I’ve been out of the house most of today, with my only news source Rawlco radio (generally worse than useless), so the one bona fide development I caught upon arriving back comes by way of Angry. The Ethics Commissioner has launched an official investigation into the Grewal tapes. Maybe there is hope that his own discomfort at being used as a bargaining chip in the very tapes he’s investigating will provide an incentive to break from his pattern in acting as an official Liberal party rubber stamp of approval.
A number of people have talked about “tipping points” for the Liberals. Well, I think that’s a pipe dream. You don’t “tip” a leech. But there may be a tipping point for Paul Martin, the final push by those intent on cutting loose the head so the body can slither away to survive.
This is a party that never got a chance to bury their dead from the Chretien-Martin wars. The wounds hadn’t begun to heal before the heavens opened up to pour Adscam on them. And while there may be glee and hope in some quarters that the accusations of tape tampering will save them to fight another day – these people aren’t idiots. They know as well as the rest of us what is on those tapes, and that the Prime Minister has been caught in a public lie. There are now signs of breaks in the ranks.
At a personal level, extended contraversy and dissent is hard enough on a leader – for a micro-manager like Paul Martin, having matters spiraling out of control on a weekly basis has got to be excrutiating and exhausting. He certainly appears out of sorts at times. Then, there’s a longtime habit of deflecting questions (“Did you have lunch with that man?”) directed at him in Question Period to other ministers.
This sometimes works at a tactical level, but as a general strategy, it’s a loser. At some point, a general understands the importance of rallying his troops and leading by example – of stepping into the fray and facing down the enemy come hell or high water, of taking his share of hits like a man.
Instead, Paul Martin uses his ministers as cannon fodder. They have to be tiring of it.
There seems to be more at work than mere lack of moral fibre or personal stubborness – I think there’s genuine fear. I don’t think it’s fear of the opposition, or fear of the media or the public. It’s the fear of a man who hears the unsheathing of a knives – at his rear. The dithering has always been coupled with stammering, and a strong tendency to avoid eye contact when pressed to answer questions. These days the stammering seems more pronounced, the eyes evade a little more wildly. To me – admittedly just a lowly Canadian who sees the PM only in brief television clips – Paul Martin sometimes looks downright spooked.
Then, there’s this Chantal H�bert Star piece on “whispers of rebellion” and a curious passage buried further down the page;
Never in the modern history of the province has a Quebec government been as unpopular as Premier Jean Charest’s; never in living memory have the federal Liberals enjoyed so little support.
Those are the kind of numbers that have government insiders and Parliament Hill observers alike cringing at the notion that Martin’s mettle could one day soon be tested in a real-life crisis involving the future of the country.
Those concerns were compounded by the performance of the Prime Minister in front of senior managers of the civil service earlier this week. Martin’s speech moved part of the audience but its emotional undertones left others uneasily wondering about his frailty
Emphasis mine.
Maybe it’s not my imagination.
Kate,
You are not wrong in your observation.What you see in his eyes, when you can see them on TV, or in print, is fear. Not fear of losing his job like an ordinary Canadian, after all he Mr. Moneybags, but something deeper and more primitive. Maybe some of your more astute readers could weigh in on this.
So the ethics commissioner looks into whether Grewal was actually looking for a position (seeking bribe) or just pretending (entrapment). And he can’t look at Murphy (Martin’s built-in firewall).
It’s a set up. Wonder how many $B Layton gets for putting in the request?
Have to agree with yyc, sure looks like a set up. Jake
Yup- Mr. Dither’s eyes look just like those of a deer, caught in the headlights of a freight-truck.
Remember the old Pogo comicstrip- the one where the Judge,(patterned loosely on Spiro Agnew)- has all the other denizens of the swamp locked up for ‘defying the laws of gravity’? And as he and Pogo are looking at them through the bars of their cage, the Judge sez: “Yes, it has been a long, hard struggle-but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Pogo replied: “Yeah- and it’s coming at you at a zillion miles an hour.” (Haw!)
