Mexico can't keep the lid on anymore: narco war kills 16 in Acapulco

This weekend marked the official takeover of tourist paradise by the kind of narco war carnage that has terrorized the country, with an estimated 12,000 dead, over the past three years. A two-hour shootout with heavy weaponry erupted when police attacked a drug cartel HQ a few blocks from the main Acapulco strip of Boulevard Miguel Aleman and claimed 16 lives (some reports said18).  At least one police officer died, according to reports, and four officers were later found gagged and bound in the house, but alive. This kind of public shootout in a tourist haven like Acapulco shines a public spotlight on Mexico's narco wars in a way that will surely impact on tourism. Associated Press released a video:

  

This has been coming for a long time in Acapulco, as it has been in other cities popular with tourists. The Mexican and U.S. governments argue the full-scale violence over three years results from the Felipe Calderon government's crackdown on the narco trade. Drug-trafficking experts in Mexico, as well as NGOs, see other reasons behind the government's military response to the drug cartels. I've gone into that in other blogs. In any case, with this weekend's violence at one of the country's most popular tourist sites, any attempt to maintain an image that killings occur largely in border cities and among the cartels themselves - with little impact on tourists - has been shattered.

In Guerrero state, with its Pacific beach resorts of Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta (which readers correct as being on Jalisco/Nayarit border), the cartel rivalry is thought to be mainly between the established Bertran Leyva gang and the Sinaloa Cartel muscling in from the north. A top Beltran Leyva gunman was believed to have been in the Acapulco house and killed.

There will be a price beyond human life to pay and, unfortunately, it will impact upon poor Mexicans who eke out a living from the tourist business. It's becoming increasingly clear that throwing the army at the problem is not working. Narco-trafficking as a parallel economy, with cadres of supporters in high places, is too entrenched in the fabric of the country. Moreover, social problems at the heart of the narco epidemic - from farmers who depend on sales of marijuana or poppy to unemployment and social rootlessness - must be addressed. Otherwise, expect more than lids blowing up; expect the entire stove to explode.

Here's Universal's report on the shootout.

And scratch what I said yesterday about not writing about narco-trafficking for a time.

A video on "Lord of the Skies"

Amado Carrillo Fuentes - the Lord of the Skies - died in 1997, before YouTube videos could actually show footage of him. However, here's an offering (in Spanish) to give you a sense of the guy's power and legend. Maybe he died in his hospital room in Mexico City after a bad reaction (really bad) to plastic surgery that lasted 14 hours. Maybe, as authorities believe, he was murdered by his bodyguards. Or, perhaps, as the myth goes, he escaped in a giant scam. The plastic surgery in a Mexico City hospital was supposed to give him a new life, and maybe it did. Wait for the movie. Tarantino?

* * *

A big reason drug lords are so much a part of Mexican pop culture is their taste for beautiful women. The standard for escapades set by Raul Salinas, the brother of former president Carlos Salinas, still stands. He was in jail in 1995, charged with murder and various crimes related to narco-trafficking, and needed money. So his fourth wife, the beautiful Paulina Castanon de Salinas (a Catherine Deneuve lookalike) sailed forth and breezed into a Swiss bank and tried to withdraw $84 million U.S. in cash one afternoon.

She was arrested and, at the time, magazines were filled with glossy photos of Paulina in Raul's arms, Paulina posing on his yacht, etc. etc. The public ate it up, as they do photos of celebrities "linked" to the drug trade by rumour. (Salinas was convicted in 1999 of having masterminded a murder and given 50 years in prison, later reduced to a 27-year term. His sentence was overturned and he walked out of prison a free man in 2005. He still faces illegal enrichment charges related to drugs but those charges will likely evaporate with time.)

After Castanon's arrest, Salinas gave an interview insisting, rather hilariously, he was innocent.

* * *

It's easy to find video online about narco-trafficking in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada - the focus for our recent series - as well as analysis of the fallout in society at large, whether reports in NarcoNews, human rights documents, congressional investigations and various articles.  You can easily find videos on YouTube and other sites showing recent arrests.

