Beryl P. Wajsman

Beryl P. Wajsman is the founder and current president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, a Canadian think-tank. Since summer 2007 he is the editor in chief of "The Suburban" Newspaper, Quebec's largest English-language weekly. [cite web |url=http://www.theconservativevoice.com/profile/3196/Beryl-Wajsman.html |title=Columnist Profile: Beryl Wajsman |publisher=theconservativevoice.com |accessdate=2008-02-19]

and public advocacy.

Starting as an organizer and Liberal executive member under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Wajsman's involvements in the Canadian capital Ottawa have included directing an IRPP study on "Access to Justice in Canada"; membership in the Canadian Consultative Commission on Multiculturalism; service in the Ministry of Justice and assistant to a Member of Parliament.

He gained international experience in urban development, social housing and public finance by consulting on important infrastructure projects in the United States, France, and Venezuela. These included the revitalization of the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York which saw the creation of 15,000 new jobs in a joint venture between 40 private employers, major unions and the City administration; the refinancing of Les Industries Blancomme of Paris, which secured the positions of 1500 workers in its rural plants; and helping with the organization of Desarollo Urbanistico Caroni which built housing for 11,000 workers near Caracas.

He has built his Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal into one of Canada's largest public interest advocacy alliances. Counting over 2000 national political, labor, corporate, and communal leaders as members or associates, its stated goal is to pursue the pragmatic advancement of progressive action on social justice in Canada. It considers its most important achievement to be its success in bringing together big business and big labor in common cause with activists representing the most unempowered and disenfranchised in society.

With the support of labor leaders , he developed plans for one of the first large scale social housing programs in Montreal. The multi-stage project, known as Habitations Louis-Laberge, established a paradigm for 2,000 unit communities. Forming a unique corporate-labor partnership, he has attacked the problem of hunger by strengthening the Quebec Food Bank Network by increasing its capacity by 50 tons per month and insuring a flow of resources to the "Lawyers Feed the Homeless" program in Toronto which serves 1500 people a week. He helped develop and broaden the MedExtra Healthcare Plan that, through special relationships with 1400 medical centres in North America, reduces the cost of medical procedures by up to 70% for patients requiring immediate treatment who cannot afford the wait time in the public system.

As demands have grown, the Institute has responded to many requests for help from social action groups such as Dans La Rue, the Committee for Justice for the Duplessis Orphans, Sister Andrée Menard's PROMIS Refugee Organization, Share the Warmth, Femmes du monde contre la pauvreté, le Carrefour des communautés du Québec and the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre. Following his work on the Montreal Task Force on Municipal Mergers, Mr. Wajsman moved the Institute to form the Council on Community Conciliation with cultural and ethnic leaders such as the Rev. Darryl Gray, to combat the urban blight of racism and alienation. Working with support groups for seniors, Wajsman helped organize the first major conference that shed light on the issue of financial abuse of the elderly. His legislative initiatives have included the authoring of a Private Members Bill aimed at Public Curator reform and another on credit collection agency reform and oversight.Two important areas of current concern are protection of privacy issues and aiding citizens facing abusive behaviour by federal and provincial revenue departments. The Institute is also concluding a report advocating the institution of a guaranteed annual income for all Canadians.

Wajsman created the Institute's Centre for Democratic Development to combat what he sees as complacency among Canadians. The Centre has pressed for a more active engagement by Canada with its traditional allies and discarding the bankrupt doctrines of moral relativism and political equivalency. Addressing the urgency of protecting civil liberties while maintaining heightened national security, it organized a major conference on this subject with former CIA Director James Woolsey. Working with elements of the Canadian Forces and the Conference of Defense Associations, the Institute has also advocated for increased military capacity and budgets.

In addition to leading demonstrations condemning the actions of the Sudanese government and sponsoring a major conference in Montreal on Darfur ,one of the Institute's most recent successes was the first partnership between the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a Canadian NGO which saw the Institute and Team EMS organize dozens of paramedics to help in the SCLC’s Delta Relief Project in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina devastation.

Wajsman's views and writings have appeared in many publications ranging from "Time Magazine" the "National Post", "Canada Free Press" and the "Jerusalem Post". He is a frequent political and public policy commentator on radio and television having appeared on CNN, CTV,CBC and Global. In August 2005 the Institute launched its own journal called "Barricades". In January 2006 Mr. Wajsman began a special series of radio newsmagazine programs called "The Last Angry Man" for Corus Radio out of its Montreal affiliate 940News.

Gomery Inquiry

Wajsman had a small but colorful appearance at the Gomery Commission into the Federal sponsorship scandal in May 2005. He had attacked the Commission in his newspaper columns since late 2004 as being biased, politically motivated and destructive of due process. In April 2005, Mr. Wajsman was accused by Liberal fundraiser Jean Brault of being one of three people at a lunch where Brault allegedly left an envelope stuffed with $5,000 on a chair. Wajsman vigorously denied the implication that he had taken any money and attacked the process for its hypocrisy. At the time of the lunch Wajsman had no ties to the Liberal Party having left a consulting position several months earlier. Wajsman was not charged with anything illegal. Although he was included on a list of people "banned for life" from the Liberal Party of Canada, no such ban appears ever to have been implemented.

Awards, Honors

* Member, McGill Faculty Club
* Member, National Press Club of Ottawa
* Community Service Award from the International Academy of Law and Mental Health
* Medal of Merit from the Association for the Welfare of the Soldiers of Israel
* Présidents d'honneur of UNICEF Canada's 50th anniversary celebration

References

External links

* [http://www.iapm.ca/ Institute of Public Affairs of Montreal]
* [http://www.barricades.ca Barricades]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/publicinquiry.html CBC: Gomery Inquiry: A summary of the testimony]
* [http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/special/nouvelles/commandites/200505/13/001-gomery-wajsman-rb.shtml Radio Canada: Commandites: Wajsman a commencé à témoigner]