Independent

Michael Zareski's Independent is about a dedicated civil servant who rises to the top of the Nova Scotia corrupt patronage-riddled political system ruled by Premier John Buchanan and the outcome of his efforts to stymie and expose one of Canada's most corrupt governments.

In June 1990, Zareski, a former Deputy Minister of Government Services, was invited to testify at a Public Accounts Committee, and in response to questions from the opposition Liberal Party members, told the truth about pervasive patronage practice within the Buchanan government. In the weeks and months that followed, he continued to expose a litany of further corruption scandals, leading to an RCMP investigation and the unexpected resignation of Buchanan to accept a seat in the Canadian Senate from his friend, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

The story exposes behind-the-scenes details on the modus operandi of political power brokers not previously reported on by the media and the conspiracy of retaliation from the government and others to discredit and vilify one who dared to speak truth to power.

Zareski was a problem to the system that has successfully been able to program the population to believe that government has their best interests at heart, and if you stand up against that programming, you become an outsider.

For his efforts to bring political reform to government, Zareski lost everything, including his career, finance, family, and friends, and spent the next ten years in a remote community in northern Cape Breton, living hand to mouth, coming to terms with his spiritual journey and confirming that by trusting his internal guidance, staying calm and peaceful under all circumstances, and doing what is in front of him, that the way forward to the purpose and meaning of his life will be revealed.