What I'm waiting for is the definitive book on who facilitates narco-trafficking in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, with exposes on all the politicians, business tycoons, civil servants and the layers of facilitators in law enforcement , the judiciary and other organizations.  But I suppose the chances of a writer with the real goods surviving to publication is slim to none. 

* * *

With this offering, the Decoder turns again to matters other than narco-trafficking.

The man who showed me how the drug trade works

You only need to get it once, and I got it from Jorge Aguirre Meza who was executed by drug thugs with AK-47s in front of his little girl in his front yard in Sinaloa state in 1997. He died more than a decade ago, but with his life and death showed me nothing would change in the drug business, not without a revolution in thinking and that hasn't happened.

He was a federal drug agent working from headquarters in Mexico City when he cracked a big case on the Arizona border, with suspects on both sides. He was excited, called his superiors and rushed back to the capital, expecting kudos and involvement with the team of agents that he assumed would take over the investigation and, he hoped, make wide-scale arrests, shutting down the tunnel he'd discovered and scoop up the evidence he'd compiled against individuals.

Instead, as he entered the attorney-general's office in DF, he met an army contact who told him he was in deep trouble - and he was. His boss told him to keep quiet, nothing was ever done, he realized his superiors wanted information about drug operations so they could demand bigger bribes from their cartel contacts, he quit and went back to his home state on the west coast to practice human rights law. He was an excellent contact for the short period before his assassination and I visited him a few times, met his family - notably a red-haired rirebrand of a daughter - and shared meals and laughs. When I wrote about his death in the Toronto Star (I was Latin America bureau chief based in Mexico City) the president's office called to express their condolences, as if the loss had been all mine and had nothing to do with Mexico and the war against drugs.

So I got it.

Since then, there have been a couple of drug czars arrested with great hoopla for working for the cartels - General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo and Noe Ramirez - but it's all just "seen it before" for me. Nobody's serious about cleaning it up and I can see why: for the corrupt, it's too lucrative; for the honest, it's too dangerous. People get killed for telling the truth.

 * * *

Recent reports on human rights in Mexico:

Amnesty International USA, 2008

U.S. Department of State

Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada (see various links)

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (no human rights reports by country but generic responses to questions from parliamentary committees. Thin gruel.)

* * *

Tomorrow, the Star wraps up a series on the hemispheric drug wars - "Lethal Connections" with a first link to the stories - that looks at social costs, fallout in Mexico as neighbour and NAFTA partner and the violence that kills innocents. I sought an interview with a Canadian official so I could report for readers on the government's perspective and concerns.

 Peter Kent, Foreign Affairs minister of state, was not available.

* * *

Final posts on drug wars over the weekend.

Handy-dandy drug cartel/narco-trafficking research guide

Big topic, so this is merely a taste for beginners.

Ready to turn over a narco-lord or henchman to the FBI? All set for the Witness Protection program? In that case, go to: www.narctip.com

* * *

Travelling to Mexico?

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada posted a report on Mexico. Swine flu altered the picture for a few weeks earlier this spring.

Ditto for U.S. State Department report on Mexico (includes at-a-glance country information), and a recent Washington Post public service guide for readers on the neighbour to the south.

* * *

Drug lord of the day: "America's Most Wanted" on El Chapo Guzman

* * *

For starters - two good research sites on Mexico and Latin America

Washington Office on Latin America: WOLA

Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada 

* * *

For readers with a real appetite to learn more about narco-trafficking, I'll wrap up the series, "Lethal Connections," after Saturday's last story with a weekend of blogging at PoliticalDecoder. If you're reading this, in all likelihood you already have the address.

Why film "Traffic" still the best on narco-trafficking from Mexico

You may have noticed we're running a series on narco-trafficking this week (today's installment) and Decoder is offering a behind-the-scenes look all week.

Many of my Mexican colleagues don't like the film, Traffic and will say why. They cite everything from another town (Juarez, I think) being used for Tijuana, skewed Mexican and American authorities and the whole Hollywood theme with the drug czar's daughter on a downward drug spiral. From a Mexican perspective, they're right, but for Canadians who want a realistic sense of what's going on in the narco-wars, it's an education. Look at it as really good for a Hollywood flick.

