The Globe and Mail is out of the box with the Brault testimony.
There is almost too much to absorb in one or two readings. For all that we have heard about the depth and routine nature of the criminality, it is worse than I thought. This part jumped out at me;
In September, 2001, Mr. Brault needed something from Mr. Morselli.
“You’re asking a lot of me. I do what I can. You said `If I can help, I’ll do it’,” he said he reminded Mr. Morselli. “I challenged him.”
He told Mr. Morselli he needed to delay the bidding for a contract with the Justice Department.
He said Mr. Morselli called a few days later and asked him to his office, in an east-end industrial park. As he went in, he saw Mr. Mignacca leaving.
He said Mr. Morselli asked for $100,000 in cash. “It’s $100,000 and your problem is solved,” Mr. Brault said he was told
The scandal broke before the payments were complete.
If true, it means that Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler’s office has been compromised by the very people it is supposed to be investigating. It does not matter to what extent or in what manner. What we do know is that none of his officials or department employees have been charged or publicly implicated – so it is not unreasonable to suspect that there are individuals there who are still playing for the other team.
In this light, every move by the Justice Department in prosecuting (or not prosecuting) individuals involved in the corruption must be highly scrutinized for any whiff of conflict of interest or the setting up of tactical legal roadblocks, unless and until the Minister addresses the accusation and demonstrates that his officials have been thoroughly investigated for any role in the affair.
Some of the MSM are already trying to make out like Martin had nothing to do with it. Mike Duffey was on the radio trying to make that association.
From the testimony it looks like Martin moved over some of the old guard underneath him after he took power, which means he probably knew or was a part of it.
Not one of these Librano jerks should be returned to power, especially the squealing pig with lipstick in the question period today.
Yes, the “MSM” are trying to ensure that they base their conclusions on the evidence that’s acxtually available, rather than on what they might wish to be the case. Unlike you, apparently.
Current cabinet ministers that Martin assured Canadians had been investigated and were clean are implicated in the scandal – that and the fact that there was a request from his office to approve a donation from the fund – which he later claimed he did nto know existed.
Only the appointment of an independent special prosecutor will satisfy me that they will prosecute all who should be prosecuted.
Posted by Anonymous
I’m sorry Herb, but with the number of scandels that have happened recently, I have no problem saying they ALL should be removed.
If they are in a position of trust with OUR money, meaning yours and mine, and can’t be trusted, they MUST be removed if that trust becomes even questionable.
You can choose to defend, but I think as this starts to sink in across the nation, there are going to be very few of you left.
I’ll echo something someone wrote at the Shotgun. If Ontario returns the Liberals to power, it may well spell the end of Canada. It will be the last straw for both Quebec and western Canada.
They come on bended knee .
They plead and promise.
All firm handshakes and eye contact.
Speech writers, lawyers, and coaches, PR freaks and blackberrys.
“Oh please give us your trust and we will prove that we have your best interest at heart.”
“We only ask that you entrust us with the priveledge of governing .”
And then they steal from us.
The punishment for this kind of abuse should be,( I used to dread this word till now)… “progressive”
Terry or anonymous,
I like that idea. Maybe Rudy Guiliani can do it . He was a pretty good prosecutor in his day.
( I wish )
After reading my post above it seems rather sarcastic . It was not meant to be ,sorry.
(preview is my friend , preview is my friend)
I’m getting a bad feeling that the sentiment in the east is that it’s either NDP or Libs, both of which will kill the west.
I think I’ll have to expand Kate’s comment about breakup to include either.
A heavy socialist environmental party would be a disaster out here, and for Canada for that matter. You cut of the money from the west, and how would the country survive anyway.
Actually that was a pretty good idea up there – in cases of government corruption, I can see major advantages in getting an out-of-country prosecutor.
CBC Newsworld is already doing man on the street polls. Some seem aware, others are not aware and some simply said they would be bored with the testimony and didn’t care.
I do not believe this will be the majority view once this gets all across the media tonight and in subsequent days and as testimony continues at the Gomery Inquiry.
I have certainly heard enough!
They do not have any moral authority to govern. To justify their continued posts in a minority government they claim that only a small number of bad apples are responsible. This is so pervasive and went on for such a long time I have difficulty believing any of that. And this is testimony from only one man and one company.
Those bad apples, however many there are, have already ruined the entire Liberal barrel.
Time for a change.
