I have no faith in the RCMP.

As far as I'm concerned, they are working for the Liberals in this banana republic.

Isn't this the same RCMP that, for years, dragged their heels on investigations into Chretien's dealings on the Shawinigate affair, raided the home of Francois Beaudoin (of which a member of that raid was a part of Chrtien's personal security detail), exposed by the AG as having benefitted from dirty money in the sponsorship scandal, and who laid charges against Chuck Guite and did so on the eve of Martin calling the last election when the Liberal party needed a scapegoat?

From what I've heard, Goodale's seat is a safe one. I live in Toronto so I'm not sure what's happening in his riding.

Perhaps his seat is not as safe as the media says it is. So perhaps this is a way of helping Goodale as Gomery did with Martin when he declared him "exonerated." Perhaps the RCMP, if Goodale is in trouble in his riding, well anounce a week to 10 days before the vote - when it's most important - that Goodale is clean.

Perhaps you, Kate, have more faith in the RCMP than I do.

It seems the RCMP lose their best commercial investigators to the forensic accounting firms where they can make a lot more money. There needs to be a special prosecutor appointed who can retain Al Rosen, Kroll, etc.

I don't have any faith in them. Just reporting the latest updates.

I have fait in individual officers, but I suspect if they do find something, there's certain to be a push from above to keep investigating in perpetuity...

Kate ,I feel that Peter has hit the nail right on the head! The RCMP have compromised themselves so many times that they have lost all credibility.Nothing has happened over their little contribution to Adscam and they will keep everything undercover for the Lieberals. I feel this country is beyond any help as the MSM and the RCMP are all in it together to keep the crooks in office. Time for the west to get the hell out! NOW!

UPDATE: On November 18th of this year Ralph Goodale stated publicly that he expected to make a decision about income trusts in January of 2006. Five days later his friends on bay street were franticly buying income trust stock in advance of his announcement the next day. The PUBLIC was lead to believe that a decision was months away but several special friends apparently knew otherwise. Mr. Goodale claims to have made his intentions known in advance to the general public. Mr. Goodale, this is the only public article I can see where you address this issue and you clearly state that a decision can be expected next year...

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/11/18/trusts-051118.html

Insider trading? ... theft? ... corruption?

I was thinking ... that's our culture now.

Go get em guys .... but when you are done with mime ... spread em wide .. a hard dry one is on the way

Again!!! NO ONE WILL GO TO JAIL NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

In Canadian politics the rot starts at the top and works it's way down ..... then stops where decent hard working people start.

They know we won't really do anything because they can make anyone's life a living hell if you get too close.

And no one in this candy-ass county is going to get up in arms as they should. Sooo .... go cast your useless vote and get back home turn on the TV and order a pizza.

This is as good as it gets. Just be happy they let you keep half of the money you work for.

It woudn't surprise me if this turns out to be the last election we have in this socialist cesspool.

I am seriously consider leaving Canada for another country .. Costa Rica sounds good. New Zealand might do. Suggestions?

Hey Duke I have been pondering applying for refuge status is the great U.S.A. If that doesn't fly maybe I will just be a wetback. Anything is better that the cesspool of corruption and socialism we are dealing with right now. And to think this used to be the best place on earth.

I said it before on another blog that the conservatives MUST change both the senate and the judiciary to elected bodies, or this has all been for naught.

It's so sad to hear the comments regard the RCMP but it is obvious that anyone that has conections "higher up" never seem to be punished. As always the higher up you go in the chain of command, the more power, money ect. You know the next is corruption. Corruption starts at the top and filters down.The approach that the CP's are taking with an independent federal procecutor would be a step in the right direction. As for Mr. Goodale and the insider trading, follow the paper trail. Even a man in his position is not safe to the securities commissions. Moving out of the country? Yes the thought had crossed my mind but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I think what we have in this country is worth fighting for, even if the odds are against us.

