From the Tony Montana school of labour negotiations

The International Steelworkers Union is circling the wagons and launching an internal investigation, this after the business manager of local 97 in Burnaby ended up in a Washington State jail, arrested under serious drug charges and providing a trail that apparently leads back to BC and a cache of 43 guns.

US Border officials arrested Perley Holmes on January 18, after spotting suspicious behavior on the back roads of the state and following his tracks in the snow of a remote rural part of the area near Spokane

While Holmes, the business manager of local 97, awaits his fate at the hands of American justice, the union is taking a good hard look at the way business was conducted at the local during the Holmes years. With an audit of the books expected to be completed by the end of the week. The union issued a press release expressing complete shock at the events and Holmes’ alleged involvement in them, stating that No one would have expected this kind of thing.

Also caught up in the periphery of the situation is the Liberal Party of Canada, of which Mr. Holmes was apparently a very strong supporter of. He recently provided a 100 dollar donation to the Stephane Dion campaign, a donation that they probably didn’t even know they had, but something that we are sure they are working on as we write this. While it’s obvious that Mr. Dion has nothing to do with this situation, the Liberals will want to make sure that there is plenty of distance between his name and that of Mr. Holmes.

But it will raise a few eyebrows about the party which has seen a few run in’s with the law over the last few years. Regardless, it will present a scenario that will no doubt be the fodder for not only Question Period but all the Canadian satire shows over the next little while.

There have been a number of characters in the history of Canadian unions, but this could be the first one that leaves one with a scenario that brings to mind a negotiating style more in keeping with that of Tony Montana, than that of Buzz Hargrove.