The Black Rod

And so, with a wave of the Auditor General's magic wand, the truth is revealed. The Crocus Investment Fund stands before us exposed as a bedraggled panhandler and not the jaunty bon-vivant we have always believed. Auditor General Jon Singleton has shown us a nearly broke fund with a useless board of directors made up of the deaf (to complaints), the blind (to truth), and the dumb (and we don't mean mute), who have been misleading Manitobans for at least three years over the true value of its investment portfolio. Foremost in his recommendations were a series of references to numbered sections of the Criminal Code. We are sure the Special Prosecutor from Ontario will bring his handy-dandy pocket version to refer to, as he wades through the miriad of findings of questionable conduct and misleading statements. But we will help the layman, by explaining that the sections refered to by the Auditor for legal review generally start with "F" - he was too polite to use the w...

Today's topic: Will Crocus Bloom in Spring? [originally published January 28, 2005] You would think spring has sprung from all the references to Crocus this week. Sadly, they were talking about the embattled Crocus Fund, and the only sign of rejuvenation at Crocus is the PR campaign launched to coincide with the month-end conclusion of an independent review into evaluations of the fund's investments. First came the leaks to the Winnipeg Free Press over new board members. Then former director Wally Fox-Decent showed up on CJOB to say that while he always put investors first, but, well, James Umlah ...you know... I can't say any more. Next, Bob Jones, the former director of marketing, popped up. He had quit the fund for another job, but now he's back and talking to the press. Saying little, but talking more. And, wonder of wonders, the week was capped with the appearance of acting CEO Alfred Black right there in the flesh on CBC Television answering questions (NOT) ...

The entire board of directors of The Crocus Fund has been replaced as a result of the provincial Auditor General's report. We can't overstate this fact. The entire board . Yet, what should have been front page news, under a huge headline, has been reported in a whisper, proving once again how easily manipulated the mainstream news media can be. The transformation of the Crocus board occurred in a piecemeal fashion to hide what was really happening. The latest announcement has been a delay in the release of the Provincial Auditor's report until at least May 27, but The Black Rod sees no reason not to reveal what's in the report now . So, based on half a dozen announcements made after those on the inside got to read a draft of the Crocus report, we will tell you today exactly what the Auditor's findings are. The Black Rod's preview of the Crocus report is based on these developments: 1. Crocus plans to chop the value of its shares by almost a third as soon as tra...

The Black Rod has learned that CBC television news has taped an interview confirming our exclusive story that Matthew Dumas was seen fighting with police in the back lane to Dufferin Avenue moments before he was shot to death. But the CBC has chosen to suppress the information . Our source, a CBC insider who is extremely familiar with their coverage of the Dumas shooting, has seen the tape and provided us with quotes. This shocking information underscores how the mainstream media, like the CBC, act as self-appointed gatekeepers of information, releasing only that which supports their agenda. In this case the CBC agenda is to portray the police as villains who failed to act properly and handcuff Matthew Dumas when they had the chance and forestall the need to shoot him. However, the evidence uncovered by The Black Rod , and now confirmed by the CBC, shows that Dumas was initially taken into custody by a lone policeman who found him hiding in a back yard. The teen was led back to th...

O'Learygate , the latest scandal sweeping over Manitoba's NDP , is remarkable for the disappointing facets of the government and the press that are being revealed. To see how this played out in Question Period has been very disturbing and only The Black Rod seems to be paying attention. On its face, the scandal is about how Seven Oaks School Divison chairman Brian O'Leary managed to engage in land speculation under the noses of two NDP Ministers of Education, in blatant disregard of the Public Schools Act which expressly forbids land development with taxpayers money. Premier Gary Doer has ordered an investigation into how it happened. But, as we've seen with previous NDP scandals (read Hydra House), an NDP "investigation" often means something entirely different to the government than it does to the citizens of Manitoba. It's interesting to see how the mainstream media have successfully filtered out any mention of O'Leary's close connections to...

