MarcO Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Ottawa braces for Gomery report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 I walk around the office all day with a whistle in my mouth. It gets me to keeping by myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 I betcha Hux is nervous today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Its a halloween treat for Martin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcO Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Gomery blames Chrétien - Martin exonerated JIM BROWNCANADIAN PRESSA longtime friend and political ally of Jean Chrétien was at the heart of an organized kickback scheme that funnelled money from federal sponsorship contractors back to the Liberal party, says Justice John Gomery.There is no evidence that Chrétien was personally aware of the kickbacks orchestrated by businessman Jacques Corriveau, Gomery says in a report released Tuesday.But the former prime minister must bear the overall political responsibility for a program that went off the rails, the judge concluded after a 20-month investigation.By contrast, Prime Minister Paul Martin, who created the inquiry after taking office, is absolved of blame in his role as finance minister under Chrétien.Corriveau, whose firm Pluri Design received nearly $8 million in sponsorship business, is fingered as “the central figure in an elaborate kickback scheme by which he enriched himself personally and provided funds and benefits†to the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party. Chrétien and his chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, are both “entitled to be exonerated from blame for Mr. Corriveau’s misconduct,†since there is no evidence they were directly involved, wrote Gomery. “But they are to be blamed for omissions,†the judge pointedly added. He noted that Chrétien chose to keep tight control of the sponsorship program in the Prime Minister’s Office and ignored warnings from Jocelyne Bourgon, then clerk of the Privy Council, that it might be better to shift the responsibility elsewhere. As chief of staff, Pelletier “failed to take the most elementary precautions against mismanagement†in a program that Gomery called an “open invitation†to profiteering by unscrupulous contractors. “Mr. Chrétien must accept responsibility for the actions of his (political) staff such as Mr. Pelletier,†said the judge. He was more generous toward Martin, declaring the current prime minister free of “any blame for carelessness or misconduct.†More specifically, he says there is no credible evidence that Martin ever intervened to steer sponsorship business to ad executive Claude Boulay of Everest Communication. Boulay worked on Martin’s first campaign for the Liberal leadership in 1990, but Gomery says it does not appear he ever tried to use that connection to pry sponsorship business out Ottawa. The only member of Chrétien’s cabinet singled out for blame by Gomery is Alfonso Gagliano, who was public works minister for most of the sponsorship program. “Mr. Gagliano became directly involved in decisions to provide funding to events and projects for partisan purposes having little to do with considerations of national unity,†says the report. Pelletier and Gagliano have both admitted they offered political advice on the funding of specific projects but insisted they never dictated the final choice. Gomery, however, dismissed their explanations as “nonsense†and accepted the testimony of Chuck Guite, the bureaucrat who ran the program and claimed his political masters had the final say. “The expression of an opinion to a subordinate official by the prime minister’s chief of staff or the minister amounts to an order,†said the judge. He similarly rejected Corriveau’s denials of wrongdoing, choosing to accept the testimony of Jean Brault, head of the ad firm Groupaction Marketing, who said he was repeatedly pressed by Corriveau to make under-the-table donations to the Liberal party in exchange for sponsorship contracts. An audit by the commission found various sponsorship contractors contributed $800,000 in legitimate money to the Liberals. Brault pegged his covert and unregistered donations at $1.7 million. The same audit found Ottawa spent $355 million over a decade on sponsorships and related programs ostensibly aimed at raising the federal profile in Quebec and fighting separatism. About $150 million went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies and other middlemen, often for little or no real work. The figures exceed those uncovered by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who first blew the whistle on the scandal. “The irregularities and mismanagement that she described were clearly worse and more widespread that she had learned or imagined,†said Gomery. He concluded the five ad agencies that got the lion’s share of sponsorship work systematically overcharged for their hours worked, their services provided and their commissions and fees. Brault and Guite are currently awaiting trial on fraud charges arising from their roles in the program. Another ad man, Paul Coffin, has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of $1.5 million, and the RCMP is continuing to press an unknown number of criminal investigations. Gomery’s findings carry no criminal or civil liability, and his inquiry deliberately avoided hearing testimony that might infringe on the police investigations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Martin has been exonerated... That's a relief since he is way more important now than any of the people blamed. They should all be charged with fraud, including Chretien and if found guilty, face the consequences. Plain and simple, this is corruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Lowell Green just went nuts on this comment 'declaring the current prime minister free of “any blame for carelessness or misconduct.†'He thinks that proves Paul Martin was careless and should be held accountable. Huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Teflon Paul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeker Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 If this is the worst thing happening in our country then god damn I'm happy to be Canadian. This isn't even real news it happened a decade ago. This is kindergarden corruption at its most Canadian, where's the sexy? For a real story check out whats going on in the States with the Plame case now there is a scandal thats got some stank on it high level cover up, jailed reporters, outed CIA agents, international intrique...lotsa sexy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 AGREED!!! Go Canada!!!Nice Avatar Trev! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooly Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 killer avaatar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcO Posted November 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Chretien speaks in a couple of hours...... this'll be awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 wow, what the hell will ole Jeany have to say for himself... $10 says he's unapologetic and tries to deflect everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Yeah, I'm still watching (read: procrastinating from writing a paper that's due tommorow), but even my eyes are glazing over -- and I have a tendency to get 'boring' and 'interesting' confused.Chretien will put some spunk in this. I can't wait for him to get some airtime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_rawk Posted November 1, 2005 Report Share Posted November 1, 2005 Updates:Chretien has been moved back to 4:45pm (EST).For the self-punishing, the full Gomery report is online here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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