Duke: New Zealand's pretty good. I've been here 2 years now; greatly prefer it to Manitoba. Note how the public service here is kept separate from political influence. Ministers contract with their departments for the production of certain outputs; the departments are pretty arm's length after that and independent. Graham Scott's text is quite interesting. It would be massively difficult to run something like Adscam here.
http://www.grahamscott.co.nz/

The reasonable person who has been watching all the suspiciously criminal behavior of the Liberals now will have no doubt as to whether the Liberals can be trusted. Far too much stuff to ignore. It has just piled up, up and up since they first came to power. They're obviously crooked.

They must not be rewarded. Canadians must reaffirm their value that crime does not pay. Yep, that's a Canadian value, and the Liberal Party of Canada doesn't believe in it. We know this very well.

Vote every last one of them out of their seat!

I bet everyone here would have faith in an R.C.M.P officer if the sh*t was hitting the street near your place.

I don't think we will hear even the slightest peep from them until after the elections.
I hope all you Good bloggers know what you are in for. This could be bigger than Rathergate. It could also flip on a dime.

The liebral spin machine will turn this into a credibillity issue for Bloggers, the CPC, and well, Conservatives in general. Just wait and see. And be ready.

I agree with Mary. I'm in no hurry to leave.

Something's going to have to give in Canada: one country can't support three systems of justice (common law, napoleonic law, and aboriginal law). That does not mean though, that the way it works out will a priori be a disaster; in ten or twenty years Canada may become a far more decentralized federation, for example, or there's the Czech/Slovak option.

However, in case of emergency, my backup plan is Fairbanks. It's just up the road from here, by truck, and I've got one of those.

I've been doing a lot of international travelling and there's a lot of the "developing countries" that are doing just that - developing! They're smart enough to slay the socialist monster and focus on democracy, rule of law, and economic development. It's delightful to see, they're on track to a better future, as Canada degenerates you can probably find another nice country to live in, some have very encouraging immigration policies, tax benefits if you bring in your wealth and buy property, with tax only kicking in once you start earning money in-country. Me? I'm staying right here, I love Canada, and I'm hoping there will be a re-negotiation of confederation into a confederation of independent states in the future. Certainly if the Liberals win the next election I see no choice but to focus on the elimination of the federal government from our lives, it's become an intolerable monster, a destructive parasite.

It's time for Canadians to exercise "willing suspension of disbelief" wrt Canada being corrupted on a massive scale by the Liberals in the interest of Liberals. Yes, it's possible for sure that the RCMP is effectively the gestapo/KGB of the PMO, the courts are corrupted by loyalist/leftist patronage flunkies, the MSM has a bad case of temnyky, etc., etc.

If it can happen in all sorts of countries all over the world, why the hell not in Canada? Come on, we're not all that superior or special compared to any other state. Notice that we don't already have a Special Prosecutor? Notice the Auditor General cannot look into Crown Corps and foundations? Notice how Gomery appointed one of the guys who actually helped Paul Martin get the funding to acquire CSL to head up Phase 2 of the Gomery Report? Not to mention that Gomery was blocked from looking into the Earnscliffe Adscam connection wrt Martin?

How much more evidence does the reasonable person need?

Just saw Calgarian's commentary above.

Made me think this: the Liberals claim they're "progressive", yet they're regressive: less and less democracy, less rule of law, the ignorance of Parliamentary votes, theft of taxpayer dollars, corruption all over the place, fascistic suppression of free speech, persecution of selected religious groups, increasing socialistic redistribution of income, interference and limiting freedom in the media, racist and sexist hiring policies in the public service, etc., etc.

If that's "progressive", I want nothing to do with "progressiveness" as practiced by the Liberals and the left. No thanks!

Those who like the Liberal way can go move to Cuba.

The big problem is the concentration of power in the PMO. The judiciary, commissioners, etc. should at the very least be interviewed by committee and appointed by parliament as a whole. The system we have now has the stench of Lie-beral graft, corruption and spin all over it.

