There were two blonde guys working for the city. One would dig a hole, the other would follow behind him and fill the hole in. They worked furiously all day without rest, one guy digging a hole, the other guy filling it in again. An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand What they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, "I appreciate the effort you are putting into your work, but what's the story? You dig a hole and your partner follows behind and fills it up again." The hole digger wiped his brow and sighed, "Well, normally we are a three-man team, but the guy who plants the trees is sick today."

In a scathing denunciation of the bank and its handling of Beaudoin's dismissal in 1999, Denis said Beaudoin suffered an "incalculable injustice." The judge advised the bank to "raise the white flag" rather than appeal his ruling.

Without saying he agrees with Beaudoin's sense of a vendetta against him, the judge said "the ferocity and maliciousness with which he has been treated certainly allow him to believe as he did."

Denis blasted the bank for attempting "to break and ruin his career. ... This whole affair leaves a profound impression of injustice."

[. . . .]He urged Prime Minister Paul Martin to "depoliticize a bank that is lending money. You don't mix politics and money. ... This is a recipe for failure."

OTTAWA—A legal death knell has begun to sound over the brand of politics played in Quebec during Jean Chrétien's time in office.

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will issue her hard-hitting report next week on how the Chrétien government treated its friends in the former prime minister's home province. Yesterday, Quebec's Superior Court issued a strongly worded ruling about how Chrétien's inner circle treated a perceived foe.

[. . . .] Chrétien is travelling in China on business with his son-in-law, André Demarais of Power Corp., putting him out of reach of the media and cameras precisely when all the harsh condemnations are beginning to pour in.

[. . . .] Beaudoin argued that his main sin was in daring to cancel a loan to the Auberge Grand-Mere, an inn in Chrétien's home riding of Shawinigan. (Chrétien admitted in 2000 to phoning the bank to try to help secure the loan for the inn, but ethics counsellor Howard Wilson cleared him of any wrongdoing.) The inn, fatefully, suffered a fire earlier this week and arson is suspected.

Beaudoin also believes that he made himself an enemy of Carle when he opposed his appointment to the board of directors of Canadian Airlines. [Didn't Jean Carle go to work at something having to do with comedy or laughs in Montreal after the BDC scandal?]

[. . . .] Justice André Denis wrote in his judgment: "The court considers that Mr. Beaudoin suffered an unspeakable injustice as a result of this matter." Denis stopped short of describing Beaudoin's ordeal as a "vendetta," but did say: "... the ferocity and unkindness in which he was treated in this affair certainly allows him to feel as he does."

In an interview . . . Beaudoin talks about how the mix of politics and business turned toxic for him when he ran up against the wishes of Chrétien and Carle, and others. He describes how grudges and personal connections — the very staple of politics —don't work as well in a crown corporation, which supposedly operates at arm's length from government.

Some of these same conclusions are almost inevitably going to be issued when Fraser issues her report Tuesday on federal advertising and sponsorship scandals in Quebec. The issue there will not revolve around who was treated badly, but who was treated too well.

But the lessons will almost certainly be the same — business and politics don't work well together, at least the way things worked in Quebec during the Chrétien regime.

The judge expressed concerns about phone calls by Chretien in 1996 and 1997 in which he asked Beaudoin to reinstate a cancelled loan to the inn in the former prime minister's Shawinigan riding.

[. . . .] The judge, recalling testimony about the calls by the bank's vice-president, said "one is convinced the prime minister is the primary shareholder of the bank and that one can't refuse such a service to the shareholder."

Chretien, who works at a Montreal law firm, was out of the country and wasn't available for comment, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Chretien has been cleared of any impropriety by ethics counsellor Howard Wilson.

REGINA (CP) - A Saskatchewan family maliciously prosecuted as sadistic child abusers more than a dozen years ago is receiving $1.5 million from the provincial government.

The money is being given out, not as a settlement, but as an assistance payment to help 12 members of the Klassen family while the province appeals a judge's decision that said they were unfairly charged. "It's been a long time," said Richard Klassen, the man who spearheaded the successful lawsuit against investigators and represented himself during the trial.

"It is an amount that we are accepting for some of the pain and suffering that has occurred and certainly legal fees."

Justice Minister Frank Quennell said the money was given to recognize the family members were innocent of the charges they once faced. He said it is not an admission of liability on the part of the defendants.

The money will not have to be refunded if the defendants are successful on appeal, he said.

[. . . .] The money is needed badly by the family.

Klassen said he and his wife have been trying to support their children on social assistance, but he has now informed the government he will no longer need the welfare cheques.

He is also looking forward to paying some people back. His farming in-laws almost went bankrupt to provide financial support while the case wound its way through the courts.