So far, every bit of this scandal has occurred in the Ottawa – Montreal corridor. Just sayin’
p.s. feeling a bit disenfranchised out there in the west?
Isn’t the west used to that?
Yup…
We are seeing why the Lieberals have had a lack of a real political agenda for the Chretien and Martin years. Their number one agenda item is to hang onto power so as to corrupt all offices of government and grease the palms of all good lieberals. For an example just look to the Supreme court, CBC, Canada Post…….I have not got all night.
Is anyone really surprised that an advertising contract for the gun registry could be bought for $100,000? Who exactly authorizes a contract of this size (I am assuming it is in the millions) sounds like it might be the minister at the time (or should have been). Guess who they were and what comfortable positions they now have.
Gomery is doing a fantastic job and although I was not amused at the limited publication ban I see his reasoning.
I can only hope that this will hasten the demise of the Lieberals, but let it happen like a slow water torture with daily reports over the next couple of weeks it will take that long until the electorate comes up to speed.Eventually people understand and do the right thing. Example the blowout of the NDP in BC last time around.
Like other commentators I think this could spell the end of the Canadian federation if at the next election the Lieberals retain a minority status.
Guess who they were and what comfortable positions they now have
Let me guess!! … my turn…my turn..
Would one of them be a shiny pink wide animal with lipstick?..
Say yes…Please…Pretty Please…
Never did trust her….
Canada the good and peaceful has finally completed its transformation into Canada the corrupt and thieving. Congratulations to all those who continued to vote for the Liberals as if the BDC/Grand Mere scandal meant nothing and as tens of billions of taxpayers money disappeared into countless useless programs.
Congratulations on ignoring 15 years of stagnant disposable income and lanquishing productivity, all because of the mantra: America bad, Tories scary.
Thanks for willingly let thugs and fools trash this great country.
My humble opinion: Canada is finished as a unified country. It may take 10 years or 20, but the appeasement of Quebec has done irreperable damage. Not only has that province taken some $220 billion from the rest of the country, but now its appeasement has thoroughly poisoned the democratic process. It has made us a weak country, and weak countries of our size do not stay together.
Your right chip, but in AB we didn’t go that direction, and have always fought it although in the later years the virus was spreading.
So this was good timing from our perspective, and the perscription issued from the inquiry will cure the slight infection here.
I think we should all wait until the fat lady sings (no, not Sheila Copps).
I have no faith in the Canadian electorate – OK, mostly Ontario – NOT weighing the evidence, snorting a quick “meh” and then voting Liberal anyway. I just have no faith in Canadian voters.
I suspect that once the MSM-Liberal axis cooks up the party line (“Americans like Captain Ed are trying to influence our politics,” or “All politicians are crooks, but hey, at least the Liberals aren’t American loving baby killers”) we’ll be hearing these very words repeated by otherwise intelligent men and women on the street.
Heard a CBC hourly radio report. The downplay is predictable. Peter McKay’s use of the words “criminal conspiracy” were portrayed as being over the top, while they repeated the party line that the Government had exposed the corruption themselves.
Which is a lie, of course — exposing the scandal was the doing of whistleblowers and the Auditor General.
Rob you naughty man. It is definitely not Miss Piggy – she is a fictional character.
And by the way, in the Westminster tradition does not the Minister usually step aside when these types of allegations arise? Just asking.
The conservative bloggers should all get togethor and put up a histry of all the scandels with links to branching descriptions. If this link is very visible and at the front of all blogs, then it would help keep the negative pressure on the liebrals. It might also help give a nudge to the people on the fence.
Just a suggestion…..
Some of us, with a lot of sites, that don’t care about political visibilty could also drop the links on some of the sites…and you tell 2 friends and so on and so on…
Cascadian,
Well……..What was the answer to the question?
I know, your gonna say “how do you keep an asshole in suspense”, and tell me later right…
Minister usually step aside , if it was a carved in stone rule, I would assume that they would have to, but if it’s a tradition…..moonbats don’t follow tradition…
rob; heres a link to a list of ‘the scandels’
http://www.lufa.ca
Cool… thanks …. It’s a good start, heavy concentration on firearms, which I agree with, but it might scare a few people away.
What are your thoughts Kate?
It would be nothing for me to setup a site using a highspeed DB, submission interface, and register a domain.