A backup plan is always good. After all, true conservatives always have a pessimistic streak of some sort, and an escape hatch, no matter how pleasant things may seem, is only prudent. Most American conservatives I know have one of some kind or another (liquid assets in the home safe, a piece of property in a very remote location and an extra jerry can in the SUV, etc.), they get discussed at 1 a.m. after the third bottle of wine. Whereas liberals assume the govt will keep things from degenerating (viz.: Toronto).

If anyone likes the U.S., I would say we're bound to have another alien amnesty soon, as long as there isn't a "radical right" massive change in the Congress next year. Both major parties are very out of step with the majority of Americans on immigration, but that's only a plus for anyone who wants to come on over . . .

BTW, if you're a Canadian citizen, you can "live" in the U.S. for up to 90 days at a time w/o a visa . . .

Decentralization would be excellent for Canada. Whether it can happen, is another matter.

The real issue, which does not seem to be grasped in Canada, is who conducts the investigation of complex, especially white collar, crimes.

From all that I understand in the US this sort of case is actually investigated--as opposed to just prosecuted in court--by DAs or US attorneys. They may use police or the FBI essentially as leg-men but the actual investigation before the laying of any charges is run, and much of it conducted by, the lawyers.

As opposed to Canada, and I think the UK, where the investigation before the laying of charges, is done solely by police.

It seems to me that in really complex cases the police will not simply be up to this sort of investigation, to conduct which the training and skills of lawyers are needed. And I see no move in Canada to address this problem which in effect gives the non-violent criminal in a complex case a free pass. Which may explain why Lord Black of Crossharbour was investigated and indicted by a US attorney, not the FBI on its own (the leg-men).

Mark
Ottawa

The United States of America enjoys a structural separation of power that Canada does not. Therefore, it is less prone to oligarchies.

I don't think a lot of Conservative Canadians (and most who rant here are) realize what kind of grip Ottawa has on the people of this pretend country.

Try anything and you will quickly find yourself on a virtual wrack. We are slaves to a horrid pretend democracy and it won't be changed by ranting or by voting.

It's split too many ways ... the old divide and conquor at work and it's works well here. The only think standing between and outright boot crush is the USA next door who would probably be kind enough to draw the line somewhere else they would be at too great a risk from the flow of terrorist scum across the 49th.

Democracy stopped working in this country when the communist Pierre Trudeau was vaulted to power for about 18 years.

The only reason we won't do anything real about it is because there is still enough to go around to keep us all in our cars, watching our big screen TVs and eating like pigs.

Meanwhile take a laugh break at Duke's Place

Then dart right back here for more jaw wagging.

I love this site.. it's serious and it's revealing, but it's up the people of Canada to mount up and storm the Bastille.

Never ascribe to malice, what can be more easily explained through incompetence.

What if it wasn’t an inside tip, but a screw-up that set things off last Wednesday?

There’s just something about the behaviour on Wednesday & Thursday of Ralph Goodale and John MacKay, his Parliamentary Secretary, that doesn’t add up. They seem so rushed, disorganized and off-the-cuff. They were actually contradicting one another’s comments. It’s almost like they didn’t really know what the government’s policy really was.

AND that’s the point. I don’t think they did until a few minutes after the close of the stock markets on Wednesday. They were planning on a Finance Department review and then make a decision and announcement in January. Maybe nobody in the Finance department knew this was coming. Maybe they could have predicted it, but no decision was made yet.

The decision was probably made in the PMO or in the Liberal campaign headquarters. Word may have leaked out from there. Maybe some comment slipped out in a room full of the wrong people. Maybe somebody sent something to the printers and the new policy was in there. A sharp eyed press operator saw it and told a few people and word spread like wildfire. Volume in the affected stocks and trusts went up exponentially on Wednesday. Somebody noticed in Finance and frantically called Ralph. John MacKay was sent out to say something at 5:30. He did not have a clue what it was. It was amateur night at the improv. By the next morning, Ralph was told what the campaign platform was going to be, briefed, he made a statement and now it was the government’s policy. At the very least, Goodale knew, but the announcement was to come out after Christmas, not last week.

