Angry in the Great White North

A tip from reader Sara:

Hey, I just read where a senior Tory official in Mayerthorpe, just north of Edmonton is is big time trouble over pilfering $54 million out of the Tories.

I can't wait until you get on this one - I bet it's making you really angry.

Waiting for your comments and detective work on this one.

It should be noted that Sara is not one of my fans. Still, $54,000,000 is a huge amount of money to drain from the coffers of Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party.

How could they have missed that? In the case of the missing money from the federal Liberal Party London riding association, somewhat more than $13,000 was allegedly taken over the period of a year.

But $54,000,000?! Sheesh, this is Ocean's Eleven scale.

So here's the scoop on the alleged theft from Whitecourt-St. Anne PC Association:

A 67-year-old Mayerthorpe man has been charged with defrauding a local Tory association out of $54,000 over six years.

Alfred William Burrill, the former treasurer of the Whitecourt-St. Anne Progressive Conservative Association, is scheduled to appear in Mayerthorpe provincial court on Oct. 25.

George VanderBurg, the riding's Tory MLA, said his association called in the RCMP this spring to investigate. He said Burrill is a well-liked farmer and chartered accountant.

I guess George Clooney is off the hook -- it was $54,000 and not $54,000,000.

Sara asks if this makes me angry. Of course it does. A serious breach of trust has been alleged.

The association has responded by calling the police. This is important for many reasons:

• A crime is a crime, and we have a system in place to investigate crimes and punish criminals.
• If a crime is investigate privately, there are no safeguards for the accused.
• If a crime is punished privately, there are no safeguards for the accused, nor protections for those doling out the punishment.
• If a crime is not investigated, the criminal may continue to commit crimes and hurt other innocent citizens.
• If a crime is not investigated, others who might have been hurt might never realize that they've been wronged, or never learn the identity of the criminal and so seek civil restitution.

We do know that in the case of the London riding association of the federal Liberal Party, there was an attempt to curtail an investigation. David Pretlove, the interim executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) made a very specific offer to the London riding association, offering to write a cheque from the accounts of the LPC(O) to cover a portion of the shortfall, on condition of a written promise that no further action be taken. The included not calling the police.

Consider all the implications I've outlined. The political dimension adds more:

• If someone donates money to the LPC(O), is it for the intention of financing party operations, or to help prevent investigation into crimes against the party?
• If David Pretlove was willing to spend LPC(O) money in such a manner without authorization, as has been stated by LPC(O) officials once the story became public, then how was it that he was able to continue in his position of authority?
• We know about this story because the riding association refused the offer and police were called. Since we know of at least one attempt to cover up a crime using party funds, have there been other attempts?

In the story of Whitecourt-St. Anne Progressive Conservative Association, there is no report of an attempt by the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party to cover up the alleged theft.

So yes, I'm angry. But it could be worse and I could be angrier. Now it's up to the criminal justice system to sort out guilt and innocence. Thankfully the system is being given the chance to do its job by people who seem to respect the system.

Check out other entries from the David Pretlove category
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Check out what Canadian bloggers have posted about David Pretlove
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Check out what has been written about Liberal Party scandals on the web
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