Martin Memoirs Leaked - Bad timing, or inconsequential?

[d_rawk]

DANIEL LEBLANC

From Monday's Globe and Mail

October 6, 2008 at 9:55 PM EDT

OTTAWA — The Liberals scrambled to contain the fallout of Paul Martin's scathing autobiography yesterday, fearing their election campaign could be derailed by accusations that Jean Chrétien deliberately undermined the party before his 2003 retirement.

Entitled Hell or High Water, the book is a first-hand account of Mr. Martin's problem-filled stint as prime minister, and will revisit more than a decade of Martin-Chrétien infighting when it is officially released at the end of the month.

Mr. Martin gives much of the blame for the short life of his government to Mr. Chrétien, saying his predecessor is responsible for the sponsorship scandal's political fallout and the Liberal Party's subsequent funding woes.

The book's content was revealed in a Montreal newspaper Monday, and Liberal officials quickly clamped down on any public statement for fear of turning the attention away from their campaign for the Oct. 14 election.

Prominent members of the Martin and the Chrétien teams refused to comment, and a Liberal strategist said the word has been sent out to “all troops to focus on the important task at hand.â€

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion also refused to discuss Mr. Martin's assertion that the party is struggling to raise money because of rules Mr. Chrétien enacted.

“All Liberals are united,†Mr. Dion said at a campaign stop in British Columbia. “We're more united than ever.â€

In his book, Mr. Martin said he was hobbled when he became prime minister in late 2003 because he had to deal with Auditor-General Sheila Fraser's damaging report on the sponsorship scandal.

“I was furious with Mr. Chrétien, who left this time-bomb behind him,†Mr. Martin said in an excerpt published in Le Devoir.

“Either because he was worried about his legacy being tarred by the sponsorship scandal, or because of rancour against me – only he can answer that question – he delayed the publication of the Auditor-General's report until I replaced him at 24 Sussex Dr.,†Mr. Martin said.

Mr. Martin said the ensuing crisis, fuelled by evidence of a kickback scheme involving senior Liberal organizers, doomed his government.

“We ended up losing the communications battle on the sponsorship question. Honestly, I don't know if it could have been won,†he said.

Mr. Martin added that he still cannot understand why Mr. Chrétien decided to prohibit donations of more than $5,000 to political parties. The Liberal Party had always relied on large corporate donations, while the Conservative Party drew more of its funds from a vast database of small donors.

“The law's debilitating effects on the [Liberal] Party were gradual; they were only fully felt after I was replaced by Mr. Dion. He is the one, to my regret, who suffered most from a law that was intended to harm me,†Mr. Martin said.

Mr. Martin also does not mince words when it comes to former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, saying the announcement of a criminal probe into the matter of income trusts was the key moment of the 2005-2006 campaign.

“The only question is whether his action can be explained by ineptness or whether it was a premeditated malicious act. In my view, no one can be that inept,†said Mr. Martin.

In his book, Mr. Martin also criticized the Chrétien government's 1999 Clarity Act, which established the conditions in which Ottawa would negotiate a province's secession. Mr. Martin said the law, which Mr. Dion oversaw, was unnecessary in light of a previous Supreme Court ruling.

Mr. Martin wrote the book in English, and it was translated into French over the summer. Le Devoir obtained French-language proofs and printed excerpts Monday. Sources confirmed the veracity of the excerpts, which, for this article, have been translated back to English, and therefore might differ from the final version.

Mr. Martin's former director of communications, Scott Reid, said the former prime minister did not approve the early release.

“Certainly for now, my energies are wholly committed to helping Mr. Dion win this increasingly close election campaign. Mr. Martin is doing likewise, campaigning across the country to help Liberals win their ridings,†Mr. Reid said.

Hell or High Water is a reference to a budget speech in 1995, in which Mr. Martin promised to bring down the federal deficit.

The book is not the first salvo in the long episode of Liberal infighting. In his autobiography released last year, Mr. Chrétien said that, unlike Mr. Martin, he never would have called a public inquiry into the sponsorship scandal. Mr. Chrétien added that he had been willing to stay in office to accept Ms. Fraser's report, but that Mr. Martin did not take him up on the offer.

Seems like nothing really new there, more of a stroll down memory lane.