Canada and the world are facing a crisis without precedent in modern history.
We must relaunch the economy with rapid and massive injections of credit
where the needs and potentials for development are to be found: energy,
high speed rail, research, hospitals, education and indispensable consumer
goods. The financial institutions, whose behaviour has led to the present
situation are incapable of transmitting to the economy the advantages that
the State has provided them with. Given such conditions, we urgently
demand:

that a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on the dealings of the financial
institutions and the present state of their accounts be constituted.
The time has come when those who have abused their power must now
appear before the people's representatives so that it may be determined how
such abusers were able to proceed, and with whom, within Canada or
elsewhere in the world. From among the many questions in Canada which
remain unanswered, let us mention the following :
-Who is responsible for the asset-backed commercial paper debacle?
-Were there irregularities or criminal acts committed by people at the rating
agencies?
-Or, were there irregularities or criminal acts committed, perhaps also, by
executives in the banking community who authorized, at arm's length, the
creation of structured vehicles or hedge funds implicated in non-regulated,
highly speculative activities of a dubious nature?
-Who in government is responsible for the surveillance and regulation of
hedge funds operating with impunity in Canada when such hedge funds are
actually registered, for example, in the Cayman Islands?
-What percentage of the estimated 1.4 quadrillion (one million billion) dollars
worth of derivatives contracts worldwide originated in Canada? Is the
unwinding of these derivatives contracts, which were highly-leveraged,
involving enormous sums of money, the cause for the no credit policy towards
Canadian industry and manufacturing who are struggling to survive, and the
cause for the hundreds of thousand of lost productive jobs in Canada?
In an exclusive interview with Austria's weekly Profil, Antonio Maria Costa,
General Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said, "In
many cases, drug money at present is the only liquid investment capital
available (...) During the second half of the year 2008, liquidity however was
the biggest problem of the banking system, thereby liquid capital became an
important factor" Costa said that his agency had found evidence that
"interbank loans were financed by capital that came from drug trade and
other illegal activities. There are hints that some banks were saved in this
way". According to some estimates, the international drug trade generates
between 500 and 1,000 billion dollars annually, laundered for the most part,
through fiscal paradises, by financial operatives. Given the Canadian banks'
large number of off-shore branches that operate in fiscal paradises, and given
that these Canadian bank branches have often been found guilty of
laundering illegal funds, we are demanding that extended capabilities be
given to Canadian investigators, and that their findings be presented in front
of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry. The aim of this Parliamentary
Commission of Inquiry is to determine what is viable and necessary for the
legitimate functioning of the banking system, practices which will be
maintained and supported; on the other hand, practices which are based on
irresponsible imprudence or exotic operations will be subjected to organized
bankruptcy procedures.

The State must not make citizens pay for the bad debts of those who have
gone astray, but rather must ascertain the lack of value of these claims and
eliminate them in order to protect the general welfare.
The temporary requisition of the banks is rendered necessary in order
to insure that the banks, in pursuing their legitimate business, are able to
supply the economy with the necessary liquidity, and that the Parliamentary
Commissioners, in order to effectively conduct their mandated hearings,
have full access to the banks' financial records.

The promotion of the general welfare of its citizens--the reason for
the existence of any country-- must be primary. We are conscious
that our demands are exceptional, but they have been rendered
necessary by exceptional circumstances. Precedents do exist. The
Pecora Commission, conducted by the United States Senate Banking and
Currency Committee from 1932 to 1934, in exposing to the American people
the practices of its bankers and the extent of their power, created the
political basis for the recovery and take-off of the economy under the
Roosevelt Administration, and also created the needed popular support to
pass the following legislations : The Securities Act of 1933, The Glass-
Steagall Act of 1933 and The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.
Today, in the United States, the economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche
best exemplifies the politics of Roosevelt with his proposal for a New Bretton
Woods. On December 27th, LaRouche made the following remarks on the
need for a new Pecora Commission :

" We cannot afford to waste any more time. We need a new Pecora
Commission, with full subpoena powers, to get to the bottom of this worst
financial debacle in history. Given the horrible condition that states and
cities find themselves in, I call on my friends in the state legislatures, the city
councils, the mayors' and governors' offices, to contact your Congressional
delegations, and get them to act, now ".
This urgency exists equally in Canada. Canadians have a right to
know and to demand that the rights and freedoms inscribed in the
Canadian Constitution and Charter be protected in an effective
manner during a period of economic breakdown.

We, the undersigned, demand that such rights be safeguarded and
are of the belief that only such a Parliamentary Commission of
Inquiry on the financial crisis will result in a thorough banking
reorganization. Banks must serve the country which now has to
undertake a policy of national economic reconstruction.

Support this call and please return by mail to the following address: The Committee for the Republic of Canada, PO Box 3011, Youville Station, Montreal,
QC., Canada, H2P-2Y8
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