Martin has never had the character to be a leader.Oh, he had the ambition, but like many, he doesn’t have what it takes, and Chretien knew this about him YEARS ago..
Amazing: Jane “Deep Throat” Taber is now quoting un-named Liberal sources (MPs) against Martin instead of the CPC. The worms are indeed starting to turn. Keep track of the giggle count.
Mark
Ottawa
I’ve seen that fear. I keep thinking that Paul Martin is the gate keeper of a lot of secrets over the last years.
These secrets would have much to do with preventing audits or analysis of the escapades of elected officials and various culpable beurocrats.
It may also have a lot to do with who else may be behind the scenes of the Liberal machine. They act like mobsters. We find Liberal apologists at the highest levels of many corporations.
Could the fear be that if he cannot hang on to the keys of power someone else may be able to unlock the secrets that lurk behind so many closed and locked doors. Canadians are now demanding audits…the most fearful word of all.
We want doors that noone has been able to open for 12 yers opened for review. Canadians have no idea whether any of the numbers or financial reports the Liberals put out are true. Our financial standing, debt ratio – all of it may be bogus.
We hear rumours of possible scamming with the Gun Registry, Indian Affairs, Canada Mint, Via Rail, Canada Post, UIC Fund, …almost every aspect of our government’s purveyance is suspect…
and nobody will find out if Martin can just hang on to those keys. The foxes want to remain in the chicken house.
If he loses his absolute maniacal control then I believe the dominos will start to fall possibly at the very highest levels of our society.
That is my analysis of the fear – fear of him and his powerful friends getting caught.
The Liberals have appointed all people who could call them on this. The ethics Commissioner, the RCMP head, the Supreme court judges, everyone. They also have a massive network of dependants all across Canada and an inconceivably prejudiced and cooperative media. There is no one to hold them to account, except us. The future of our entire nation rests with us. We must not falter. Kudos Kate, for giving Canadians a forum for expressing our discontent with the Liberal status quo.
Murray Dobbin recently proffered the following on PM the PM:
Paul Martin, in his best of all possible worlds, is as obedient a hand maiden of Bay Street as ever walked the halls of Parliament.
As finance minister for nine years he did more to dismantle the fabric of Canada’s social programs than even Brian Mulroney dared to do � and in the process also managed to give obscene tax breaks to the wealthy and to large corporations that also out-paced Mulroney.
And it is a certainty that Martin supports Bay Street’s �deep integration� initiative by which what is left of Canada would be handed over to the US � a sacrifice in the interests of Canadian corporations who can’t compete with their US counterparts.
He is deeply committed, as well, to massive privatization through public private partnerships � a program that has simply been put on the shelf waiting for a Liberal majority.
Read the rest at: http://letitbleed.blogs.com/blog//
Hmmmm… Just a thought, but maybe PMPM has spent to many late nights with Jumpin Jack without protection, and has a bad case of morning sickness….. maybe that’s why there also trying to ram the SSM bill through before summer break….
I’ve noticed the stammering, lost, frightened, confused look ever since he took over as PM. I see it as a combination of:
1) The fact he is, and has always been, a puppet who cannot think for himself;
2) A man who has known from the moment he picked his fight with Chretien, that the knives were out and constantly lying in wait behind his back;
3) A man who knows that he is a fraud – that the ridiculous pedestal the press and his backers built for him created expectations that he could never live up to.
4) A man who knows, deep down, that he has lost his soul in a spiral of lies, deception, and sleazy behaviour.
Just my four cents.
Now this would come in handy
From the New Hampshire Bill of Rights:
“[Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.]
Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.”
http://occamscarbuncle.blogspot.com/
What is this all about? Why CAN’T Murphy be investigated?
