By Larry Farquharson, COMER Information Officer
April 21, 2019, Toronto, ON – It is with deep sadness we report that William Krehm passed away on April 19, peacefully, in his sleep, at his home. He was in his 106th year.
Bill, as he was known, was a noted activist, journalist, businessman, thinker and philanthropist.
Among his many endeavours, Bill was a founding member of the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) in the 80s, an academic think tank established in response to the growing threat of unsustainable monetary and economic systems both in Canada and internationally, and the alarming intrusion into sovereign financial and political matters by the nongovernmental, self-proclaimed ‘bank to the central bankers,’ the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Switzerland.
Bill, his COMER co-founders and COMER supporters have worked tirelessly to educate Canadians on the desperate need to restore our central bank to its intended purpose, to ensure equitable and sustainable monetary and economic policies that work for people, instead of against people.
Indeed, COMER’s journal, ER, contains years of Bill’s eloquent and comprehensive writings, dealing with a broad spectrum of monetary and economic issues, including problems rooted in an accounting system that fails so spectacularly to properly value all natural resources, including human potential, and government assets. More importantly, Bill proposed practical solutions, found within the subject of his primary focus, the Bank of Canada. The BoC is Canadians’ publicly owned central bank that is governed solely by the Bank of Canada Act, where such solutions are clearly spelled out in legislative language and have been since the Bank’s founding in 1935, and its nationalization in 1938. These are the ideals and intentions entrenched in the crown agency envisioned by its founders to promote and support a vibrant and effective economic fabric for the benefit of all Canadians.
In 2011 Bill launched a federal court case to compel the Government of Canada to return the Bank of Canada to its legislated role and purpose. After numerous court proceedings, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed COMER’s application for leave to appeal ending this case’s 6-year journey through the courst.
Bill, and COMER, resolved to continue the fight to hold the Bank of Canada, and both its political and private banking masters, to full account.
While Bill will be dearly missed, the substantive and powerful legacy of his lifelong passion and dedication remains, and the mission and work he and his visionary colleagues put into motion so earnestly and with such foresight over 30 years ago, will continue through COMER and our commitment to carry forward the work Bill started.
