Framed

One of our back yard residents

I had not seen my old customer Mary (not her real name) since 2001. I knew her husband had passed away but had only heard that it was a stroke and did not know any details. He was only 64. This week we went back to widow Mary's and she filled me in on what has transpired since last I worked for her and her husband.

He was a Veterinarian of high moral character and with an outstanding reputation in his field. One day, out of the blue, his license was pulled. What followed was an amazing tale of an innocent man who was framed by one of our Canadian Government bureaucracies. There was a trumped up charge, falsified evidence, and withheld evidence at a subsequent Supreme Court case. He was assured, off the record, behind closed doors, that he was innocent, but that they wanted to get at one of his clients who was exporting beef. The US Beef Growers and their lobbyists pulled out all the stops to strike a demoralizing blow to the Canadian Beef Producers. It was a tale of saving jobs, possibly bribes, influence pedaling, and intimidation. The details are too numerous to outline here. Mary's husband took his case to the Supreme Court and for three years fought the government to get his license and his good name back. It took a toll on his pocket book and on his health. Just as he won the case, he died of a massive stroke. Mary fought for another 8 months to get some of her court costs back but was only moderately successful. Needless to say she is bitter. Her son was studying law at the time and is now more motivated than ever to practice his craft so he can right some of the wrongs he saw perpetrated on his dad. He graduates at Christmas.

After hearing the story, quite frankly, I was amazed to hear that something like that could happen in Canada. Sadly, most of our politicians have no idea what is going on in the bureaucracies that they oversee. It is these institutions and the special interest groups that seem to be running the country and they answer to nobody.