In the early 1980s, I read a book about personal finance that dramatically changed my life — by almost destroying it. I was tripped up by my naivety in not knowing that while strategy is good, strategy well timed is much better. I got the timing part wrong. The apartment was bought with maximum leverage (i.e. debt) and was located near a popular ski resort. Such was my strategy. The five units, converted to condominiums, hit the real estate market just as Pierre Trudeau announced the National Energy Program. Buyers disappeared. The bank that held my rather large mortgage also took possession of a 150-unit condominium project that went bankrupt, completed the construction, and offered three months’ free rent to new tenants. All of my renters left for these greener pastures. I went to the bank manager and screamed at him — literally. So began my life working outside Canada to support the results of my stupid investment decisions, and I accept that my brush with personal bankruptcy was due to my own greed and naivety. The market was doing what markets need to do. When bubbles pop and the music stops, you don’t want to be sitting on a pile of debt. I was not the only one to pay a high price for unbased financial euphoria and the disastrous effects of the National Energy Program. I had relatives who lost their businesses, and several friends who walked away from their homes when resale values dropped below remaining mortgages. Downtown Calgary in the 1980s was populated by several unfinished high-rise buildings whose owners had gone bankrupt. What became the head office for the Calgary Separate School Board stood as a skeletal, silent sentinel at the entrance to Calgary’s downtown for close to ten years.This Trudeau-induced nightmare came back when I listened to our catatonic Prime Minister Mark Carney intone that “developers don’t want to sell their inventory at a loss.” No sh#t, Sherlock. I didn’t want to sell my “inventory” at a loss either. The question is, why is the government of Canada floating ideas about short-circuiting the vital, creative destruction of a free market economy? .Does Mr. Elbows Up, the guru of international banking, suddenly not believe in the free market economy? Did he ever believe in the free market economy? Is he going to profit from the infusion of my tax dollars into the condominium market of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia? How about the housing Minister Gregor Robertson and Premier David Eby; do they have “skin in the game” and something to gain from a government bailout? All have self-identified connections to the Communist Party of China (CPC), which, according to the reporting of Sam Cooper, created the housing bubble in the first place. Will the CPC be helped by a bailout?Our Prime Minister is now trying to walk back his public relations disaster by saying that it was the fault of the Premier of British Columbia and, ho ho ho … he would never suggest bailing out the developers. Sorry, Mr. Carney, there was no misunderstanding. You said that developers don’t want to sell at a loss, and the government was going to “reduce the unsold inventory” at a price tag that you defined. A short waltz with the truth from time to time is a wonderful tonic for anyone.How about this, Messers Carney, Robertson, and Eby … When you open the books on how much you or your former companies or financial backers or close friends stand to gain from a proposed government bailout, then we will consider taking your walk-back seriously. Until then, it sure is a nice job you got. Be too bad if you suddenly lost it. Of course, this electoral miracle is highly unlikely. But there are other options.Should we listen to those who think that Albertans must rally around the Canadian flag and continue to be fleeced by charlatans? Or should we trust in our own abilities and consider walking in the Elysian fields of self-government? In October, Choose Alberta. Vote for Option 2 to commence the legal process to hold a binding provincial referendum on Alberta independence. It is time to end our co-dependence with low-quality political leadership.
