There is nothing that the Libranos won’t lie about. At the same time Paul Martin was on our television sets claiming credit for starting the inquiry, he was dipping into our pockets to pay others to discredit it.
The war room and its cost came to light on the heels of last week’s complaints from Justice John Gomery about officials exaggerating the cost of his inquiry.
Officials at the commission looking into the sponsorship scandal say the total cost of the actual inquiry will come in under $32 million. Judge Gomery said government officials have “leaked” to the media that it is costing departments another $40 million to cover costs at four key departments, including the Privy Council Office. “It’s an exaggeration and it’s twisting reality,” Judge Gomery said last week.
[…]
Judge Gomery has made it clear he doesn’t appreciate the Martin government adding its hidden costs to his overall budget. In an exchange with an ad executive, the judge said: “What they did was … put together the fees of everyone in the Justice Department that worked on the file, the photocopies they made at the PCO and God knows what other expenses that were totally beyond the commission’s control.”
Speaking of dollars and cents, forensic accounting firm Kroll Lindquist Avey is bringing down their Adscam report today. Advance reports suggest it’s going to be ugly.
Internationally renowned forensic accounting firm Kroll Lindquist Avey is expected to shake the foundations of Justice John Gomery’s inquiry today with a detailed report on whether pockets were lined in the sponsorship scandal.
The Kroll report is expected to follow the money trail from federal coffers to the Liberal- friendly ad firms and possibly into the wallets of Grit organizers.
The findings are expected to make more waves than any other testimony before Gomery and have been kept under such tight wraps that not even a kernel of information has leaked out.
(Thanks to tipsters in the comments who have already done the roadwork by the time I check in each morning.)
Report ready to rock Adscam
STEPHANIE RUBEC, SUN OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA — They’ve tracked down Saddam Hussein’s money and were tasked to clean up the Enron scandal – now they’re ready to blow the lid off Adscam.
Internationally renowned forensic accounting firm Kroll Lindquist Avey is expected to shake the foundations of Justice John Gomery’s inquiry today with a detailed report on whether pockets were lined in the sponsorship scandal.
The Kroll report is expected to follow the money trail from federal coffers to the Liberal-friendly ad firms and possibly into the wallets of Grit organizers.
The findings are expected to make more waves than any other testimony before Gomery and have been kept under such tight wraps that not even a kernel of information has leaked out.
Kroll has built its reputation on keeping a tight lid on its reports and investigations until they are released by their clients.
For almost a year Kroll investigators have been following the $250-million money trail from the embattled sponsorship program, tracking personal and business bank account activities and money exchanges.
More at Edmonton Sun. Go Edmonton.
Let’s rock and roll!
Jail House Rock, for the Librano$.
One for the money, two for the Gomery Inquiry.
Go, John Gomery.
Maddas Saddam’s money? In Canada? Yessiree, Bub.
Ask PM Payola Martin & Maurice Strong. They will not tell. We shall know: Veritas odit moras. Truth hates delay. (Seneca).
Liberals spending $1 million of OUR money for secret Gomery war room which is under the control of the Privy Council.
Today’s Edmonton Journal
Question: Should not cleaning up a Liberal Party mess be a Liberal PARTY expence?
Gee why use our money when we can use taxpayers money, these guys must just be laughing at us and how stupid they think canadians are.
Wondering if the labrador people/byelection are upset with them, I guess its gone liberal for years. Would be nice to see them express some disgust.
I found this article particularily interesting:
Ladies And Gentlemen,
Paul Martin Knew!
-Terry Pearson from http://www.rightpoint.org
-Posted March 14, 2004
The facts are in. It’s what we all suspected. Paul Martin was aware of the ad scandals all along, right from day one.
A CTV news report says that since word of the sponsorship scandal was made public, the Liberals have insisted the troubled program was launched to boost Canada’s image in the wake of a near-loss in the sovereignty referendum.
But Allan Cutler, a former federal bureaucrat, who was the original whistleblower at Public Works, told the Public Accounts Committee that he saw shady dealings in the department in 1994 — the year before the plebiscite.
That was when Cutler said departmental checks and balances on contract procedures were effectively erased by a senior Public Works official allegedly working with ministerial backing — Chuck Guite.
Cutler said he first raised his concerns with Guite shortly after his duties were changed in 1994, a move that upset his boss.
Allan Cutler
“It quickly became apparent to me that my employment was in jeopardy,” he told the committee probing the findings of Auditor General Sheila Fraser, whose report uncovered $100 million in sponsorship money that was misspent or mishandled between 1997 and 2003.
At that point, Cutler said, he began keeping a diary of events, and putting aside copies of contracts and correspondence — all of which he submitted to the committee on Thursday.
“I have had to unlearn 20 years of good contracting,” he said in one entry to his diary from December 1995. “Falsification of information, payments to firms to conceal improper contracting . . . it never ends.”
In 1996, Cutler lodged a complaint with his public service union, which prompted a departmental audit of the advertising and public opinion division.
But by the time the audit was underway, Cutler was transferred to the technical and special services division of Public Works, where he remains today.
