Abrasive and unsparing with criticism, Birkenfeld is not everyone’s model hero. He spent two and a-half years in a U.S. prison for helping a client evade taxes, yet collected a $104-million award for coming forward. Still, the enormity of his defining act is beyond dispute. So is the value of his perspective. He’s quick, for example, to note that many Canadians who banked with his former employer have never been called to account. “I’m bringing this news,” he says, “but nobody wants to talk about it.”