It's still worth checking out.

There really was a General Arturo Salazar, played by Tomas Milan. In the movie, he's the army general who goes head-to-head with Benecio del Toro's good cop, Javier Rodriguez. In reality, General Jesus Gutierrez Rebello, head of the Mexican equivalent of the Drug Enforcement (DEA), worked for the Juarez Cartel. He'd had access to the highest levels of political power in the United States, yet was using the army to fight the Arrellano Felix Bros. around Tijuana on behalf of his benefactors in Juarez. He was arrested in 1997 and got something like 100 years in jail. At the time, his boss was Amado Castillo Fuentes, called "Lord of the Skies" for his gang's mastery of trafficking by air and his penchant for luxury jets. He made the Juarez Cartel the most powerful in the country in his era, opening up drug routes to Europe and Africa as well as the U.S., and grooming people — including family members — as financiers, lawyers and marketing experts needed in his massive international business enterprise. He died suspiciously in a hospital bed after 14 hours of plastic surgery in Mexico City. According to legend, he's not deceased. The year was 1997, the same year they took down Rebollo.

Del Toro's character embodies the good cop, and that's the point to remember about the narco-wars. There is rampant corruption in Mexico, as every expert on criminal organizations and ties to power will attest, but there are also police officers who stand up to the cartels and pay with their lives, along with those of their family members. They are found mutilated and burned, part of the carnage that has swept Mexico.

The film's sub-plot about the daughter of the U.S. drug chief (Michael Douglas) fighting her own little addiction war — yeah, okay. It shows the rot within the American Empire and the vital role of consumers in the whole operation. But it's pretty heavy-handed. Hollywood. (I haven't seen the 1989 British miniseries, Traffik that friends say is superior.)

There are more fairly accurate depictions in Traffic."Cristina Palacios Hoyodan, who heads an organization fighting impunity in Tijuana, says a character is a composite of her son, Alejandro, 35, who was kidnapped (likely) by the cartels in 1997 and never seen again. He knew the Arrellano Felix brothers (they were neighbours in a wealthy suburb of Tijuana when drug lords tried to fit in) and his mother knows he was mixed up with drugs. In the film, he's believed to be Carlos Ayala (Steven Bauer), who's arrested by the DEA in San Diego for drug-trafficking Catherine Zeta-Jones plays his wife, Helena. Parts of the movie were shot at the old courthouse in San Diego.

* * *

Some light background reading for readers who want to know more:

Last year's congressional report on drug-trafficking

Reporters Without Borders site with links to the murder of journalists, internationally and by country

* * *

A post-script on Saturday's story (see link at top) about Constables Mike Clark and Phil Gomes, from the Integrated Gang Task Force in Vancouver:

Clark talks about the "Spidey sense" they develop after a time on a dangerous beat — a new Spiderman reference for me.

Plus, their their favorite movie is Super Troopers, which meant I spent the night in the back of the copmobile without getting most of the references.

Drug Trafficking: Video of Arrest of "Stew Maker"

Soldiers arrested drug-trafficker Santiago Meza Lopez - El Pozolero (The Stew Maker) - earlier this year in Tijuana. He specialized in disposing of corpses in acid, 300 by his count (see sidebar) when he was arrested.

More on Shake 'n' Bake from "Lethal Connections"

Well, I was going to blog on the drug-trafficking series, "Lethal Connections" Monday to Friday in Decoder.  But I hate to see today's link to my blog go to waste, so let's begin today with Plan B.

Photographer Carlos Osorio and I had a lot of fun on this swine flu/drug trafficking trip, with leaving Toronto in a panic and researching drug series contacts on the fly being just the beginning.

On a Friday night, we went out, as today's opener describes, on a ride-along with B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force units.  (Here's a link to our Lethal Connections video.) The evening began with a get-acquainted meal at a local Lower Mainland pizza parlour to give Carlos and me a chance to talk with Corp. Al Coons and other officers, Constables Mike Hughes and Jamie Forbes. I've got to admit, once I got over the shock! of if, the record set by Hughes at our table was pretty overwhelming.

