On Wednesday, March 7, 2007 the Saskatchewan Joint Board, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union laid a criminal complaint against Prime Minister Harper and responsible Cabinet Ministers with the Regina RCMP. At issue is $51 billion that should be held in trust in the EI fund.

Section 336 of the Criminal Code makes it an indictable offence for “Everyone, who being a trustee of anything for the use or benefit, whether in whole or in part, of another person, or for a public or charitable purpose, converts, with intent to defraud and in contravention of his trust, that thing or any part of it to a use that is not authorized by the trust is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.”

“Every day, millions of employees have money taken off their paycheques to pay for employment insurance in trust that it will be available to them should they face the devastation of unemployment.” said Larry Kowalchuk, General Counsel for the Saskatchewan Joint Board, RWDSU.  “It has been revealed and suggested that over $51 billion dollars has not been used for that trust purpose and that it may be converted to use for purposes other than providing unemployment insurance.”

The RCMP have been asked to investigate the facts and to pursue an immediate and thorough review of what they find out in relation to pursuing prosecution under s.336 of the Criminal Code.

“If the $51 billion is not in a trust account for the sole purpose of providing unemployment insurance we want to know where it is and what it was used for” said Kowalchuk.  “If they find it, we want to know where it is and why it is not being spent for the purpose it is supposed to be used for.”

The Union is also preparing to file a legal action in the Federal Court of Canada seeking the appropriate accountable remedies.

“If what we see reported in the news is true, this is a serious, very serious matter and those responsible must be held accountable.  Let’s hope the $51 billion is still there and that it will be placed in a separate trust account to ensure it will be used for the purpose it was given by every worker in Canada.”

Comments

Written by pelliott on 2007-03-08 09:50:27 u go, rw

Written by boris gomez on 2007-03-08 13:50:46 Sounds like its a slow day at the Sask Joint Board - any monkey knows that there isnt a secret bank account holding all that money in trust - and did it all happen since the govt changed? - where were all the accusations when the Red Machine was running the country? - better put Tony the Lawyer on the case and he'll dig up the dirt, and by the way - does anyone have documented evidence of EI not sending out a cheque when all provisions have been met? Lets spend more money stupidly on a known outcome. No strikes and the RW is getting bored - but at least it might liven up the board in heren

Written by pelliott on 2007-03-08 15:30:38 The labour movement has fought this through successive governments for the past decade, Liberal and Tory. The government reduced benefits without reducing premiums. As a result, the surplus has been rising steadily - people were upset when it was $4 billion. Now it's $51 billion. Money coming off paycheques with no accountability and little return to the worker - shouldn't matter if your politics are left or right to see the wrong in that.

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