Tony Merchant is fairly notorious in Saskatchewan circles, deserved or not. Many people react to the name with a an upturned eyebrow and a smirk. Anyone familiar with David Orchard’s reputation in the province is by default familiar with Mr. Merchant’s reputation.
He is, by all accounts, an excellent class-action lawyer and as such, richly deserves the rewards that our justice system allows in those types of suits. Whether they are justified or more akin to ambulance chasing is secondary. They are allowed in law and as such Mr. Merchant has every right and responsibility to make as much for his clients and himself as possible.
And that’s why the allegations regarding taxes and hidden money really gets my goat.
A prominent Canadian lawyer, husband to a Liberal senator, moved nearly $2 million to secretive financial havens while he was locked in battle with the Canada Revenue Agency over his taxes, according to documents in a massive leak of offshore financial data that were shared exclusively in Canada with CBC News.
Make a pile of money doing something most people don’t really want to be associated with, well done. Try and cheat the country out of it’s share; whose laws allowed the pile in the first place, very wrong.
(Note: Liberal lawyer in this story. Watch your comments.)