I will come out of the closet here as an Ontarian who is as disgusted as the scandals as any of you. Unfortunately, I cannot bring myself to vote for the Conservatives in their current form. Some of you here think that if it weren’t for the distortions of the media, the scales would drop from our eyes here in Ontario and we’d flock to friendly young Steve Harper, recognizing him for the swell guy he is.
Well unfortunately, we got a good look at him — or more accurately the Orcs who will form his cabinet — last summer. That’s why the Conservative surge collapsed — because they got cocky and showed themselves as they really were.
The (hidden) agenda of the current Conservatives is something I will do everything I can to defeat. If that means, as some of you say, that your part of the country wants nothing to do with mine after the election, so be it. I’ll stay in mine, and be happy. (I was born in Alta., by the way.) My guess is that a decisive plurality of Ontarians feel the same way. We do not want a repeat of the Harris years on a national level.
I’d like nothing better than to vote the current bastards out. But from my point of view, there’s no one trustworthy to take their place. I’d readily take a version of the Liberal party without the mediocrity and corruption. I’d gladly take the old Stanfield Tories in a flash. But I won’t take Harper, the CPC and the remnants of Reform that he’s desperately trying to keep stuffed in the closet. And I repeat that I’ll do whatever I can to keep them out of power.
Deal with it.
“The (hidden) agenda of the current Conservatives is something I will do everything I can to defeat.”
Hidden? Feh. They’ve been quite open about everything, and that’s why I’m not supporting them. If anyone’s hiding things, it’s the Libs (as we’ve seen today). If you’re going to criticize the Conservatives please take the time to educate yourself so you’re doing it for the right reasons. If you can’t be bothered, please abstain from voting as we have enough morons in Oztario to worry about right now.
The Green Party is looking not too bad as far as a protest vote goes…
Actually, Sean, you really shouldn’t be calling other people morons, since the last CPC policy convention — a very clever and professional exercise in agenda-hiding — doesn’t seem to have registered on you at all.
I can’t believe that thinking people would prefer Martin over Harper. Frankly, Harper scares me a bit (that whole Reform thing, Doris Day et al), but Martin & his crew? Puleeeze…
Could you possibly abstain in the next election? or vote (gasp) NDP? Maybe convince someone to run “independent” (actually, I bet a few Ontario Liberal MPs might just do that). We can’t possibly allow those crooks to carry on, we can’t we can’t we can’t…
Maybe the Rhino party should make a comeback – I bet they’d get elected 😉
Herb,
It looks like you have two choices, vote NDP or start a “New Liberal Party” from the ground up. The current one is too corrupt to comtemplate.
Thanks Doug for the lead to lufa.ca lots of good info about Canadian firearms registry
Take a look at this:
BIG CFC ADVERTISING CONTRACTS 1995/96 – 2001/02
SOURCE: Justice Department
Year GroupAction MediaVision
1997-98$ 345,219.53
1998-99$ 783,799.42$ 1,528,471.55
1999-00$ 740,048.28$ 1,264,645.64
2000-01$1,658,194.48 $14,892,511.62
2001-02$1,006,999.00$ $5,116,520.89
TOTAL $4,534,260.71 $22,802,149.70
Hope the formatting stays OK.
Groupaction had to pony up $100,000 for their share of the action, can you IMAGINE what Mediavision had to pay for 5x the work?
Interesting days ahead.
Have any of you “Doris Day” and “Scary Reform” types ever made the effort to hear these guys out without the benefit of the CBC filter? The same one that downplays “extreme” statements by socially conservative Liberals, and nods approvingly at Scott Brison’s characterization of the west as “rednecks”?
You might be more convincing, if your reasons weren’t right out of the nightly news script. Tell me you went to a Reform party meeting to hear Preston Manning speak. Tell me you’ve been paying attention, and have noticed the startling similarity between the media meme of the “scary” Elwin Hermanson of the SaskParty and the “scary” Stephen Harper.
You’re being push-polled and you don’t even know what it is!
Pay attention to what Stockwell Day has to say about foreign affairs issues. Then instead of mocking him, go check out what he has to say. Run a google search on Paul Desmarais and Power Corporation and the curious network of relationships between prominant UN appointees, the oil-for-food scandal and the Chretien government – and family.
I’d advise you sit down before you do it.
Thanks for that tip – that’s worthy of a post of its own. Check back tomorrow am.
Herb is a perfect example of the clucking hens that got us into this mess. Too impressionable and paranoid to think clearly, he would prefer the country is run by the mob than someone who might go to church.
