A Matter of Trust

A Matter of Trust is a timely and well-researched look at trust companies in Canada. The Greymac and Seaway Trust Companies' infamous apartment flips in 1982 is the most sensational example of the need for greater regulation of trust companies. 

Patricia Best and Ann Shortell detail numerous other scandals and questionable practices that point out the need for more governmental control of the industry. Literally hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money has already been used to arbitrarily bailout uninsured depositors. The authors point out numerous other faults with the system of approving new trust companies and setting limits on their allowed activities. 

The evolution of trust companies in Canada is traced and the blurring of the differences between trust companies is examined. As well, the wildly exaggerated values of real estate and energy loans that continues to plague many  trust companies are analysed. They also discuss how characters such as Peter Pocklington operate. "You use other people's money and other people's labour to build your dreams. You work on people's greed.

Shortell and Best focus on what they  consider to be two misfortunes in the trust industry: the abuse of power  and privilege that has made trusts appear to be “scandal ridden  financial institutions,” and the concentration of control over the industry in the hands of a few, including the Bronfmans and the Belzbergs.