'SUPER LOSER' JUST WANTS TO SHARE HIS IDEAS

John Turmel has run for political office 56 times. It is a record that has
him in the Guinness Book of Records.

If he is unsuccessful in his most recent bid for political office, to
become mayor of Ottawa, he happily admits he will set another record.

"If I lose, it will be 56 straight losses," says Mr. Turmel. "I have the
record for most times running and most times losing."

Mr. Turmel, 52, takes pride in this perfect record of failure. He carries
around a book filled with news stories on his various defeats and travails.
He particularly likes pithy headlines over photos of his face, such as:
"Super loser fails again."

The book has more than just political clippings in it. As well as being a
political-candidate junkie, Mr. Turmel is a self-proclaimed professional
gambler, the inventer of the LETS system of international banking and, most
recently, a medicinal marijuana advocate.

To listen to the Ottawa native talk is to get nearly dizzy from the claims
and the boasts, but on his political career, he has a fairly astute take on
the situation.

"Hey, I don't think my record is going to end anytime soon," he says. "I
know I'm not going to win the race for mayor. As long as I can get my ideas
out there, that's good enough for me."

Mr. Turmel's ideas are rather grand and may initially seem out of place in
a municipal election. His grandest idea is a plan to abolish interest rates
and set up a quasi-barter system of international trade and banking. Mr.
Turmel calls it the LETS system, and once gave a presentation at the UN on
the idea.

"It would solve the city's budget problem overnight," he says. "The Ottawa
police, for example, could take a 10-per-cent cut in pay, and get it back
in Chiarelli dollars. You take the Chiarelli dollars and use them to pay
your taxes. Problem solved."

The idea of paying city employees with Chiarelli dollars just may ensure
Mr. Turmel's place in the Guinness Book of Records in perpetuity.