The question is are we going to let the politically correct lemmings march this country over the cliff or are going to develop a a little common sense?
I’m writing this from Singapore, where the government can be really ”scary.” But I’ll tell you one thing, it’s taken a backwater and turned it into the most prosperous country in the world. Most of the other states in the region are on the same rapid path to success. In its current state CAnada cannot hope to match this dynamism. Just schlepping oil to the US and being a source of cheap goods isn’t going to cut it forever. Our lack of productivity and foresight is going to catch up fast and hard, and the historians will look at our preoccupation with issues like gay marriage and shake their heads at how an advanced country threw it all away.
So, as far as I’m concerned. I can look past my disagreements with the Tories on some social issues, because on one hand I know that worst-case scenario they’ll just strengthen the family and that’s not a bad thing, and on the other their tax-cutting goals are the only thing that’s going to save Canada from becoming a second-rank country by 2020.
In a way, it’s the old analogy of the declining Roman empire, except it’s not the US, but here in Canada, where we’ve become so self-satisfied with the status quo that we’re blind to the changes in the world around us. Trust me, Herb, the ”scary” Tories are the least of your worries.
RE: Harper, the Conservatives and the hidden agenda
If there is a hidden agenda, why does everyone know about it? Doesn’t hidden mean secret, unknown and, well, hidden?
And you want a hidden agenda, look at the Liberals from Trudeau on. Did they ever once say they had an agenda to turn Canada into a socialist, over-taxed and regulated nanny-state, where your money is theirs to blow as they pleased? Did they ever say they would place most of the power in this country in the hands of the PM rendering MPs window dressing? Did they ever say that they would let 9 unknown, unelected and unnaccountable judges decide what they laws of Canada should say? Did they ever say they would make free speech dependent on agreeing with their values?
Now that’s a hidden agenda.
In all the back slapping about the Martin-Goodale surplus budgets, nobody has noticed a virtually unreported development. Canadians no longer put any disposable income into private savings. The percentage is shrunk to zero. Zero.
The reason for that is that there’s nothing left to save.
The Liberals have been sucking every extra dollar they can get their lips on from the private economy into the federal treasury and trumpeting themselves as good fiscal managers.
It’s the taxation, stupid.
Chip, believe me, I didn’t get you into this mess, unless what you’re really angry at me for is voting Conservative in ’88 (which triggered the Meech crisis, which triggered the rise of both the Bloc and Reform, which triggered the Tory collapse and split, which triggered the election of Chretien, which triggered….OK, I’m tired now.).
Kate, blaming the CBC for the fact that people like me don’t like the Conservatives is pretty lazy, and I can tell from this blog that you’re smarter than that. For one thing, I never listen to or watch the CBC. For another, I’ve been paying attention to Manning from (almost) Day 1. In my own long-ago days as a journalist, I interviewed Harper (and ran a sympathetic piece) when nobody knew who he was and Reform had no seats. I always thought Manning made some sense on some issues, especially Quebec. (On that note, my guess, FWIW, is that a Harper minority government will do a deal with the Bloc that will curl everybody’s hair here.) So I’m completely clued in on what they’re about. I loathe corruption, but I also loathe the slightest hint of religion in politics (especially the dumbed-down evangelical variety) and I loathe any attempt to suggest that the welfare state and the imperatives that created it are the cause of our problems.
I’ve voted NDP before, but I can’t this time. I live in a swing riding in Toronto that will go either Liberal or Conservative.
Having slept on it, I could live with a Tory minority government that would force the party to govern in the the centre and in the meantime maybe allow the Grits to engage in a full and thorough housecleaning. (To be frank, though, I don’t hold out much hope for the latter; today’s Globe reported that Martin Cauchon, who is angling hard to replace Martin, was seen having lunch yesterday in Ottawa with…Jean Chretien. It’s possible that Brison could turn out to eb the golden boy who could save the Grits, although I have trouble seeing an openly gay party leader playing well outside the big cities.)
re: openly gay party leader
How about an openly gay party leader turncoat who spends his days defending the theft of Canadians’ tax dollars. Yes, he could be the golden boy if people like yourself continue to vote for crooks and use scare-mongering tactics on anyone who goes to church.
