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November 16, 2005
Stelco, underfunded pensions, ethics & public policy, Wed, Nov. 16, 2005, 4:33 PM
Minutes ago, Muck Dog wrote me about the big pension fund liability issue, and I replied that it is the reason why I am hammering away at Stelco. Then I received this letter from a Canadian shareholder of Stelco.
The report on the recent meeting to have a creditor's vote on the restructuring plan shows what a farce this has become. Note on page 9, items 9 to 12 that the chair of the meeting recessed the meeting in order to canvass the opinions of Judge Farley, then re-convened the meeting to express the opinions of the Judge in an effort to sway those in attendance who opposed to the plan to vote in favour of it.
This is clearly an egregious abuse of the judicial system to effect the results of the re-structuring plan, which is a corporate decision being presented in a non-judicial meeting. The court has only approved the presentation of the plan for a creditor's vote in such a meeting. Note that on page 16 of 17 the total number of Stelco creditors in attendance or proxied was 782, having a total value of affected claims of $482,432,841.
It is a fact that none of these creditors petitioned Stelco into CCAA or any bankruptcy proceedings whatsoever, and the largest creditors are opposed to the plan and caused the meeting to be adjourned without a vote. Yet, if the restructuring proceeds then the entire Stelco entity is being turned upside down and put into the hands of a new group of New Stelco" shareholders based on debts of less than a half a billion dollars of which not one dollar was in demand by debt holders."
I am just sick that this judge thinks he can get away with a sanction order demanding that anybody who might wish to sue him, his court monitor CA firm, the so-called restructuring officer, the Stelco management and board, or anybody else connected with this case. Not only did he issue it, he required that any such claim be sent to his court immediately, and that he intended to rule on the matter within days.
Talk about a Kangaroo Court. In this day and age, in this sophisticated nation, apparently we still have them.
I know that the Ontario Securities Commission, and Big Media, and lawyers and judges, are reading me. But nobody wants to speak up.
Until somebody does; until we The Little People get transparency and honest answers, I'm not going to shut up.
And these crooks aren't going to shut me up either. That's because I am not a so-called Stelco stakeholder. I am just a stakeholder in Ethics and Public Policy " something these people apparently could care less about.
You know the irony of all this, don't you? I started to complain about Stelco because I saw it as a case of management trying to screw over a union. Then I saw the Steelworkers Union going along with any plan that saved their bacon, regardless of who else got the screwing over. No sir, Steelworkers. You don't have my support now. Then I saw government come in to the fray saying they demanded that Stelco meet its pension plan liabilities, and I thought what is going on here? What a crock is that? After all, why pick on Stelco when there are significantly worse pension liability problems at other Ontario and Canadian companies? Then I saw the black hand of the Bay Street Brascan boys, and I figured it all out.
One day I will properly research the links, particularly to Brascan, with government and Big Media and bankruptcies. And when I get some material worthy of your reading, I'll publish it.
I am sure you will be interested to see the role how the taxpayers of this country got royally screwed over to the tune of close to $1 billion in the Sky Dome deal. That's the one that Mom & Pop paid for. Then Brascan got involved with the Ontario government, and now has fallen" into the hands of the biggest of the Big Media players in this country, Ted Rogers, purveyor of my TV, ISP, and local and long distance telephone service.
I have so many Rogers digital modem boxes in this place; I wouldn't even know where to go looking for the spy devices. LOL
There isn't a big practice lawyer or chartered accountant or securities regulator, or banker, broker or fund manager in this town of 5 million who doesn't kiss that guy's rear-end anytime he wants it. This network is as tight as a drum. Nobody rocks the boat. Everybody seems to fear missing the Rogers gravy train.
I'm just one blogger; somebody retired who can't even get his spelling and grammar to work out. I mean Rogers' people even have Style Guides and professional storytellers (excuse me, editors), so how can I do much in the name of Ethics and Public Policy? How can I do much for the under-funded pension plan issue, or fairness in capital markets, or whatever?
I even told Muck Dog today, we need 100 Eliot Spitzer's. I should have said we need 100 for Canada, and 1000 for the U.S.
Then again, we have the Blogosphere (for now anyway), and we start one blogger at a time.
Don't we?
Posted by Posted by Bill Cara on November 16, 2005 04:34:49 PM | Category: Cara re: Cara