Cutler shocked MPs when he said he believed files may have been tampered with before going to auditors Ernst and Young.
He said he had annotated several files to show proper procedures which had not been followed, and said several key documents had been removed from the files.
“I would assume there was some cleaning of the files before the auditors arrived,” he said. “It would be highly unusual for an audit to overlook the fact that there was written advice on a file that informed management of the proper procedures.”
Here is the one that points to Paul Martin, “Cutler said, a memo indicated that then-finance minister Paul Martin was personally briefed on a contract involving a Canada Savings Bonds direct mail campaign.
During question period, Acting Conservative leader Grant Hill said the memo explains how a Finance Department contract to Groupe Everest was inflated by a million dollars — for a commission of $170,000.
“And guess what work they did for it? Zip,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan shot back that the showed nothing more than that Martin was made aware of a routine mailing campaign.
“This has nothing to do with sponsorship,” she told the House.
Reg Alcock, the president of the Treasury Board, later said the opposition was only referring to two pages of O’Leary’s memo, but the full six-page memo went on to talk about “processes to expand competition and involve more companies in the bidding process.”
Speaking to reporters during a campaign-style stop in London, Ont. later Thursday, Martin said the questions showed “desperation” on the opposition’s part. He said the opposition completely misinterpreted the memo, adding Groupe Everest was dropped the next year.
Paul Martin is trying to convince Canadians while on his 300,000 dollar tax funded “trust me” tour across Canada that everything was above board and he didn’t even smell a rat,.
Folks! Beneath the ad scandal fiasco, there lies another live bombshell that has been buried for the time being. That’s where the government reported last March that Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. and its subsidiaries received $137,000 in government work between 1993 and 2002 when Martin was finance minister and his companies were held in a blind trust.
Government House leader Jacques Saada revealed that the figure was actually $161 million, and tabled a thick pile of documents explaining the tally. At first Martin said he wasn’t aware of the fact. But later said,(in his trust me, I feel your pain tone of voice,) “I think I probably learned about it, oh, probably a month or two after that number came out,”.
Among the contracts revealed by Cutler was a March 1995 agreement with Lafleur Communication Marketing worth $3.4 million to buy Canadian flags. It saw hundreds of thousands of flags given free to Canadians, and drew criticism from many quarters as blatant federal propaganda. Cutler noted Lafleur received a hefty 17.65 per cent commission under the deal which provided immediate payment upon presentation of an invoice by the agency, with no proof of work done.
Doreen Braverman of Flag Shops, told the CBC’s “National” that Through her investigation, what was supposed to cost the federal government 6 or 7 million, actually cost 45 million. She went on to tell the “National” that when she bought up the fake invoice fiasco to Paul Martin at that time, Martin’s reply in a phone conversation to Braverman was, that “Sheila does her own thing… ”
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In the 1997 election campaign, another Quebec organizer for the Liberals (and a friend of Alfonso Gagliano) was caught going after companies that were about to be awarded government grants and demanding a cut for the Liberal party. He was convicted of four counts of influence-peddling and fined $34,500.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
Here is the man, who wants us to trust him! In 1998 when Paul Martin was finance minster he was accused of cooking the HRDC books in order to balance the budget. That same year, Bernard Desault, chief actuary of CPP fired. he says that he was sacked, for refusing to fudge figures, for Paul Martin. Is it any wonder that Allen Cutler knows that his career was on the line for being honest.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In the year 2000, $2.1 Million to a MediaVision Inc. — a Montreal firm with close Liberal ties to handle cheques for federal event sponsorship in Quebec. Each cheque the firm hands out costs the taxpayers about $2,300 each. The Canada Information Office (CIO) refused to reveal all the participants or how much it spent on a two day 1997 retreat that brought American liberal Democratic strategist, James Carville to Montreal.
The firm’s only task was to write cheques on behalf of the federal government and for that they received on average $2,300 per cheque. It was a blatant payoff by the federal government but of course Paul Martin, the senior federal minister in Quebec (after Jean Chretien himself), saw no need for concern.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In October 2000 then-auditor general Denis Desautels released a much publicized report that made it clear that an un elected, secretive group of Liberal operatives were vetting every federal grant going to the province of Quebec. Paul knew nothing? This was in spite of the fact that Auditor General’s report revealed, liberal fiscal management as being incompetent.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In June 2001 the Globe and Mail writes, “$150-million federal deal broke the rules, audit finds,” but Paul Martin, the senior federal minister in Quebec, was not concerned.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In 2001 Paul Lemire, a significant contributor to the Liberal party and well known Liberal party operative in Jean Chretien’s home riding, was convicted of misappropriating $55,000 and another $135,000 in bogus expense chits from Groupe Force a local federal agency.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
In 2001, the Auditor generals report indicates “all” government departments out of control, regarding spending. (Example, Western Economic Development, A group of Ottawa bureaucrats telling Alberta how to be successful!). This was under the watchful eyes of Paul Martin.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
Long before the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser noted serious flaws in the sponsorship program in the winter of 2002, we had been inundated with evidence of shady and at times outright criminal behaviour in the Quebec wing of the Liberal party.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
It was in November of 2003 when The RCMP said it has laid the first criminal charges in a federal sponsorship scandal, charging Paul Coffin, head of Communication Coffin, with 18 fraud-related counts.