Da Canadian Values
I’m also from Ontario and unlike that migrating insect called ‘Herb’, I was born here, in Toronto. Believe me there are many of us who will do everything in our power to crush the Criminal Party of Canada and their pathetic accomplices – the lizards who vote for them. We will vote Conservative.
Peter, calling people names is a substitute for thought, but in your case it might be the only one available, so i’ll forgive you. I “migrated” here at an early age with my family, so you might as well blame my Mom, since that’s the kind of man you seem to be anyway.
jhuck, when you consider Harper’s history of affiliations, “turncoat” is one epithet that won’t work on Brison. He quit the Conservative party because he thought it no longer accorded with his principles. Just like, er, Steven Harper in the late ’80s. Oh, except Steve then quit Reform too, because he didn’t like the leader.
Herb: Perhaps I was a little harsh calling you an insect when ‘potted plant’ would have sufficed. But it seems clear to me that anyone who would even consider voting Liberal isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. And what’s with bringing your mom into this? The Liberals could learn something from you with this deflection tactic bounced off sympathy. Good one.
Peter, I don’t want the Tories to win. Simple as that. Those of us who are on the centre or the centre-left have a very ugly choice to make, no question. But I repeat: I will not vote Conservative. My view — which you obviously don’t have to agree with — is that a Conservative government would be a bad thing. You’ll find that a lot of people feel the same way, though you’d never know it from this here echo chamber (which is part of the reason I post here — to disabuse you guys of the idea that everyone in the country agrees with you).
As for bringing my family into it — go back and read my post, I explained it clearly.
Herb,
I was a fan of brison (I supported his leadership campaign) but was disgusted by him jumping ship after losing as leader. Most of the people running things in the cpc are very libertarian. The young staff just want to hack the government, which is what really scares da cbc and da other cnadia values people. The church stuff is just a smokescreen for people that don’t want to lose their privileges and maybe end up in jail if cpc wins. A harper gov will pursue the crooks till the ends of the earth. The current government is infested with crooks (seeing as how the justice department was subborned and lots of current fundraisers and friends of paul are involved)m
Vote for corruption and theft if you want, but it’d be much better if you just moved to zimbabwe and voted zanupf. Hell at least bob and co are honest about what they’re doing. See the globe today: christie blatchford makes a good case that the liberal party is a criminal conspiracy. HA!
We really do need rudy, since he knows how to deal with mobsters!
Herb, I said that Brison is a turncoat who spends his days defending the theft of taxpayers money.
This is indisputable. You cannot argue facts.
So, you bring up complaints about Harper, whom I had not even mentioned.
I take it you went to Liberal Debate College.
“Turncoat” is a weasel word of the highest (or lowest) order, and it applies to Harper just as much as it applies to Brison, John Crosbie, Winston Churchill or anyone else who has ever switched parties.
But I take it you’re point is that the “turncoat” slur was in fact not substantively part of what you were trying to say. So if you’ll retract the “turncoat” part of your post, then I won’t have a problem with it.
Anyway, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Brison is playing a good party man. What’s he supposed to do, cross the floor again? My point is that when Martin goes for the high jump, the Liberals will need to find someone who’s totally untouched by this. Brison might be the man. Far better him than an old Chretien hack like Cauchon or Denis Coderre.
From Merrium Webster Online…
Main Entry: turn�coat
Pronunciation: -“kOt
Function: noun
: one who switches to an opposing side or party; specifically : TRAITOR
This applies to Scott Brison. Harper has never done this, but rather brought two parties together.
jhuck: first of all, you’d better cross-reference the definition of “traitor” before you defame Brison any further.
Secondly, I’m afraid you are unfamiliar with your hero’s resume. Harper was an aide to Tory MP Jim Hawkes in the ’80s. He quit the Tories over Mulroney’s reversal of position on pensions and joined Reform. (He demonstrated his sense of personal loyalty by choosing to run against Hawkes in the ’93 election.)
But of course Harper wasn’t finished yet. In ’97 he decided he couldn’t live with Preston Manning’s drift toward populism and quit the Reform caucus.
So he helped precipitate the Tory split, and he helped precipitate the reform meltdown that led to the Alliance.
However, he did both those things out of principle, and he was perfectly entitled to. Just like Brison.
So check your facts next time you’re inclined to jump on a high horse.
Did Harper quit and join something else, or jump ship after being elected under a party’s banner?
Someone who resigns in protest and goes somewhere else to follow his principles is not correctly thought to be a traitor.