When Canada stood tall

That’s the title of an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail today. The sub-head reads, “Brian Mulroney’s anti-apartheid speech 30 years ago was driven by an intellectual reverence for human rights and a fundamental sense of moral outrage.”

No doubt it was. But this is Brian Mulroney we’re talking about. Does the name Karlheinz Schreiber ring any bells? That little bit of chicanery triggered a goodly dose of moral outrage among many Canadians.

Which is not to suggest that Mulroney’s intellectual reverence for human rights and his stand against apartheid were in any way inauthentic…

But!

Back when South Africa’s ugly apartheid system was under well-deserved international sanction, one of their prime sources of foreign revenue was the Krugerrand gold coin. It was a favourite among gold hoarders around the world. There were few competitors.

Canada had introduced a rival gold coin in the late ’70′s, but it was slow to catch on. That began to change as the boycott of SA gained traction. Sales of the Maple Leaf gold coin soared! Brian was certainly one of the most high-profile champions of the SA sanctions.

Oddly enough, about fifteen minutes after leaving office, Mulroney was named to the board of directors of Barrick Gold, Canada’s premier gold producer. He spent twenty golden years on the board of Barrick, pocketing millions!

Coincidence?…