I thought Coons was joking when he pulled out his watch, held up a finger and, preparing to count out the seconds, shouted, "Go!" to Hughes. While everyone else, journos included, had ordered pizza, Hughes  broke with tradition. And how! In front of him sat a large dish of (I believe) creamed chicken and mashed potatoes. There may have been peas and other vegies in there somewhere.

Anyway, Hughes had spent a fair amount of time preparing his meal, mashing everything together and using repeated pressings of his fork to give it a consistency of, well, golly, I can't even begin to describe it.

And then, he inhaled.

"I minute, 12 seconds," yelled Coons in triumph. I gather this could have been some kind of record, but truthfully, it beats me. It was something to behold, trust me. 

His buddies applauded and, later, clapped Hughes on the back. He was on my right, so I later I got his  explanation about the big family back there in Chilliwack (12, I think) and the perils of eating slowly.

Wow.

Later sandwiched between Hughes and Clark on a quick walk through a downtown bar, I felt very well protected. Hughe's is built like the proverbial "brick s---t-house." He's into mixed martial arts and probably could hoist the black Task Force SUV on a finger and toss it across the Lion's Gate Bridge.

This isn't to suggest he's not a consumate pro, a cop's cop. But he should be a character in "Borat" Hold on, I've already got him lined up for fiction of my own. Rather, a character based on . . .

Maybe this guy is already a legend among law enforcement types, and I'm not telling them anything they don't know.

* * *

Much more blogging on all aspects of drug-trafficking over the up-coming week. 

Is Canada-Colombia free trade deal off the table until fall?

This is the week the deal — or Bill C-23 — was supposed to be debated in the Commons. But there is cautious optimism today among non-governmental groups who oppose the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement over what appears to be the quiet withdrawal of the bill from the House of Commons Order Paper. The hope is it's off the schedule, at least until fall, giving opponents more time to fight in the court of public opinion.

A recent letter to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff from Dr. John C. Jones, Colombia coordinator for Amnesty International Canada, makes a strong case against the deal, arguing nothing should be done until a full human rights review can be carried out. More than 50 prominent organizations and individuals have endorsed the letter. It reviews allegations of unofficial/official support for the death squads that continue to butcher civilians in that country. Support for a human rights review was, after all, the all-party position of a parliamentary committee last fall until the Conservatives rather clumsily reversed themselves in the House.

Nobody has fought harder against the deal than the Canadian NGO, Common Frontiers and director Rick Arnold. The best analysis I've seen on may have happened this week is Arnold's own in a recent email to Decoder, part of which I share with readers.

A report to sweeten your tax burden. Or so they say.

It's tax time and a Canadian think tank argues Canadians get a real bargain. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has issued a new report - "Canada's Quiet Bargain" - saying Canadian households enjoy a "higher quality of life" because of public services funded through taxation. In a response to what the CCPA calls "incessant calls for tax cuts," the report concludes public services make a significant contribution to the standard of living of most Canadians - worth at least 50 percent of their incomes.

"Our taxes pay for services that are extremely valuable to Canadians," says economist Hugh Mackenzie, the report's co-author and CCPA research associate. "The suggestion we often hear, that taxes a a burden, hides the reality that our taxes fund public services that make Canada's standard of living among the very best."

The report breaks down tax benefits by income.  It's worth a look.

I suppose the idea is to smile as you send your tax dollars to Ottawa.

* * *

Speaking of taxes, Liberal Leader MIchael Ignatieff is already talking about raising them if elected PM (read down in linked story). And the Conservative government is already blasting the idea (see below).

1,500 Layoffs by U.S. Steel Test of Investment Canada's Teeth

Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement says he's "surprised" by U.S. Steel's decision this week to indefinitely close operations at plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, leaving ,1500 steelworkers jobless and uncertain about their futures. It was just 18 months ago the U.S. company purchased what was formerly Stelco, making commitments to the federal government through Investment Canada. Usually such commitments are for guaranteed capital investment in Canada. Said Clement yesterday: "We take the position that any company that has made Investment Canada undertakings has to live up to those undertakings. So we will be reviewing the situation."

