Prime ministers and bank presidents

Jean Chretien, the former prime minister, usually only weighs in on political matters these days when it is in the interests of his paying clients -- namely China and companies doing business in China. But he made an exception this week, and chided Prime Minister Stephen Harper for criticizing TD Canada Trust's president, Ed Clark, who had proposed hiking the GST.

Chretien and Clark share an interest in punitive taxation: Clark developed the disastrous National Energy Program that destroyed western Canada's economy for the better part of a decade; Chretien was the energy minister who enforced it gleefully.

Here's Chretien's advice this week on how to deal with bankers:

I never attacked individuals for expressing economic views. ... I did not do that.

Oh really? Let's ask Francois Beaudoin, the president of the government-owned Business Development Bank of Canada. When Beaudoin tried to call in a loan from a friend of Chretien's, for a hotel adjacent to a golf course in which Chretien had a stake, Chretien telephoned him again and again, demanding that he not do so -- demanding that the banker put Chretien's personal requests about Beaudoin's professional judgment and fiduciary responsibilities.

The banker stood firm.

So he was fired. And his severance was scrapped. Only after an extensive lawsuit did he get that back.

So here are the rules:

If you're Stephen Harper, you're not allowed to criticize a left-wing, pro-tax bank president for publicly proposing to raise taxes.

But if you're Jean Chretien, you can privately pressure a bank president to favour your own business associate.

No wonder Chretien loves being a lobbyist in China so much -- their corrupt way of doing business fits him like a glove.