HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1967-03-01, Page 17iDNESDAYs '1967
REPORT FROM. PARLIAMENT HILL
THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL, 'LUCKNOW, ONTARIO
INTENDED FOR FARLIE.R JSSUE
flY 101-1g LONEY ,
hat is now 'regarded by .many
servers as an internal fight for
ntrol of the Bank of Western
tnada ernpted .inta public*Vfew
is week following the resignation
poles Coyne, former GOv.ernOr•
the Bank of Canada and now
'esidetit pfWestbaflk , from the.
ard Of Direetors of British' 'Inter
tional .Fiiianee (Canada) Limited,
e Of the bank's rriajor
areholdeis.
Che affair would likely he•
en of little interest had Mr.
tyrie,tiot issued a. press release
which he accused some of the
ectOrs of. the bank Of seeking ..
cart), On the hank'S operations
in a.manner which violated the
spirit of statements Made to Parl-
iament when the charter of the
bank was applied for. The result
of these statements was that the
House cOmmittee on Finance,
Trade and EPononlie Affairs was
immediately empowered to invest
•• Agate the allegations. .•
In order to understand the whole'
controversy it is necessary to go
back to thejime when application
for' the charter w`as made. At that
time Mr. Coyne.andMr. Sinclair
Stevens,' President of British,Inter-.
national Finance, told Cornmitt-
ees Of. the House of Commons and
Senate that the bank 'would be a
western institution in fact as well.
as•in name,, and that its•OperatiOns
would be carried 'on for 'the bene-:.
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fit of Western Canadians., BIF sub-
sequently became the owner of a I
controlling interest in the bank.
Mr. Coynewho•wasri director of
BIF became President of.the bank.
Guarantees were Made to the '
Cornmittes that the.bank would
not becOnierthe banker to BIF and
its subsidiaries and restrictions on •
dealings between BIF and
Westbank were written intd the
charter. :Vie Minister of Finance
was empowered by the charter to
waive th'M',,restriction.hut it was•
not made clear u'nder 'what '•
circumstances his discretion Could.
. Or .would be exercised.', • •
In his press release and before
the Committee mr. Coyne.
Charged that 131F• was attempting'
-to violate the charter and the, •
guarantee. by attempting to arr-
ange a, line of credit with the,
bank., Mr. Stevens replied that
this was not in fact so, that;all
• he wanted to do was to obtain
Clarification -of the circumstances
• if any, under which the Minister
of Finance would waive the
'Charter restrictions, '
Mr,Boyne alio, charged that BIF
• had .given an .option to an Amer-
• ican, bank to purchase 10% of the •
Westbank shares. Mr,. Stevens, re.:
plied'that, all,* had done was ,
to enterinto anon -„binding
.'gentlemen's :agteetnent' with.
' an American bank that they
would be given a first refusal in •
the event that any of the. Westba-
rik shares were sold ,to H •
; 'resident .interestk.,.
• A cleardiviiiOn of ideairis to
how the bank4iould operate also
becaineOlear at the, hearings.,
Mr: „Coyne is, apparently Of, the
opinion that Westbank shOrild con-
fine its operations 1argly to the •
taking of.deposirs'froM its custom-
ers and making loans of,the.mOney
so receiVed.. Ivir. Stevens •macle it
• 'Clear that he sees this as one of the
.
• main functions o'f the bank but he
-also believes that it should co-op'-
erate _with other banks-,' iricluding
ArnericanOnes, in the extension
of industrial' Credit in •sittiations•
where one bank acting alone .might
not be willing to make credit
,available but Where two or More •
could together finance an • ' •
operation by'sharing.the'risk.: •
It is now clear that most, ,if not,.
all of the CoMmittee,Menters
.:are of the. opinion that 'there is. p.
nothing illegal involved in the
affair, that the BIF arid the Bank
ofWestern Canada' are in sound .,
financial condition, 'and -that an
airing has been given to a matter
which could have beenresolve:d
.in the•quiet ofthe board rooms.
. AS one .asttite and experienced •
observer put it 'It could hesaid
that the liOoraw Seen -is• ib have
• :been unnecessary ancl,that the.'
public interest if it Was,entiang.t
ered could ihave been protected ,
by Mr. CoYnett having ctietly ,t
:lninartedany apprehensions he
•*, might have had to iheMinister
(of Finance) or to the ihspectoe-., •
.Genera 1. of Banks, .,''
Both Mr„ 'S...tev,erts attd Mr . Coyne
affirmed thvieW. that the bank
hould operate, as a Western bank,'
and, in the interests of westerners.