However, neither Clement nor officials at U.S. Steel will release those undertakings, claiming privacy provisions. Given the track record by a succession of federal governments in failing to enforce Investment Canada deals, there's no reason to believe the government will keep U.S. Steel's feet to the fire this time. Layoffs like this are what occurs when governments allow critical sectors of the economy to be bought out by foreign companies who always protect their own workers first.  Rules for foreign ownership have been so relentlessly watered down in this country, they appear superflous. Still, U.S. Steel undertook commitments with Investment Canada and there's a very easy way to judge whether they are living up to these commitments: release the documents. If the minister is suprised, chances Canadians will be too. Privacy should be a moot point if an agreement has been broken. Leaving it Tony Clement and teams of timid federal lawyers to decide hardly seems an ideal solution for 1,500 workers who are hurting now.

Good news on the economy

Where do you see a headline like that these days. Get a lift, read this Toronto Star story that says Loblaw is rehiring. It may not mean the GDP isn't shrinking but it's not bad news. 

President Barack Obama's not-too-softening stand on NAFTA

It was all smiles on Parliament Hill Thursday for the meeting of Prime MInister Stephen Harper with the new U.S. president. Obama indicated any NAFTA renegotiations could wait, leading to crossed fingers in Harper's cabinet he's forgotten some of his campaign promises to change the trade deal. But, as Lori Wallach from Public Citizen told the Washington Post, her group and other non-profits remain hopeful Obama was merely handling a tricky topic with sophistication and will deliver his promises of a better deal for workers, the environment and other NAFTA issues. In the wake of his Ottawa visit last Thursday,  Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Trade Watch division, told the Post:

"I am happy for him to frame his way of positioning the issue any way he wants, as long as he actually delivers on the issue. If down the road Obama doesn't deliver on the policy, there will be a whole lot of really upset people."

Public Citizen, a non-profit based in Washington, was among the first  to point out recently "Buy American" commitments in the $800-plus U.S. stimulus plan do not contravene the NAFTA. The organization put out a no-nonsense review of the stimulus provisions as they relate to NAFTA wording. They also released a handy Public Citizen guide to Obama's campaign commitments that includes a nice selection of his campaign videos. It's worth a look. Their releases don't let any Obama campaign pledge slip by. We'll see.

* * *

Mickey, Mickey, Mickey: The Academy Awards aren't my forte but, like everybody else, I was glued to the TV last night, making snarky remarks. I must say, though, I've got a soft spot for Mickey Rourke's wearing a photo medallion of his deceased dog. Sadly, Loki the Chihuahua passed away a few days ago at some incredible dog age of 113. I happened to catch Maclean's movie critic Brian Johnson on Q this morning. Enough with the chihuahua, he said. He was joking.

Not for me. Rourke said he would rather have had  two more years with Loki than a Best Actor award.  It's a loyal comment from a man who appreciates the company of dogs. Too bad he didn't get either.

* * *

A postcript on Big Three pensions, or lack of:  As days go by, the promised pensions and benefits for GM retirees (among others) appear less secure.  Readers have posted interesting comments to Political Decoder about whether taxpayers should be on the hook for pensions if the companies/unions can't cover. Most people are clear: NO! 

The reason I think these corporations must respect their retirees is these issues were settled in a bargain with unions over time, and seniors can't be thrown overboard at this late date. It would be great to see all retired workers in this country get fair and decent pensions and benefits. That is not the case but that should be the goal of unions and employee associations, even in these grim times.

Too many Canadians find themselves with zip at retirement time. A government pension isn't much. That's the lowest common denominator.  The battle should be to better conditions for everyone, not punish Big 3 workers because other people are losing out. Besides, corporations can be sneaky. Experience has shown that, even in the most dire circumstances of bankruptcy and closure, there's always money tucked away for corporate executive payouts.

