More on the Crocus Fund, and more evidence that NDP ministers knew of issues as early as the fall of 2000, and failed to act

Today, in the legislature, evidence was tabled which shows that Pat Jacobsen had alerted the NDP minister responsible for the Workers Compensation Board in the fall of 2000 about concerns with investments being made by the Crocus Fund and the Workers Compensation Board. Pat believes that had the Minister acted then, millions of dollars in losses from the Crocus Fund could have been prevented.

Pat Jacobsen, now the Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba from 1998 to March 2001.

In a sworn statement, Pat Jacobsen affirms:
- That as a result of attending the meetings of the said investment committee of the Workers Compensation Board, and seeing the private placement investments, I came to the following conclusions:
a) That I was concerned about the concentration of power between the Crocus and the Workers Compensation Board investment committees, and,
b) That I was concerned about the lack of fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders to get the best returns, particularly in using the Workers Compensation Board funds as Government development funds, which go beyond the mandate of the employer funded Workers Compensation Board.
- That I told the Minister I had serious concerns and requested a meeting in the fall of 2000. She initially accepted my request then cancelled the meeting and told me to meet with the Chair, Wally Fox Decent.
- That I believe that had the Government conducted an independent audit in 2001 of the Workers Compensation Board, as I requested from the Minister responsible for the Workers Compensation Board in 2001, both Crocus and the Workers Compensation Board would not have lost millions of dollars.