The election hasn't been called yet, already it's claimed the first casualty. It's been apparent for weeks now that there has been a deep split at the Winnipeg Free Press between the editorial page and the editors of the newspages. One has been railing against the corruption exposed by the Gomery Inquiry and calling for an immediate election; the other has been promoting the federal Liberal party and local Liberal MP's at every turn. Guess which was which. Call us precient or paranoid, but The Black Rod was in the midst of writing about this scism at the very hour the stretcher was called onto the battlefield. Wednesday, the paper made it clear it speaks with one voice , and that voice is not the voice of ex-Publisher Murdoch Davis , who has been unceremoniously shown the door. And with him, we expect, will go all those calls for the resignation of Paul Martin and his Liberals. There can be many reasons for a change of top management, ranging from financial misdeeds to...

Hold the presses!! The Black Rod has just learned that the Winnipeg Free Press has parted ways with publisher Murdoch Davis. Davis had been impossible for reach for days but no one could figure it out. Then this morning a high-level meeting resulted in the unceremonious dumping of Davis without so much of a "wish him well." Morale skyrocketed among the ink-stained wretches of the newsroom when the terse memo was released today at 2PM. "Davis wasn't all bad", it was suggested. After all, he had managed to unload the former editor, the not-missed Nicholas Hirst, as well as longtime Sports writer Scott Taylor and editor Buzz Currie as fallout from the Taylorgate affair. Co-owner Ron Stern pledged to "work more closely with the newspaper" and he made reference to the "fine team" at the broadsheet, in the short memo announcing Davis' departure. Wags say the man on the spot is now incoming editor Bob Cox, hired by Davis mere weeks ago to fill H...

A ten-year-old girl holds the key to the story behind the shooting of Matthew Dumas by a City of Winnipeg police officer . This young eyewitness has helped The Black Rod reconstruct the final five minutes of the troubled life of the teenager who died of a police bullet in January. The story begins as Matthew Dumas ducked into the back yard of a house on Dufferin Avenue after managing to elude the police officers who were chasing him that afternoon. Matthew had been unfazed by the huge signs proclaiming Beware Of Dog , and, indeed, by the big dog itself who was chained in the back yard and whose native name meaning "bear" accurately describes its size. The dog's barking aroused the home's resident who opened the back door to see what was going on. He found Matthew, winded but calm, standing beside his back door. The youth asked if a certain boy lived there, certainly a ruse to explain his presence there. He had a cigarette in his hand and the home's resident gave h...

Last evening CBC-TV tried to restore the credibility of Terry Nelson , shattered by letters he wrote espousing anti-Semitism and full of demagogue threats. Suddenly revived was a story about a police shooting of a Native man this winter, that no one from MSM properly covered in the first place. You will recall that Nelson was at the forefront of native leaders depicting city police as murderers, when 18 year old car thief Matthew Dumas was being apprehended as a suspect in an East Kildonan robbery. Reporter Ian Flett took a camera to an unspecified address next to the shooting location, and interviewed an elderly native man who is a police witness. The witness, he said, stepped forward because there was something not right about what he saw and how the police chase ended. CBC used the opportunity to once again allow an "expert" to blame the police for the death, and thereby revive the anti-police hysteria that Nelson whipped up in the first place. The witness told CBC tha...

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the human rights museum .... The Aspers, a close family, working together to fulfill their dad's dream project, didn't see it coming. Fresh from a successful reveal of the striking design for the Museum that is to be their father's legacy, they thought they could relax. But, as in all scary stories, that's exactly when something loathsome falls out of a dark closet. Cue Terry Nelson, or, as he is known in court circles, Roseau River Chief Terrance Nelson. Terry Nelson has his own issues with the Human Rights Museum. And the Asper's have theirs with Terry Nelson, starting with the matter of a couple of letters containing extreme anti-Semitic viewpoints. Terry Nelson called a news conference this week, ostensibly to apologize for the latest of those letters. We're sure the Aspers would have preferred that the apology not come on the heels of the good news about the museum, but better sooner than never. Right? We watched t...