Would G. Richard Wagoner Jr. lose his pension and benefits package?

Good news for GM retirees

The news gets better today, relatively speaking. In the GM restructuring plan sent to the provincial and federal governments today, the company secured pensions and benefits for retirees, as well existing jobs in Canada. For now, one should add. We don't have the fine print yet to ensure all benefits are guaranteed, but it's very good news for seniors.

A literal assault on pensioners has been taking place in our battered economy, the sector of the population least able to fight back. More and more companies talk publicly about the heavy costs attached to ex-workers and, increasingly, pension funds look about as reliable as all those bogus bank deals. Air Canada is the latest.

Clearly, pensioners must be protected across-the-board; they thought they had a deal before they retired to live on fixed incomes.

In case you missed it: Canda's 100 top CEOs averaged a 22 percent pay hike in 2008

That's a record increase, and it's not the only good news for the country's best-paid executives. For the first time, they talled $1 billion in average total earnings. These numbers come in the latest report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.  At that rate, centre research associate Hugh Mackenzie calculates these blessed few pull in the average Canadian wage of $40,237 by 9:04 a.m. on Jan. 2.

I slipped up in not letting readers know at Christmas the Political Decoder would be on holiday until Jan. 12.  Today's post is for that purpose - and to cheer everybody up about how much money they aren't making.

An Answer for the North American auto industry

RON BULL

Workers leave a GM plant in Oshawa in April, 2008.

It's time for out-of-the-box thinking to save the auto industry. It's an integrated system so answers must involve the entire workforce from Canada and the United States and (eventually) Mexico.  When the congressional bailout for bridge financing for the Big 3 failed last week, Capitol Hill fingers pointed at the UAW for refusing to make any concessions. However, President George W. Bush later suggested the Administration will come up with close to $15 billion for the auto makers because the industry is simply too big to fail. Canada will likely follow with roughly $4 billion to save plants on this side of the border.

Considering the long-term expenses of these manufacturing auto giants, it's a giant money pit, especially with the tough contracts negotiated by the United Auto Workers over the years. Media reports last week examined the huge advantage Asian auto makers have over their North American counterparts. It's not so much in paying lower wages and the related expenses of paid holidays, weekend pay and overtime, but rather the legacy costs of health care and pensions paid to retirees. Plus, Asian car makers pay less in health care, training and other benefits for employees. The difference in hourly wages between unionized plants in the U.S. and Canada and a non-unionized Japanese plant in the U.S. is about $5. But when you start looking at what the North American auto makers have to pay out to long-gone workers in pension and health-care benefits, you see how much these companies really suffer. That's where unionized companies start paying $8 to $13 more an hour on pensions and more on health care, bringing total hourly charges to around $70 an hour for unionized U.S. and Canadian plants, compared to under $50 for the Japanese.

It's been suggested government could pick up pension costs. But throwing money at the problem is short-term thinking. Plus, other companies would be lined up around the block before the deal had been made. Rather, Canada should come up with replacement industry that could solve problems for the Big 3 on both sides of the border and give Canadian entrepreneurs a strong, independent alternative for jobs and R&D.  Canada could offer cutting-edge technology in a chain of assisted suicide centres that offer a humane way out for Big 3 pensioners who are suffering as their quality of life deteriorates. It would, simultaneously, whittle down pension lists. So far, the Netherlands has taken the lead in exploring assisted suicide, but there is no reason Canada could not become the world leader in an industry that offers hope to pensioners and, down the road, an option to include Big 3 employees and family members who face a lifetime of pain — both physical and mental — along with their medical procedures. It could be the humane choice.

There could be accompanying centres at Canadian universities and colleges studying the human rights law of euthanasia, again offering world-leader potential for Canada. As well, the option of spa and hospital accommodation — holiday package tours for the family — is enormous. If the program begins on a broad scale,  everyone on the Big 3 pension lists would be considered eligible. Hopefully, it would operate on a voluntary basis, however the larger needs of society would, at some point, overcome any vestige of public concern. The government would have to pass forward-thinking legislation to cover off legal necessities.

