No Answers, Endless Questions

When Karlheinz Schreiber finished testifying on Tuesday, Conservatives proclaimed "Mission Accomplished" - Mulroney had been exonerated. They got that straight from Schreiber's mouth, good enough for them.

When Karlheinz Schreiber finished testifying today, these same Tories denounced the man as patently unbelievable. Mulroney's still exonerated but you somehow can't believe anything else the man says.

Hmmm. How much of Schreiber's testimony has been true and accurate? I don't know - and here's the kicker - neither do you.

Schreiber's sworn evidence hasn't really answered many of the original questions but it has definitely raised a lot of new issues. Consider it Airbus Affair, Part Deux.

The focus has definitely shifted from the narrow Mulroney-Schreiber controversy to a much broader story, one that revolved around a European aircraft manufacturer, a now defunct Canadian corporate lobbyist, the company's now dead founder, former Mulroney aides turned lobbyists and, of course, Mulroney and Schreiber.

There are credible witnesses who were on the periphery of this saga who should be called to testify. I expect their evidence would indicate whether there is more to this business than we've understood before today.

Just avoid the temptation to prejudge the Airbus affair or the people involved in it - at least not yet.

Mulroney is far from off the hook. There are circumstances directly tied to the former prime minister that he needs to explain including the fact of taking Schreiber's money, his sworn statements on discovery, the claim that he sought a false statement from Schreiber and his belated income disclosure to Revenue Canada. All of those things stand regardless of what transpired with Moores, CGI and Doucet.

So accept that all we have at the moment are new avenues of enquiry, documents to be hunted down, witnesses to be questioned. There's a lot of slogging ahead before anyone can be satisfied about what actually happened in the Airbus affair.