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Poker player enters provincial race

Susan Gamble
Monday, September 22, 2003 - 01:00

Local News - An accordion toting, poker playing, pot
crusading showman with the gift of gab is the fifth
contender to step into the race to become Brant's MPP.

John Turmel, 52, is not your ordinary politician.

First, he has gained international attention by losing
elections rather than winning them. This is Turmel's 55th
election race and he has yet to come close to winning a
seat.

But the boisterous Ottawa-based man, who's running as an
Independent candidate in Brant, isn't deterred.

His real campaign involves trying to change people's
perception of how banking should work and how his software
program called LETS (Local Employment-Trading System) could
revolutionize personal, national and international debt.

Oh, and he's campaigning heavily to get marijuana accepted
as a benign herb.

Turmel has never led a quiet life.

He graduated with a degree in systems engineering from
Carleton University but soon found he could make more money
playing poker than he could in engineering.

In the 70s, Turmel started his own casino, well before
casinos were legal, and trained the first 200 dealers in
Ontario.

"Now, no matter where I go, I'm always bumping into former
employees, even here in Brantford."

In fact, the Brantford Charity Casino drew Turmel into this
particular election.

Here, he can indulge in his favourite pastime of poker while
running in an election and furthering his causes. And, of
course, adding one more race to his impressive losses _
which are already recognized by the Guinness World Book of
Records.

While most Brantfordians probably haven't heard of Turmel,
they may have heard of his antics.

He's the guy who started the Christian Credit Party of
Canada and the Abolitionist Party of Canada (which argues
against interest rates), the guy who picketed the Bank of
Canada once a week for years, the guy who fought in court
for five desperately ill people to be able to get medical
marijuana, the one who dragged Gerald Bouey of the Bank of
Canada to the Supreme Court, arguing his bank's high
interest rate is genocidal, the fellow who started the
`Stiff the Bank' kit for those facing foreclosure and the
guy who smoked dope earlier this year on Parliament Hill,
challenging the cops to arrest him and nab his seven-pound
stash of marijuana (they did).

He got into politics to try and legalize gambling but has
moved on to many other issues, all linked to poverty.

Turmel travels with plenty of propaganda, including several
large, bound books of his news clippings documenting his
activities. He uses this material to illustrate his
bombastic diatribes and Biblically-based condemnation of
banks and high interest.

"I'm a man on a mission," he admits.

"Every election I participate in, someone starts a LETS
system and I have no doubt one will be started in Brantford
and my mission will be accomplished."

But Turmel's theories go against the grain when it comes to
economics.

While economists says that raising interest rates helps to
lower inflation, Turmel preaches that raising interest rates
actually causes inflation.

"They are 100 per cent backwards. But I'm just one voice
against all those economists."

But his message of LETS _ which allows people to barter
directly with each other, avoiding the banking middleman _
is getting through.

The bartering system is now in 52 countries and has been
especially successful in Argentina, where the banking system
crashed.

"My favourite story is of some nuns in New Mexico where they
were dealing with extreme poverty. They set up a LETS and
the child mortality rate actually went down," trumpets
Turmel. "You ask Jean Chretien and the Liberals if they're
saving lives."

Chronic underfunding is at the base of local problems, too,
says Turmel.

"Did you notice that 15 out of 16 questions at the all-
candidates' debate last week dealt with underfunding
issues?" he notes.

"All the parties express concern about each problem but
whoever gets in is suddenly faced with all the problems and
not enough money. That's the beauty of LETS."

Turmel -- the perennial loser -- doesn't care if he loses
the election for Brant MPP.

He's working for his causes, enjoying the casino and feeling
pretty proud of his bizarre life.

"I may seem like an ordinary flake, but I've managed to
shake my world and improve it. It's been one wild career --
I can tell you that."

He plans on going to all the local debates

"This is a nice little town. I think I'll stick around after
the election until my next adventure."


John Turmel's Platform

-- establish a local LETS (Local Employment-Trading System)
that allows people to barter directly with each other,
avoiding the banking middleman.

"LETS is based on the collateral of human labour over time,
not the collateral of cars and houses. Farmers need to take
a pledge of wheat to the truck seller instead of taking it
to the bank where they get a loan with interest."

-- legalize marijuana, especially to ensure its availability
for those in pain.

"Marijuana is one of God's greatest herbs. It's never killed
anyone in history, but do you know how many people Aspirin
has killed?"

-- abolish interest rates

Turmel has tried wild schemes targeting banks and banker.
"Bankers Starve Third World Babies" was his message in 1982
when he picketed the International Monetary Fund/World Bank.
He has also used a "Bankers are Crooks" sign to picket the
Bank of Canada.



--
Abolitionist Slave Leader John C."The Banking Systems Engineer" Turmel
for UNILETS interest-free time-based currency in U.N. resolution C6
to Governments in the http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration.htm
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel 519-756-1325 USENET: can.politics