planning to iron out the asset transfer later’ through a lease arrange- ment.with Hall. He started managing the new firm, Les Ateliers. He opened a second bank account for Les Ateliers with Harrison's help. Harrison later testified this was done so Bruyere could control the money spent by the company which he managed but did not yet technically own. Harrison and Bruyere both became signing officers for the second account. HAD A PLAN : Meanwhile, Harrison had found a way to rescue Mackasey. The became the and sole shareholder of a numbered company, 109609 Canada: Ltd. The sole reason for 109609's life was to provide Les Ateliers with an influential lobbyist, someone in Ottawa who would © help. the weak y get later testified. had been paid to lobby. Harrison himself denied he had named Mackasey as a paid lobbyist. The Commons handed the issue, at Mackasey' 's request, to its and electi That inquiry has since been adjourned until the RCMP completes its own investigation into possible criminal charges, but enough evidence has been public — in sworn testimony at the committee and at the earlier bankruptey hearing in 7-UP 750 ml. bottle (plus deposit) — to piece together a rough version of how the storm grew. The events reach back to early 3981 when Jean. Bruyere, a-Montreal lawyer who became a key, but reluctant, witness in the Mackasey inquiry, helped organize a company whose aim was to claim billions of dollars worth of Labrador minerals for Quebec. The company was named Labec for short, and Bruyere, an organizer of Brian '3 for between Mack and the Bank of Monreal had been continuing and by Nov. 26, 1981, a deal was reached. The numbered company borrowed $400,000 from the Bank of Montreal. It then turned the money over to Mackasey in return for his disastrous stock portfolio — by then valued at only $78,000. Mackasey then handed the $400,000 to the bank to cover his debts.” The numbered-company had, no assets. Harrison had traded on his status as a senior Touche Ross partner. “ "Phe only security for the loan was a note signed by Les Ateliers, which promised to repay the full amount by 1986. The bankers, who later said Harrison led them to believe that Les Ateliers was actually the healthy Hall Engineering, were also kept happy by an unusual contract signed between 109609 and Les Ateliers. The contract stipulated that Les Ateliers would: pay 109609 $7,500 a month for 10 years in return for SKYLARK BUNS White or GOY whole wheat. 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