Ezra Levant started calling them the “Official Jews” when they not only refused to support him during his fight with the Human Rights Commissions (over his printing the Mohammed cartoons), but they outright condemned him for basically not being kapos like they were.
That’s when I started “joking” that “Bernie Farber is too stupid to really be Jewish,” that “These people aren’t smart enough to tell me how to live,” and so forth.
Well, just when you didn’t think it could get any worse, let’s see what happens when the Official Jews put their superior selves in charge of a project, shall we?
B’nai Brith, which opened the home’s doors to the public 18 months ago, has struggled to fill the 44 rooms and pay the bills despite $5.4-million funding from the federal government and the assistance of Western University’s Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation.
Now the four-storey retirement home is under insolvency protection and up for sale. Court documents prepared by the home’s owner warn that if a solution is not found it would “jeopardize” the care of the handful of residents now living in the Alzheimer Centre of Excellence near Bathurst Street and Finch Ave.
Last fall, Mostyn replaced Frank Dimant, who ran B’nai Brith for 36 years and came up with the plan for the home. Dimant said it took too long to build and he mistakenly kept a sign up saying “opening soon,” which led to a loss of confidence in the community as construction dragged on. Those funding the project became concerned.
“My policy was always to beg and plead (with the bank) and try for another day,” former CEO Dimant said in an interview. “Things caught up, I guess.”
“If you build it, they will come,” said Dimant, acknowledging more should have been done to market the home before it opened.
The other problems? Officials at B’nai Brith say the monthly charge — $7,500 — was too high. Then there were issues with the home. For example, none of the washrooms are wheelchair accessible. All residents must be able bodied, something that in hindsight was a mistake, officials say.
Hampering that are issues left by former management (in addition to Dimant, many other staff left last year).
Among them is a lack of records and record keeping. Donors have told B’nai Brith, which is a charity, that money given over the years was not always acknowledged with a tax receipt. Since Mostyn took over, officials say that has not been a problem. The Canada Revenue Agency, which regulates charitable tax donations, has been in touch with B’nai Brith recently to remind it of its record keeping obligations as a charity.
Corporate governance is another issue. About 50 people across Canada thought until last week that they were on a board of governors or board of directors at B’nai Brith. They were told at a special meeting they were not, at least not technically. The past management at B’nai Brith had not filed paper work to the appropriate government agencies.
A hitch in this plan is that Dimant has issued a demand for a retirement payout that the current management of B’nai Brith believes is too lucrative. Last week, Dimant, 69, informed the new management he is owed annual retirement payments of $175,000, which represents 75 per cent of his former salary.
Dimant described this to the Star as a “demand letter.” He said this arrangement was approved by the board. A source familiar with the deal said it was arranged with little oversight while Dimant was still the boss.
The charity is concerned that if it has to pay this money, it would have to use fund-raised dollars.
It gets better.
Frank Diamant now has a vlog-thingie called… “Politically Incorrect” — an unoriginal title 20 years too late AND the very thing he condemned Ezra for being.
Now he’s talking about the same things Ezra’s been talking about for forever.
I always figured a lot of the Official Jews’ (and others’ cough Jonathan Kay cough) problem with Ezra was sheer unadulterated jealousy.
Yes, that is SO “high school,” and so very often wrong.
Not this time…