“So the ethics commissioner looks into whether Grewal was actually looking for a position (seeking bribe) or just pretending (entrapment). And he can’t look at Murphy (Martin’s built-in firewall)…”
If Chretien had to hand over his daytimers & calendars, then … how can Martin protect Murphy? At the very least, he’ll have to fire his sorry a$$ wouldn’t he?
As we’re seeing, when Jane Taber turns, … that’s kinda mindboggling. Who is next, Duffy???
I think they pushed the envelope by calling the CTV and giving them the cell # of a “higher up” RCMP official re the investigation, oops, review. That’s hard for ANYONE to support (publicly, at least).
Jane Taber – she was absolutely chortling tonight about how the Liberals now have a BIG target of the conservative running against Alexa in Halifax because – get this – the CPC candidate is a Christian and Stockwell Day’s son is his campaign manager.
Christians!! in Halifax!!! She was so excited that this will give the Liberals so much ammunition.
This kind of unmitigated bigotry and hatred towards Christians on national TV should disgust all Canadians.
What if she had said Jew? Or Sikh? Or First Nations? Or Metis? Or Chinese?
Where is the outrage everybody. Who is next to be marginalized and demonized by the Liberals and their media propaganda puppets in this so called democracy.
All the liberal backbenchers can’t be as corrupt and shameless as the front bench- I suppose thats part of the reason they aren’t on the fron bench (what;s Dr Keith martin minsiter of?)- PM wanted to be where he is so badly that he is disgracing himself and the office he coveted- most of the libs aren’t bad people, and they aren’t all fools- no surprise whatsoever that they are probably having trouble sleeping, trouble looking at themselves in the mirror…
and isn’t the PM supposed to be a devout christian? libs and Libs are behind the anti-christian slurs. just another example of low they will go.
I think we may be giving PMPM too much credit in our musings of the reason for the fear in his eyes. He may very well know that the seeds of corruption may touch just about every aspect of the last 12 years of the Liberal dynasty and that a new government could slop around in the muck and expose a great deal of that corruption, though it would likely take years and millions upon millions of dollars. I believe that he is not, at this present time thinking, maybe incapable of thinking that far into the future. The fear and bewilderment in his eyes comes from the shock that his life long dream of becoming the greatest prime minister in the history of Canada (just like his daddy told he would be) is crumbling down around his trembling, boney little knees. Not only is his self professed manifest destiny and devine right to lead this country into to greatness not going to happen but he sees that his legacy will be that he will be seen as the most morally corrupt and sleaziest muck raker of all PMs. So I believe that his fear is not about the Liberal Party. It is, as always, about himself.
I still must ask – how oh how can those Liberal backbenchers who are passed over for Cabinet posts by traitors, who are part of a party so corrupt that now calling someone a Liberal in many parts of canada is a swear word; who may be Christians themselves and see that their own party uses hatred and bigotry against Christians to rule the masses like Hitler did to unite the Germans against the Jews…
How can they stomach what their once proud political agenda at one time built on some principals has been hijacked by a mob who are pillaging the public purse.
We see that Jack Layton may have been bribed with more than just 4.6 billion of our money (nudge nudge wink wink) but what could possibly be keeping those Liberal backbenchers “loyal”…how can one be loyal to corruption.
I don’t get it.
Does anyone know any of these Liberal backbenchers
We find Liberal apologists at the highest levels of many corporations.
Someone forwarded to me today a bunch of employees communications information today from a very large and very financially un-sound Canadian company. Probably 90% of the stuff was complete silly, non-business related trendy government-driven nonsense. All kinds of crap about recycling kitchen waste from the cafeteria (as if we can’t grow more lettuce!), urging employees to bicycle to work, buy zero-emission vehicles, stop spraying dandelions, and much more that I can’t even remember. Scanning down the list of “exciting new initiatives” and mentally comparing them to the headlines of the last year or so, I could tell that they’re getting it up the @ss from the federal, provincial and municipal governments. Thank god they’re not located in a UNESCO heritage site. Then the last bit was about how all the potted plants in the building are going to be removed, because there’s no money to water them anymore.