Or, it could be a more modest proposal at the beginning, with only a few lottery winners from the ranks of Big 3 pensioners getting slots at a new euthanasia centre. As publicity grew, need is sure to outstrip capacity, which would lead to more growth in Canada's new national enterprise.

Canada must not stay bogged down in life support for outdated industry. The future lies in a new science and health-based technology that offers concrete answers to a problem that otherwise won't be solved.

Rob Schneider: drunken crusader

The cause we've been waiting for: 

Bell Canada: "Lean and mean" like Gordon Gekko

Michael Douglas in his Gordon Gekko role.

It's depressing this summer, the litany of plant closures and job losses, even the latest news that housing sales are falling across the country. Are you thinking this is what 1928 must have felt like?

At least a big corporation like BCE Inc. knows how to put the right spin on the loss of 2,500 jobs to appeal to a crowd that thinks newer, slicker, faster is always the way to go. "They are sending a message they intend to be lean and mean," industry analyst Carmi Levy told business reporter Tony Wong about yesterday's layoff announcement. Sounds like the kind of thing buyout champ Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) would could have said in the 1987 flick, Wall Street. Gekko's credo of "greed is good" pretty much summed up the decade.

Are we really back there?

To decode Bell's message, the company essentially appealed to its customers to believe they'll be better off with the layoffs. As Bell stressed, "non-management, front-line jobs" won't be affected. "Leaner and meaner" means better service for you. Now, putting aside the question of whether the public buys the idea they'll be better served by the dumping of 2,500 jobs, consider the underlying tone of a corporate message that had to have been worked out after long strategy sessions by high-priced help. BCE is betting people care more about their own lives — how's this going to affect me? — than the employees and their families. Maybe it's true, one observes sadly, but it's a rather distasteful message for a giant corporation like BCE, now owned by a group headed by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, to be sending out. I thought the me-me-me times were over.

Moreover, are we supposed to care less about management jobs than we do about auto workers getting the boot this summer? Oh well. As new BCE Inc. CEO George Cope so delicately put it: "It's always difficult to see colleagues depart, but these changes are absolutely necessary."

Hey, life goes on.

Layoff by email: Ford's latest innovation

Paul Miller, NDP economic critic at Queen's Park, is having a sour last laugh today on the province's development minister — one he doesn't particularly relish. It's over the latest 500 layoffs to hit the auto industry in Ontario, this time at Ford's plant in Oakville. I guess they're not technically layoffs because the new employees weren't scheduled to begin work until this morning. With three days to go, Ford informed the staffers-to-be their jobs no longer existed, with some getting the news by email.

Sadly, Miller is not surprised the jobs fell through. He stood up in the Legislature on June 4 to criticize the government's investment strategy in the auto industry. He could already see a grim summer of rolling layoffs looming for Ontario's auto sector and couldn't understand why Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government continued to pump money into the industry without having the ironclad job guarantees Miller sees as essential. Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello quickly put him in his place.

In her response, she stressed the government was working on a 20-year plan, in which industry could "shift on a dime" with changing events. Then she delivered a clincher as proof the auto strategy was working:

"We should use Ford Oakville as a very good example. Yesterday, they launched their new Flex. That is a new model that they could put in on a Flex line made possible by the Ontario government and by support from the federal government. That is why we saw an ad for the hiring of 500 jobs at the Oakville plant. I'd like this member to stand up and say that that is a failure."

"Failure," Miller told the Decoder this afternoon.

As he sees it, 500 "hardworking men and women" gave up good jobs for the opportunity with Ford, only to be kicked in the teeth. "You don't do that to people." Moreover, he says taxpayers are watching Ford walk away with $100 million in public money.

Why hasn't Ford turned on Pupatello's proverbial dime, asks Miller. Why aren't they using these workers to retrofit the plant?

It's been a tough slog for Miller to get his hands on specific information about the public sector grants to the auto industry. He says he learned that GM pledged to maintain 16,000 jobs in Ontario for its $250 million only by filing an Access to Information request for the contract. "Have those jobs been maintained? No."