This is reminiscent of the NDP budget in the spring. Ralph was out of the loop on that one too. The decision was made in the PMO and Finance had to backtrack and start saying how corporate tax cuts were not all that important.

I could be completely wrong. If the press conferences were planned weeks in advance, this theory wouldn’t be true. Can somebody hunt that info down?

Two things are for certain; somebody screwed up and somebody is going to talk. That rise in volume on Wednesday was so large and so broad that a lot of people knew what was going on. Most of the people who made money on this were probably out the loop. However, they saw the trend and they heard a good rumour and they bought. They have no reason to stay silent. This was meant to be a secret and undetectable. Somebody let the cat of the bag. It’s just a matter of time and effort to narrow down the likely suspects. I just wouldn’t be looking for anybody in the Finance department.

Is this anywhere other than CTV?

Also, I agree with Plaid, there will be some singin canaries on this one.

It makes no difference whether it is malice or incompetence. Both, in such circumstances, are worthy of prison time.

Taxpayers need to know what, if anything, happened here. We deserve to know right now. Not after christmas, not after the election, right now.

PlaidShirt;
"most of the people who made money...were out of the loop" LMFAO!!!
I'm laughing 'cause if I don't laugh I cry.
"just don't look for anybody in the finance dept"!?!!
bullshit pure and simple.

The RCMP. As far as police go they are barely addiquate traffic cops.

Tony...
RCMP...I work with them all day long...the officers are incredibly courageous, committed and Canadian.

Quote MegQ: "BTW, if you're a Canadian citizen, you can "live" in the U.S. for up to 90 days at a time w/o a visa . . ."

I believe it's double that. Quote: http://www.amcits.com/foreign.asp

"Are you a Canadian who wants to reside in the U.S.? You may remain for up to six months at a time without a U.S. visa"

RE: Goodale's riding
It all depends on who the Conservative candidate is. For example, in 2000 the Alliance had an excellent candidate who almost unseated Ralph the final results were: Libs: 14,063 Alliance: 12,355.
However, last year, they didn't run such a good candidate and the result was: Libs: 20,567 Conservatives: 8709. I hear that they're running a fairly good candidate this year, so who knows. Interestingly, the boundaries of the riding were redrawn for the 2004 election that added 20,000 people to the riding, mostly urban to undercut the rural vote that resoundingly rejected Goodale in 2000. Ah, nothing like gerrymandering.....

Ralph's seat is as safe as any Liberal in the GTA. CPC will lose seat in SK this time around. The NDP will regain the 2 surprise ridings they lost last time and the Librals will pick up the Northern seat. Unfortunately we have a socialist mentality in many parts of SK.

It is such a free for all at the Librano trough that I don't honestly believe the right hand knows what the left is doing. I can see the Conservatives winning a minority gov and the opposition ripping them apart and then tossing them out in 1 year. The West will have to make a choice in the next 5 years or the option will be gone.

My experience with the RCMP as a businessman is not good. At the street level the quality is not particularly good and those that care are too disillusioned. You would have to be a fool to think that the upper echolons of the RCMP were not in the Liberal pocket.

Thanks for the update, Robo, I thought it was 6 months but couldn't find the exact info on Amcits last night (duh!). Knew for sure it was at least 90 days & went w/ that. We basically have reciprocity: citizens of either country can visit the other for up to 6 mos w/o a visa. Then you just return to your own country, & you can re-enter for another 6! - but good luck getting a nice job, if you still need income, that's the real trick . . .

If the Liberal party is hurting for cash, what better way to generate an influx of funds. Make your friends some more money so they can contribute to the campaign. Watch the party donations go up!!!!!