I seriously doubt that any of the company executives feel like going along with these stupidities or apologizing for the government. More likely, they’re staring at bankruptcy and/or a selloff at firesale prices, and they’ll do almost anything to please the politicians and keep the grants, loans and customer financing assistance rolling in – as a matter of survival.
An opinion was posted above, that PM PM is a creature of Bay Street. I think not. Once a government gets into the business of capturing and enslaving private lives and private organizations, only a few of the rich who are lucky and persistent will be able to turn the tables and ensnare the government. The rest of the businesses and rich individuals will end up with their assets offshore if the assets are portable, or broke, or stuck in tax and regulatory bondage their assets are not portable.
A case in point is the drivelly ads I keep hearing on the radio from another very large Canadian company – “our strength is people” they keep saying, and methinks they doth protest too little about their products, their customers, their capital investment, their revenues and their profits. These last which are the only reason why anyone but a blockhead ever went into business in the first place.
Why did a tape that cost $1.99 expose more Liberal corrupion than the ????$ is will cost for Gomery? Conservative effecincy, I guess. I actually saw a cartoon in some rag paper about a month ago, that had a $ bag representing Gomery and $$$ for a federal election. How could anyone be so stupid as to suggest the price is THREE times better in giving a goverment proven to have wasted taxpayer money, more to investigate itself, rather than just change the government. How could anyone be dumb enough to suggest that all of this dung is just the BEGINNING of martinis “legacy”.
The fear in his eyes is VERY real. So was the tone of his face flesh when he had to stand up and answer to the House, the day after all the tapes were out. He literaly told a “bold(red)-faced lie” to all Canadians.
He did let his guard done once(so he didn’t stand on guard for “thee”) talking to Rex the day after he made his televised address(plea/whine/cry/lie). He was in the middle of a frank conversation about Gomery, when he finally stopped being himself and actually said somthing HUMAN… “I had all kinds of advisors and stratigist, telling me to just “sweep this thing under the rug” to “make it go away”. I said “NO”, that is not the way it is done.” The quote might not be accurate, but LIKE the Grewal tapes, the essence of the conversation is untouched. I belive martini for the first time ever. The question posed is why does he have to justify acting ethical to Canadians, when clearly, he accidentaly admitted to them that his staff is not prepared to. The CPC must have this soundbite in some Kerryish attack ads. Also the reporters struck by a massive bolt of reality, laughing at the absurditly of our prime minister,
CBC had a show on a little while ago about the last election. Compare Martin then to now and he looks 10 years older. The Liberal power structure is probably hoping he falls ill so that they can crown a fresh new king to save Canada.
Martin is not the only one who has that scared look. Gilles Giusieppe [spellcheck] also looks scared most of the time.
The federal money that came to him under the table was more immense than we thought.
They both look like they expect an anvil on the head, but just don’t know when.
73s TonyGuitar
Grewal drama continues
Losing Grewal at least temporarily won’t really hurt the Conservatives at all as he isn’t an important MP or even a particularly impressive one and it’s not likely that we are going to be having another major confidence vote any time soon and anyways…
I am well & truly pissed. I’m looking for a civil rights lawyer to tell me what I and others need to do to fix this.
At the risk of being shunned by all, I would like to stand up and say guess what? I’m a Christian. Yes. I was christened a few months after my birth. I attended church relatively regularly until I was five, maybe six. Then it was pretty sporadic and, to be honest, there have been a number of years where I didn’t attend at all. But you know what? I’m still a Christian.
Some people may call me stupid. Others perhaps superstitious. Others might even say “What??? I’ve read some of your comments…getoutahere.”