He's listened to the government argue it will get money back at the end of the life of the contract in cases where a company doesn't deliver. He asks skeptically: "When has that ever happened?" Besides, he stresses the government has a "moral obligation" to provide for these workers.

He argues the Legislature should be in emergency session to deal with these dark weeks of layoffs in the summer of 2008. "That won't happen but the bottom line is that we (the NDP caucus) are not going to keep quiet about this. Sandra Pupatello and (Finance Minister) Dwight Duncan can pretend everything is hunky-dory, but people can see what's going on."

GM's G. Richard Wagoner Jr. leading by example

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GM Chairman and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr.

News about more layoffs in GM's North American operations today — this time white collar workers — was not a huge surprise. Devastating, but not a surprise. It's no fun whatsoever to be laid off, especially in this brutal economy. However, what wounds on top of the layoffs announced by GM chair G. Richard Wagoner Jr. was the added detail that health benefits are being suspended for company retirees. GM justified this particular decision — apart from the need to raise $15 billion by 2009 — by saying the company would top up pensions from its "overfunded" pension fund to help compensate for Medicare and supplemental insurance.

Boy, there's a promise you can take to the bank.

It appears U.S. retirees are being thrown overboard. Canadian retirees would appear to be in a better place than their American counterparts simply because, with all its problems, Canada's health care system is not the same two-tiered monster in place in the United States. (Yet.)

In the first place, the U.S. Medicare system for Americans 65 years and over has been criticized for years for restricted care through a drastically underfunded plan. Some critics have warned it's in danger of going broke completely, a phenomenon that doesn't feel so absurd in a week in which the federal government is bailing out both huge mortgage funds, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There's only so much money and gigantic debt, including the U.S. government's.

Worse, during many years based in Washington, I often saw notices in physicians' offices saying they wouldn't accept Medicare patients or that the plan was severely restricted. Often, it was simply a word-of-mouth understanding.

That's why GM workers negotiated health benefits for their retirees in the first place.

Granted, GM announced it is cutting cash bonuses. Without at least that, today's pile-on of bad news would have been grossly immoral. Still, although one strained to hear, what Wagoner did not say, was that he would cut his own base salary, or that other executives were stepping up to the plate. It would have been a significant gesture. According to analysis by The Associated Press, Wagoner's pay increased by 64 per cent to $15.7 million (including bonus) in 2007 — even as GM endured $39 billion in losses and the share price plummeted by $19. Besides, as the article reported:

"Compensation has become a shell game,'' said Richard Ferlauto, director of pension and benefits policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a Washington labor group.

"So they take away the bonus,'' he said, "but then they still come up with ways to make sure the executive gets a big payout.''

Breaking the terms of a contract with the most vulnerable of your workers — seniors on fixed income — appears pretty heartless by executives who have made piles and piles of money out of their GM gigs over the years — especially when Wagoner announced today's plan was "a strategy to win" and not just one to "survive." 

Globalization and more tomatoes

While we're on the subject of tomatoes. . .

In the United States, tomatoes are believed to be the source of 145 cases of salmonella poisoning reported across 17 states since mid-April. The Food and Drug Administration reports 23 people have been hospitalized and the federal agency put out an advisory about certain types of raw tomatoes on June 7.

While no cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported in Canada, several fast-food chains pulled tomatoes temporarily from their menus as a precaution.

Finding the source of the tainted tomatoes is difficult. As David Acheson, FDA assistant commissioner, today told Bloomberg News: "The tomatoes must be traced back from stores to distributers to suppliers - it's very time-consuming."

The problem has become even difficult under harmonization and the streamlining that has been going on in North America over the past two decades, largely as a result of free trade initiatives.  As I described in my earlier post today, I came up empty when I tried to find the point of sale for particular Mexican tomatoes some years ago. I knew the field (town, state, country) where they were picked and the date of picking. I knew they'd been shipped to the U.S. , however, once there and likely reboxed, I had no idea where they ended up.

That's the problem , for health officials in the U.S. and Canada and for you - the consumer.