An interesting article broke this morning in the Globe and Mail about corruption in the Turks and Caicos with respect to government officials taking bribes "for their own corrupt reward" when dealing with crown land in the country.

…"A recent report by British judge Sir Robin Auld found that the Turks and Caicos government, led by former premier Michael Misick's Progressive National Party, routinely accepted bribes from overseas developers and that Mr. Misick and his ministers exploited the government's Crown land policies “for their own corrupt reward."…

It just goes to show you how high corruption can go in a modern, democratic country. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that these kind of things can also happen in Canada.

It's nice to know that sometimes when the people in power get caught proper punishment follows:

"The United Kingdom, which has sovereignty over the islands as one of its 14 overseas territories, has suspended the country's Constitution, appointed special prosecutors to pursue criminal charges and thrown Mr. Misick … out of office."

It seems that NOTO - previously known as the "Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters" association has changed their name to "Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario".

The new name is probably perceived as more politically correct and appealling  to their changing clientele.

So now they can promote themselves as more green and eco-friendly. All the while still using political connections to ensure their own private access to large portions of public crown land and lakes throughout Ontario.

The Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association (NOTO) is having their annual convention in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario this week.

It will be held at the Great Northern Hotel on Great Northern Road on Tuesday and Wednesday 3 - 4 November, 2009.

Rumor has it that Donna Cansfield, Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) will make a personal appearance at the convention in Sault Ste Marie.

Very interesting. The minister for MNR travelling all the way to Sault Ste Marie for a tourist outfitters convention. Like they say, money talks…

I wonder if she'll take time to address the growing network of public land that's reserved exclusively for this group of outfitters while restricting all other Canadians from equal access to their own crown land?