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TORONTO – An Emily Carr painting that sold for US$50 at an estate sale has fetched C$290,000 at a Toronto auction.

Heffel Fine Art Auction House says “Masset, Q.C.I.” sold for $290,000 at its fall sale Wednesday night.

That’s above a presale estimate of $100,000 to $200,000, and does not include auction house fees.

The oil on canvas painting depicts a carved grizzly bear atop a memorial totem pole in the village of Masset, B.C., on Haida Gwaii.

It was discovered several months ago at a barn sale in the Hamptons, where a New York-based art dealer bought it for US$50.

“Masset, Q.C.I.” was painted in 1912 as part of Carr’s efforts to create an extensive record of the artistic heritage of First Nations communities in British Columbia. 

It’s believed to have been a gift to Carr’s friend Nell Cozier and her husband in the 1930s and has been hanging in a barn in the Hamptons since. The couple had moved to the area to work as caretakers for a large estate after originally living in Victoria.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

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EDMONTON – Former prime minister Stephen Harper is the new chairman of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., which oversees more than $160 billion in funds, including pension funds and the Heritage Savings Trust Fund.

The move comes almost two weeks after the province’s finance minister fired the Crown agency’s entire board, along with a number of executives, citing ballooning costs and substandard returns.

Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday in a statement that the appointment of Harper and other board members is a step toward the long-term success of AIMCo.

“Our ambitious goal of building the Heritage Savings Trust Fund to more than $250 billion in the next 25 years requires strong governance oversight, which he will provide,” she said.

The province’s nest egg fund is currently valued at $23 billion.

Harper, the Conservative prime minister from 2006 to 2015, said in a statement he would do the work without being paid.

“I believe it is a meaningful act of public service to my adopted home province of the last 46 years,” Harper said.

“I also feel uniquely positioned to help the organization improve its governance.”

Finance Minister Nate Horner told reporters in the legislature Wednesday that Harper is the right choice to deliver returns and drive down costs.

“Albertans should be grateful and thankful that he would consider doing this. I’m actually surprised that he would – a person of his stature,” said Horner.

AIMCo, in its latest annual report, said it had $161 billion of assets under management as of the end of last year, with 600 employees spread across offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Luxembourg, Singapore and London, U.K.

It handles about $118 billion in investments for public sector pension plans representing thousands of Albertans, including teachers, police officers and municipal workers.

The shakeup at AIMCo has sparked renewed concerns about the politicization of pension policy in Alberta, and comes after a public push by Smith’s United Conservative Party to pull the province out of the Canada Pension Plan.

The province says no decision has been made on leaving the CPP.

But AIMCo has been floated as a potential manager of whatever money the province might be able to negotiate in such an exit. A report commissioned by the provincial government estimated Alberta would be entitled to more than half of the CPP fund’s assets — or $334 billion.

Horner said Harper’s past advocacy for an Alberta Pension Plan had no bearing on the appointment.

When asked by a reporter if it’s a signal the Heritage Savings Trust Fund will be directed into de-risking investments or projects in Alberta, Horner was dismissive.

“You would never want to preclude investments from happening in Alberta … but that isn’t the goal,” he said.

AIMCo’s mandate says it operates at arm’s length from the government, although there is co-operation and collaboration between the two.

In addition to Harper, the government said it’s putting the deputy finance minister – the top civil servant in the ministry — on the AIMCo board, also without pay, to ensure consistent communication between the agency and the government.

Alberta NDP finance critic Court Ellingson said Albertans don’t want politicians managing their assets.

“This move sends a horrific message to Albertans and investors that even organizations with immense fiduciary responsibilities are not immune to political interference from the UCP,” said Ellingson.

Horner said Harper’s appointment didn’t need specific clearance from the ethics commissioner, and there are conflict of interest and code of ethics rules for members of the board. 

Among other roles, Harper is listed as a “working equity partner” for private equity firm Azimuth Capital Management.

Horner said that’s not uncommon. “That’s why the rules are in place.”

Three of the fired board members — Bob Dhillon, Jason Montemurro, and Jim Keohane — were reappointed.

The finance minister did not provide an estimated timeline for when other members of the board might be installed.

When asked about the leaders of Alberta’s nine largest unions demanding seats on the board to have a say in how members’ money is managed, Horner noted that they have seats on their own pension boards.

He said he’s not considering changing the law so that the unions could leave AIMCo and choose another pension manager.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

The Parole Board of Canada says it is now working to allow victims’ families to attend Paul Bernardo’s parole hearing and deliver their victim impact statements in person.

A lawyer representing the families of two teenage girls murdered by notorious killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo said they had been denied the right to deliver their statements in person at Bernardo’s upcoming parole hearing. The issue was raised by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday.

However, in a statement late Wednesday, the parole board it is now “currently working to accommodate the in-person presentation of statements by victims” who wish to appear at the Nov. 26 hearing.

In a letter sent to the Parole Board of Canada chairperson and others, lawyer Tim Danson had said he was recently informed the victims’ families would not be able to attend the hearing at the medium-security La Macaza Institution in Quebec because the board was “unable to ensure safety and security of all hearing attendees.”

Danson had said the families demanded the hearing be adjourned to next month or some other date so they and their lawyers can travel to La Macaza and read their victim impact statements in person.

In its statement, the parole board said it takes a wide range of factors into consideration when scheduling hearings, including the board’s “ability to accommodate all observers in an institutional hearing room, to ensure the safe proximity of all attendees during the hearing, or operational considerations such as hearing management.”

It said it “makes every effort to accommodate a victim’s requested method of attendance.” The statement added that all victims’ statements carry the same weight, whether they are delivered in person or not, and noted that most of its hearings are held virtually.

Bernardo was transferred from the maximum-security Millhaven Institution in Ontario to the medium-security La Macaza last year, a decision that prompted public outcry.

Bernardo, who is designated as a dangerous offender, is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.

He was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of his then-wife Karla Homolka’s 15-year-old sister, Tammy.

In a statement, a spokesperson for federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the Parole Board, as a quasi-judicial body, makes its decisions independently.

“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, who continue to live with the trauma caused by this individual’s abominable crimes,” LeBlanc’s press secretary Gabriel Brunet wrote.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill on Wednesday morning, Conservative MP Frank Caputo said the decision to deny the families the right to attend was “so wrong on so many levels.”

“Why is it that the safety and security of the jail in this instance is preventing people from exercising their rights under the Victims Bill of Rights?” said Caputo, one of the party’s critics for justice and public safety.

The federal ombudsperson for victims of crime, Benjamin Roebuck, said in a statement that victims’ preferences about attending a hearing in person or virtually are taken into account, but not guaranteed.

“Parole hearings happen within highly secured environments, so if there are specific safety or security concerns that have been used to determine the format of a hearing, they should be clearly explained,” Roebuck said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

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