Why is it okay for Jane Taber and others in the media to make being Christian the politically correct equivalent of… what, not quite a child molester, not quite as bad as Bernardo and Homalka, marginally better than Osama Bin Ladin (although I’m not entirely sure that the Canadian MSM really has that much of a problem with old OBL as long as he doesn’t target good old liberal Canada)… anyway, admitting to being Christian is an admission that just isn’t a cool thing to do. Given Pauly’s Catholicism (which last time I checked, was part of that whole Christianity thing), I’m not real sure what the issue is, but issue – it is.
I’m not a “Bible thumper.” I don’t ram it down people’s throats. I don’t stand on street corners handing out leaflets warning people that “the end is near.” I try, best as I can, to follow the OLD golden rule (do unto others as you would have done unto you) rather than the more recent, more politically correct one (he who has the gold, rules). I don’t always succeed. But I try.
I’d like to find out what needs to be done to start some sort of Class Action suit against the media that are okay with slamming my beliefs. I don’t like having to explain to my 11-year-old daughter WHY the news reporters seem to think that being Christian is a bad thing (although it’s okay to be Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Bhuddist, gay (not so okay to be hetero these days), black, Asian, East Indian… anything but Christian).
WTF???
Kate: You still are an optimist in human nature….hoping the ethics Commissioner will actually become ethical. I hold out no such hopes. Sorry, 2 decades of watching Liberal regimes have left me permanently jaded about putting the words “ethics” and “liberals” in the same sentence unless it is to display how polar opposite these words are.
My prediction, from the direction of the liberal spin signals, is that the ethics commissioner will be used to smear the Conservatives and Harper with the same crap that the Liberals wallow in. The direction of liberal spin for the past 2 weeks has been to stop wasting time on the impossible job of sanitizing the repugnant liberal record and switch modes into painting their opponents as “no better” than the reeking Liberal regime…..a perverse associative smear to encourage the public perception that all parties are the same�all corrupt….may as well vote for the crooks we know.
There is no other explanation for the commissioner to “investigate” Harper for possible “inducements”….complete crap…this investigation is to attempt to paint the CPC as no better than the Liberals.
The sick thing about this neurotic country is this perverse strategy will probably work with the help of MSM liberal toadies.
Not all Liberals are horse thieves; but, all horse thieves are Liberals.
Sir John A. MacDonald.
Does Anyone Hear the Sound of a Shoe Dropping Yet?
You have to give Jean Chretien credit — over his 40 years in politics, he learned how to handle a scandal. I learned this shortly after my arrival in Canada in the late ’90’s, when a member of Chretien’s cabinet w…
I feel fro Bernie…..he is a man desperately trying to live up to his own image of himself. I am sure he is a good man but he is being used. If he knew he was being used it might help him but he is a dupe thinking he is in control of his own situation. Just listen to his tough talk in interviews and before parliament.
Bernie is clueless and immensely unaware.
To let himself be drawn into prereleasing to SGRO and avoid his main responsibility, to PARLIAMENT…I can only think he gets so caught up in legality he avoids the bigger issues…which is what an ETHICS commissionar is all about, going beyond the mere legalities.
Not investogating Murphy….that is a joke, once again based on a legality and not a broader ethics based view. So the way to avoid this is have advisors seperate from the responsible ministers do the dirty work…Bernie has already shown his willingness to seperate staff from ministerial responsibility.
He is has failed to live up to his job, he is a small man with an overactive sense of self and self importance and unable to really operate in his job. Parliament, meaning the NDP, BLOC and CPC should do the right thing and fire the employee who is reposnisble to parliament but fails to understand his job description.
I would nominate Mr Broadbent for that post.
Could the fear be that if he cannot hang on to the keys of power someone else may be able to unlock the secrets that lurk behind so many closed and locked doors. Canadians are now demanding audits…the most fearful word of all.
We want doors that no one has been able to open for 12 yers opened for review. Canadians have no idea whether any of the numbers or financial reports the Liberals put out are true. Our financial standing, debt ratio – all of it may be bogus.