“Trust me” Paul Says, “I knew nothing”
Now here is the Paul Martin Ploy folks! He disbanded the Ad sponsorship program as soon as he became Prime Minister. The next major act was to call a spring election, hoping to catch the conservatives with a fresh new leader. That’s what the liberals wanted you to believe.
Martin knew this fiasco was going to blow sooner or later, hopefully after the liberals elect another majority then we are stuck with them for another four years.
The liberals are famous for their rash campaign promises only to drop the bomb after the election is over. In 1993, the main crux of the liberal campaign was to kill the GST. Just leave it up to Paul martin.
In 1997 it was one of values followed by Chretiens famous hotel fiasco. In 2000 only three and one half years later in order to catch Stockwell day, it was how the liberals valued their wonderful healthcare program.
Nothing was done about healthcare or poverty as Chretien promised, but the whole story came out about the Hotel affair. By the way The owner of the Auberge Grand-M�re, the hotel at the heart of a political scandal in the home riding of former prime minister Jean Chr�tien, was formally charged with arson and fraud in connection with a blaze at the hotel last month.
As a matter of fact, in 2002 69 percent of Canadians polled, with the exception of Paul Martin of course, realized what we have known all along, that is the fact that the federal government is corrupt.
“Let me make my self clear you can trust me” Paul Says, ” For I knew nothing”
Many people voted liberal in 2000, with the idea that the “corrupt Chretien” will eventually be replaced with the new and improved pure in heart, “trust me, I know nothing” Paul Martin. There is an old adage which says never trust a person who says “trust me”
This time the manure accidentally hit the fan prior to an election. So how clean does Paul Martin smell now? You see the funny part here is that the the liberal campaign plan, will involve taking the heat of the liberal corruption and show case Paul Martin, the staunch Canadian, who has his ship lines registered off shore in order to avoid paying Canadian taxes.
Let’s all follow the Martin example. Lets all register ourselves in the bahamas some place. this way we can all avoid paying income tax.
Oh there are the cosmetic moves, such as the new whistle blower legislation in an endeavor to make the liberals look good. But it does nothing.
If an election is called this spring, it will be the fourth one in ten years. It seems that in Canada’s dysfunctional democracy the liberals will only call an election when the stars are properly lined up.
If Martin wanted to do something that will have a dramatic effect on Canada, he would do well by changing the system where an election happens every four years regardless. But that ain’t going to happen as long as the liberals are in power.
It’s now a known fact that anyone who votes liberal the next election will be knowingly taking part in a fraud scheme.
Friends! The message is simple but powerful. One that should be shouted from the roof tops. It can’t be argued. It can’t be refuted.
If You Support Paul Martin And The Liberals, Then You Support Crime!
CTV Newsnet reports this morning that ADSCAM is $355 MILLION,not $250 million as previously thought. NOW I feel better!
Provided the Kroll report isn’t just another whitewash- howzabout letting them do the HRDC and the Gun Registery next?
When the Conservatives get in there will be a public autopsy done on the Liberal Party of Canada, including the HRCD and the Gun Registry. Let’s invite the world media when it happens.
Don’t forget audits for CIDA, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, Aboriginal Affairs, ACOA, Canada Post, Canada Wheat Board, Heritage, Ethics Commissioner, Fisheries & Oceans, Industry Canada, Public Works, and the list goes on and on….
Hey folks – it’s enough to provide a link and brief quote. Don’t be copying and pasting entire websites or news items, OK?
Interesting Site:
http://www.oracleofottawa.org/Gomery_Blog.htm
Kate it’s time we see the Liberals for what they are and make this starkly aware to the public. The Liberals are a political corporation. Their corporate competencies are graft, coercion, bribery, power networking, patronage, formulaic character assignation, libel and theft of public funds. Their corporate statement/vision is to retain power at all costs. Their product is influence peddling and power mongering for mutual client/patron profit.
The running of the nation and best interests of its citizens is a lower priority and in actuality more money is spent on propagandizing than returned in actual delivered government services to the end user/voter.
This Canadian Liberal regime is a modern corporate version of the old Tammany Hall kleptocrat machine. Political bosses who make no distinction between personal profit schemes and public office. Those who succeed in this nation know this and become patron clients to achieve business success.
The rest of us poor schlubs just feed their greed with our back breaking tax burdens and are kept placated by the vast liberal media spin machine that tells us every thing is wonderful as the nation�s treasury and resources are plundered.
I make a prediction right now: the few extra months that Martin bought with the confidence vote bribery, will be devoted to emptying the treasury�rip offs like you never saw before. Trudeau legacy was patronage appointment payola, Martin�s will be plain payola.
Where are Corriveau’s (sp?) bank statements? Rather important link in the chain, no?
Exactly, where are Corriveaus bank statements? Wasnt he the closet to Jean Crouton? Seems to be stalling, maybe trying to buy a little more time for the paper shredders like kofi annan, 3 years worth got shredded over there.