Big Weekend for the Little General

From the Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin:

For Collingwood’s Richard Rohmer, the awards keep coming.

The long-time columnist with the Enterprise Bulletin was in Kingston to speak with graduates from the Royal Military of College, Friday.

The Lieutenant General, the only person so designated in Canada, was conferred with an honorary doctorate during Royal Military College’s convocation in Kingston.

Rohmer was appointed Lieutenant-General, and invited to continue his post as Honorary Advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff in June of this year.

Living an accomplished career, the award-winning author, has served on numerous advisory boards and has received numerous honorary appointments. He has served as Chancellor of the University of Windsor for 13 years and is chairman of the Overview Group of Companies and a member of the law firm of Rohmer & Fenn.

A decorated veteran of the Second World War with decades of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, Rohmer was promoted to the rank of Major-General and appointed Chief of Reserves in 1978, before retired in 1981.

In December of 2014 he returned and was named Honorary Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a position created to recognize his contributions to the CAF.

Arguably Canada’s most decorated citizen. In August 1990 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He holds the Jubilee Medal, the Centennial Medal, the Confederation (125 year) Medal; the Golden Jubilee Medal; The Diamond Jubilee Medal; and the Canada Defence Medal (CD).

In July 1989, he was appointed by H.M. King Beaudoin of Belgium to the Order of Leopold with the rank of Officer (OfL). In June 1997 he was appointed to the Order of Ontario and was a member of the Advisory Council of the Order of Ontario 2000-2012. In May 2004 he was appointed by the President of France as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. 

Why “arguably”? Who would argue? And why’s it its own sentence?

Lieutenant General? How did we miss his commission (appointment? promotion? investment? coronation?) last June?

Why can’t I make myself read Golden Phoenix?

Six Business Lessons from Caged Eagle

Rohmer has crafted an exciting and fast moving tale of adventure. Because of his own personal experience in war, the law and business, he is able to bring accuracy and realism to the storyline.

– Cathy Knox, ‘Rohmer's Latest Thrilling and Stimulating’, Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin, 7 March 2003.

The lone review of Caged Eagle was published in the Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin. Other than that, the only mention anywhere came from the author himself in columns written for the very same paper.

“I have a heavy-duty Canadian Search and Rescue [sic] scene in my raunchy new novel Caged Eagle in your book stores [sic] now,” he appends to the conclusion of a 27 September 2002 piece on military rescue.

That no other papers seem to have paid attention is a crying shame because I’ve learned more about big business from Caged Eagle than any other book since Retaliation. No surprise that the lessons come in the form of a meeting. I refer here to Louise Peters' teleconference with the various Peters Group company executives.

(Am I correct that this is the first conference call we’ve had? After nearly three decades of meetings this appears unlikely, but I can't remember another.)

Lesson #1
Unless on honeymoon, last-minute changes to executives' schedules are easily done.

Lesson #2
Company executives will drop anything to speak with an employer’s hated, estranged daughter (even if she is a bitch).

Lesson #3
A lesson first learned in Ultimatum, but one that needs be repeated. When chairing a meeting, lead with something the rest don’t know (“my mother and father were both killed in the crash of a bush plane”), then quickly switch to the familiar:

“As you are all aware, the controlling shares of each of your companies is held in a privately held offshore company based in Bermuda. My father was the chairman, CEO, and with one exception, the only shareholder. As you are also aware my father and I were deeply estranged and so I have no idea what his provisions are in his will as to the disposition of the estate… I assume that with my mother and father both deceased at the same time, the entire estate will fall to my brother and me."

Lesson #4
In the world of big business, it is understood that estates are handed over to offspring, no matter how much they are despised.

Lesson #5
Share confidential details of pending multi-million dollar business transactions, acquisitions and the like with anyone who announces that they are now your boss. Take immediate action when offered direction from same.

Lesson #6
Ego stroking is good business practice:

“As you know, he and I have [sic] had our differences, very strong differences that have prevented us from having any association with one another over many years. We have [sic] gone our separate ways and that suited me very well.”
     Zolt added, “And you’ve done very well doing it your way, Senator. You’ve become one of the wealthiest and most influential women in Canada – and are about to become even more so.”

This last lesson is so important that the author himself does it with "Peter Munk's fabulous Goldstrike open pit mine," and this bit about Allan Waters, who used the author's legal services:

“Your father has been in negotiation with the Waters family in Toronto to take over the entire CHUM group, radio and television, including CITY-TV."
     “That’s Allan Waters and his family, right?”
     “Correct. Allan is the dean of Canadian private broadcasters, an outstanding, straight-as-an-arrow person. He and his kids hold about eighty percent of the CHUM stock.”

And, finally, with this:

     “I am aware that your father was keenly interested in picking up the Globe & Mail. Its profitability has been hammered by Izzy Asper’s National Post.”

Hammered by Izzy Asper’s National Post?

Well, this is a work of fiction.

A Zinger Wrapped in an Enigma

"Now back to June 6, D-Day in Normandy, France. As the senior Canadian D-Day Veteran, I accompanied the P.M. to an elaborate luncheon put on by French President Hollande for the Allied Heads of State — including Russia’s Vladimir Putin. As the celebrated heads were filing into their special dining room I edged toward the line. I missed Obama by three steps, but caught the incoming president of the Ukraine who was followed by, yes, Mr. Putin. I am in my full RCAF General’s uniform with medals (permission of the Chief of the Defence Staff). Putin stopped, looked at me, stuck out his hand. I took it and while shaking his I shouted one word at him. CANADA! No response and he was gone."

Putting Putin in His Place
(column by Richard Rohmer, Collington Enterprise Bulletin, November 18, 2014)

"After a time the king of France sent Jacques Cartier to explore the new land.  In 1535 he sailed up the St Lawrence River.  He landed where the city of Quebec now stands and found an Iroquois village called Stadacona. The Indians were friendly. They pointed up the river and said 'Canada', a word whose Indian meaning we do not know."

A Picture History of Canada

The Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin now has ten columns by Richard Rohmer on its website. 

http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/author/richard-rohmer

I don't want to give anything away, but if you check out the one from December 3rd, you may recognize some elements in a little plan Rohmer's come up with for getting "oil product" from Alberta to the Pacific while bypassing the "environmentalists and First Nations people" who don't know a good thing (carbon) when they see it.

Does it involve a pipeline and the Mackenzie River Delta?  That would be telling.

Carthage must be destroyed!