We hear rumours of possible scamming with the Gun Registry, Indian Affairs, Canada Mint, Via Rail, Canada Post, UIC Fund, …almost every aspect of our government’s purveyance is suspect…
and nobody will find out if Martin can just hang on to those keys. The foxes want to remain in the chicken house.
========================HappyDaze
These are thoughts I lfted from a post above. They are my thoughts too.
I must add one more area to probe. Govt. Lotteries and gaming. Do you think, given Libscammer ethics, there could a can of worms to uncover by Audit here?
Pilfering Paul is just dithering for time.
The recordings scquabble is simply a time waster and push pull between two parties where charges should be laid and and argued
in provincial court.
The house is not a free courtroom for intra-party frictions. It is for the progress of Canada.
Progress can not be made as the Liberals are too busy pledging Billions of our revenues to NDP program demands, without debate.
Enough diversion. Time for the Governor General to do her sworn duty. Use this note to say so at BendGovernment.blogspot.com
73s TG
TonyGuitar, lotteries & gaming are completely, to my knowledge, under Provincial mandates, not federal. BC has already had “Bingogate” so I don’t doubt there’s some scamming going on; I just doubt it would benefit the Libs any.
Here’s my take on the whole thing about trust and Paul Martin:
If Paul Martin and the people around him so blatently manipulate the truth, invent lies so they can have “plausible deniability” these are the same people who have been able to manipulate the financial books of our entire country for more than a decade.
The stench of suspicion hangs foul over this gang. We Canadians can never have trust in them again until they are removed and ALL books are audited.
We can not longer have faith in the trustworthiness of Canadian ambassadors, heads of crown corporations, commissioners, or even the RCMP because of the stench of bargaining away these types of positions for favours or coverups.
The media can spin the Liberal lies – but they are citizens too. One day they may come to see that as accomplises for their own personal gain they have contributed most to the destruction of our democracy and ultimately the financial stability, international standing and unity of our great country.
Jack Layton will go down in history as being a traitor to democracy and a greedy pawn who put his own personal political or financial rewards before the needs of our country.
There are dire times coming for Canada if the Liberals, the heads of corps, along with the government employees who are implicit in these frauds are left to continue to defraud us and shred documents and threaten or bribe people to cover up their 12 years of criminal conduct.
What can we do as citizens? We cannot even trust an Ethics Commissioner who is forbidden from impartial analysis of the PMO and who is now investigating tapes that suggest he is able to be manipulated by the very people he is investigating.
Sad times indeed.
Happydaze,
Your post caught at my heart strings; ‘what are we to do’ is, indeed, the predicement we citizens of Canada find ourselves in today. I sat down and cried (howled is perhaps a better word) when the Conservatives lost the election last year. It was a disappointment in the people in this country and a tragic-comic sense of personal loss and bitterness- like the feeling I would have if two of my three brothers turned on me and tried to kill me for my share of a possible ten dollar inheritance.
I saw Stephen Harper and I shared his sense of anger and dispair, a grief for much more than the loss of an election – it was a loss of kinship and respect for my fellow Canadians. What did those people who voted Liberal vote FOR? The fear thing translated into weak, flabby moral fiber to me and I felt personally humiliated belonging to a country where people (Canadian people) had reverted to the greasy, flat, colorless, flabby mindset of the morally corrupt. I knew what Cicero and Stephen Harper felt – not broken or shaken – overwelming DISGUST. I, didn’t even feel like looking at a Liberal, never mind speaking to one. I went to Western Standard for my news and stayed there for a long time, to save my sanity. Captains Quarters was really my first stop in the bloggsphere and what a blessing that was – I have found again the courage to fight on because there are forces here that share my sense of outrage and are determined to do someting! Thank-you all for restoring my faith in the ‘good’ in this country. I think what we all should do is just what you do Happydaze; put posts on a public website for all to see and KEEP at it. BTW I have read many of your posts and they speak of honesty and integrety. They make me think in a positive way.