"Merry Christmas, Liberal Party, from Uncle Jean"
The Sponsorship Scandal, it's back. The cops have charged Jacques Corriveau with fraud, forgery and laundering the proceeds of crime in connection with what we may vaguely remember as the Sponsorship Scandal. You know, the Chretien-era landmine that blew the legs off prime minister Paul Martin and brought Stephen Harper to power.
Corriveau, described by Justice John Gomery as a "close personal friend" of Jean Chretien, is alleged to have run a kickback scheme on sponsorship scandal contracts, some of the money from which supposedly went into Liberal Party coffers.
Oh, yippee. The Cons didn't miss a beat reminding Canadians that this was the very same Liberal Party now led by Trudeau the Lesser.
If this ever goes to court, could Gommery be forced to testify? He no longer sits and lost a lot of credibility post enquirey.
ReplyDeleteSince the investigation was finished 3 years ago, I wonder why the Crown prosecutors only decided to lay charges now.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a politically motivated attack at the moment.
Anon, my thoughts exactly. Why now? Let's not forget how Zaccardelli gamed the Martin/Harper election with his Goodale smear job only to flatly refuse to explain himself afterward.
ReplyDeleteWould Paulson do the same thing now that Harper is in deep kimchee? I wouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt.
@ Rumley - I can't imagine why anyone would call Gomery at this point.
Ah spammers, ain't they clever?
ReplyDeleteI eagerly await a judge , ideally one not pocketed by the Harperites, getting the opportunity to comment on these tardy charges. If judges will still be allowed to speak publicly.
This development certainly seems like catnip to the Con base. Over at cbc.ca I have never seen so many bloviating conbots cluttering up the comments with lies and half-truths. They are in nirvana over this.
ReplyDeleteThe timing sure is convenient. I wonder how this went down? Who had information in their pocket that led to this sudden resurrection of what we all thought was a dead and buried chapter in our political history? I like to think I am not one of those people who see conspiracy behind every curtain, but this is just too lucky for the Cons for me to think that there isn't some skullduggery going on.
If anyone benefits from this it might well be Mulcair. I hope that Canadians have had enough of Cons and Libs. I would sure prefer the Dippers get a chance at the wheel. They can hardly do any worse.
Anybody who doesn't now know that we have a State run police answerable to the PMO must be pissed and ignorant.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship is now official
Gomery was criticised by an other judge who ruled he was biased and reversed parts of the report. I would like to know who Gomery was getting instructions from and why he was willing to sully his reputation for that party.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the bit about the commissions lawyer working for a firm for which Gomery's daughter is a partner. Unless the work was pro bono ethical questions should be asked.
How come the Liberal party is not made to pay back the 40 million to the treasury. Isn't it our tax dollars they absconded with?
ReplyDeleteThis can't be an accident.
ReplyDeletePeople can add the fact that the reason all this has and is taking place belongs in Trudeau's pocket. Pierre is responible for giving himself more power by moving decisions into the PM's office. He is the person who first began signing okay slips enabling certain people to run for MP. Now look at the mess we have. It is a garantee, it will not change with either party unless Canadians demand changes or we not vote at all. What would the wanna be's do then? Yes 4:40 PM, it is deep KIMCHI.
ReplyDeleteNo, this stinks of having been choreographed inside the commissioner's office at A Division.
ReplyDelete@Anon 7:58 - what makes you think there's $40-million missing? It's nowhere near that and, besides, it would still be less than the $50-million Tony Clement splashed around his riding before the G-20 summit.
Anyong, trying to tie this to Pierre Trudeau is almost laughable.
That is the figure being thrown around in this CBC report.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/jacques-corriveau-charged-with-fraud-in-sponsorship-scandal-1.2463345
That's the figure being "thrown around" by a Tory cabinet minister. He also claims that amount is owed by the Liberal Party. Ask yourself why Harper did not seek repayment from the Liberal Party? There's a reason. Neither Chretien nor any member of the Liberal caucus was implicated. Individuals perpetrated these frauds. As far as I've ever heard, most of the misappropriated money was recovered.
ReplyDeleteThen again, if the Conservatives want to settle old debts, they can hand back the mega-millions in Airbus commissions on the Air Canada deal. Real, honest to god Tory politicians were implicated in that from Peter MacKay's old man, Elmer, to Brian Mulroney. Isn't it funny how Mulroney is back in Harper's good books?
This is from Wiki:
ReplyDelete"the program was examined by Sheila Fraser, the federal auditor general. Her revelations led to the Martin government establishing the Gomery Commission to conduct a public inquiry and file a report on the matter. The official title of this inquiry was the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities. In the end the Commission concluded that $2 million was awarded in contracts without a proper bidding process, $250,000 was added to one contract price for no additional work, and $1.5 million was awarded for work that was never done, of which $1 million had to be repaid."
The Cons have had multiple scandals that involved misallocating more money than that, and that's just the stuff we know about. With $3 billion gone wandering off who knows where, there could be huge amounts siphoned off.
ReplyDeleteIt is no way laughable MOS. Think about it. Anyong
ReplyDelete