:The differenCes between then')
appear to be on,the means by • '
• which this can best be carried out;
• rather than:the end.. These .deciS-:
• iOns are dries: be made by' the
bank's Baird of Directors Wbeie
• the matter, will now go •an • •
'Where itshould have-st,aye 411
.alOng., •
• 'The Governnient has survived
-vote on a Conservative- motion ,of
non -confidence requesting the
•Government tO give.ConsideratiOn
tO.fityancing the' suppleMeritary
61d -age assistance benefits out of .
1floniesnow in'the Old Age Secur-
•ity und heroic increasing,:taxes,
The motion stated that: the effect:
Of the tax increase 'prOposed in •the
Gtiverninent's minibudget.will bd.
intensify rather than. alleviate •
•
•
•
PAGE SEVENTEEN
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the hardships being experienced by 1
CanadianS. generally • whose' living
standards are tieing seriously re-
•duCed by inflationand. by the'
steadily rising cost of hving. •
, In a wide-ranging debate coVer-
ing topics from reform olthe
House of Commons rules to the
serious housing 'shortage 'facing •
the country, Opposition Members
recommended action in areas • • the earth's • surface and produce
. . , .
where the Government has been '• '90 billion pounds Of food a year.
slow to act to irieet the, needS, of. ,
the people • •
•,
. The Conservatives Were support-
ed by all other Parties in the.
butHouse••the Liberals Mustered'.
.
• enoughof their Members to defeat ' •
the .motion by acount of 87 to 75.-
„ •
Oceans cover 71 per Cent. of
' •
entenni
eport
, by JOHN W. FISHER
'7CENTENNIALCOMMISSIONE-Fr;
I expeCted, that everyone here • 'Each proyince, or territory.,se-
would speak with . a real. English lects students and esCorts. (usually
accent and 1 didn't thinkTorOnto high school teachers) through its :• . •
would be as friendly as it department of education, conducts
The quotation above, from a orientation and ,briefing
1§ -year-old visiting'Toronto from ,supervises reception arrangements
northern • British' ' ColUtribia; was in host proVincesand looks . after
used by Michael Ignatieff 'writing genera. co-ordination , xyithip the
about Centennial "youth travellers" prOvince.
• in' the Globe and Mail. 'From an- Provincial departments 'of edu- :1 •
other, a' young Montrealer, came cationchoose by lot the •schools
this comment : "After visiting' that. will take Part in the pro'gram. • .
-.Vancouver I realize we have' the The principal of a.:sChOol chooses
most beautiful country in the a number of students arid • his ,
. whole World.'. • • • • choice' is not based on academic
This. year, more than 4,000 record-aft:Me. All-round Students,
young people in, ,160, groups will who meet people easily,* usually
have participated in the Centen- rire selected. ••
•
trial Commission's Federal-Provin; ,, • The federal provincial program
cial Youth Travel program. The is not the. only Centennial. scheme
to
?
th
tal since. 19644 when the pro-. operating. Another one, ,called ,
ram 'as started as a pilot pro- Voluntary Youth Travel, 'provides
ject, will be more than. B4O00 by, ' for:Commission grants .to private
e end of 1966. , agencies or' organizations. The ob
The. aims , of the federal -pro- ject is to, expand already .eiiisting
Vi
C
ncial,program are to give young youth travel projects or encour- '
• anadians ,the opportunity' to meet'age • additional ones. •
and know other Canadians and • The voluntary Progiani differs
t( developan understandingof from thefederal-provincial pro-
th
teir countrymen in regions other , gram in that the 'Commission is ,
h
kan their own; Another is to not inVolVed 'in administration.
provide them witha first hand Well over 10,000Young people
n
cowledge of the geography of `the will have participated this year
ountry and of the. political, edu- in thee • association travel pro,.
catiOnal, 4' cultural ;and artistic jects as a tesult of the, Commis-
achievements- of other provinces, tion's 1965 grants program under
I
The ,Centennial Cdnunissipti the Voluntary Youth Travel
underwrites Costs of travel, pays Scheme.
a per capita grant for .inciderital The young Man from northern
travelling" expenses and a per British Columbia.. visiting Toronto
capita grata for rdception costs in told his Ontario hosts: "What sut.',
host communities.' It co- d'
or mates •prise S me
is that you people aren't
the programat' the, national level, any. different from us." If we ac
-
provides travel bags, mantials, complish only- what is„imPlied in
',SOrig, books and name' tags, one- that sentence among the thou -
'day tours of Ottawa for groups sands of. participants, Canada's in-
passing throughi! and makes all vestment ,in the youth travel pro
. travel arrangements. • * grams will be ,well worthwhile. 5
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