OK so we have clear exposure of the chronic kleptocratic cronyism that was common for the last decade of federal administration. we also see the fact that it still active in other federal bureaucracies...so now what?....so now what?.....ahem!... so now what???

Mr Harper that's your cue... step in any time now...we're waiting.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper came in on a wave of accountability.

We now bring you the tsunami, to sweep the kleptocrats quite deftly out to sea.

LIEberals grab your life jackets the HMCS "Dithers" goes down with parting shots from the gun turrets to a watery resting place on the bottom.

Gee with a 200 Billion dollar Canadian budget do you think there is any greedy eyeballing of Her Majesty's treasury? There is one HELL of an inducement to malfeasance isn't there?

Steve Janke is doing a fine citizen's job of uncovering all of the dirt on a, um, small and alleged controversy involving a, well, former, er, backbench Liberal MP.

Let's call him the Wizard of OZ shall we: don't look over behind that curtain with the CPC logo on it. Keep your attention focused on the great green phantom head I'm projecting in the centre of the hall.

No stop. I said DON'T look over behind that curtain. Stop right there now. No further. That's far enough or I might call you a terrorist supporter! I don't want you to see all that Canada's Sort-of-a-tiny-bit-still New Government (TM) is doing:

- Conservative cabinet minister using taxpayer money to do partisan polling and doesn't disclose it: www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070506/tories_polling_070506/20070506?hub=Politics

- Conservative cabinet minister keeps cheques from cancelled fundraiser and doesn't disclose them: rustyidols.blogspot.com/2007/05/bev-oda-promised-to-give-money-back.html

- The same Conservative cabinet minister sets up sponsorship fund without rules, asks friends where to throw the money: www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070426.SPONSOR26/TPStory/National

- Conservative cabinet minister to look into campaign loans...er, make that only Liberal campaign loans as the Conservatives continue to refuse to disclose contributions to Harper's leadership campaign: impolitwww.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070426.SPONSOR26/TPStory/National

- Conservative cabinet minister spends taxpayer money like drunken sailor on travel, feels entitled to his entitlements and fails to disclose the perk: www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070506.whideexpense0506/BNStory/National/home

What it took the Liberal Party to accomplish 13 years, the Conservatives have accomplished in 15 months. Indeed.

The Conservative Party of Canada - standing up for the Conservative Party of Canada.

The Conservative Party of Canada - Getting things done for themselves.

... or better yet...

The Conservative Party of Canada: they were for accountability and transparency in government before they were against it!

Put us out of our misery. End this charade of a government.

Let me guess Ted, you've got one of those bumper stickers that states:

"Don't steal the government hates competition!"

5 out of the last 5 governments agree with you Hans!

So I gotta ask Ted...you'll vote Liberal again and again and again...fair enough, so, whats with the comments? Every government gets in trouble over partisan appointments, over spending on air travel and, over awarding of contracts, its just part of being in power, I mean, why give contracts and jobs to people like you who dislike and distrust you? So, I just gotta ask, did you write the previous Liberal government in disgust? Have you written Mr McGuinty yet? No? Hmm..I didnt think so. Its time to end your charade of someone who cares. You care about you and your party, thats it, and thats fine, but to chime in like a disgruntled voter who is aghast over the so called corruption is pretty rich.

Steve Janke is doing a fine citizen's job of uncovering all of the dirt on a, um, small and alleged controversy involving a, well, former, er, backbench Liberal MP.

I uncovered the dirt while he was still a sitting MP in the Liberal government of Paul Martin. Needless to say, nothing came of it then (other than to generate a local controversy in Pontiac that may or may not have helped Lawrence Cannon win the riding with David Smith crashing down into third place).

And is there a suggestion that my stories are some sort of diversion created by the Conservatives? I hope not. The David Smith stories were entirely mine -- 100% researched by me with no links with the Tories anywhere along the way.

Just setting the record straight.

Actually, billg, I started a blog to, among other things, criticize the Liberals and for the first time actually joined the party so could do something about it instead of just whining on the sidelines.

As the tag line on Cerberus says (scroll to bottom): "Canada can be a better place. Get involved. Now!" as well as "Peace, Order and Good Government. Now!"

And that was put up there when the Liberals were screwing us. So I feel pretty comfortable going after the rank hypocrisy of Canada's Next Petty Unaccountable Government.

OK Ted. You've convinced me. I want to join you over there in the comfy fur of the Liberal Party of Canada.

I've decided that I'm ok with the misuse and outright theft of taxpayer dollars and that the mafia are a good bunch of guys. (after all, entitlements are entitlements)

And of course the great job of renewal that the party has undertaken is nothing short of amazing. Why, every time I see Reid or Smith or Kennedy or Hall-Findlay - not to forget Goodale or Corderre - on the tv, the honesty and integrity is just literally dripping off of their faces.

I do however have a bit of a problem with the party obsession with lying and hypocrisy. Do you have to be good at both before you join or does the party provide training? What if you're only good at one but not the other? (you people make it look so natural!) Would I have to publicly demonstrate my proficiency (like Garth) before I'm let in?

Oh yeah. I also have a bit of a problem with Kermit, the new leader. He's such a weenie. (any word on how he voted yet?)

"I do however have a bit of a problem with the party obsession with lying and hypocrisy. Do you have to be good at both before you join or does the party provide training?"

No we train you for that. It's the Conservative Party that makes that an upfront requirement before you are allowed to be a member. As we saw in remarkably stark fashion in the past week.

I think Ted had his head up his butt the past decades with the other Liberal sycophants ignoring administrative malfeasance because ..as Ted would say..."they may be low life belly-crawing thieves and liars, but they're OUR low life belly-crawing thieves and liars.., if thay wear the right colors you don't see the crimes....integrity is all a matter of who you cheer for if you are degenerate enough to view running the country as nothing more than a hockey game with "sides" or Teams....systemic malfeasnace is not a matter of left or right but right and wrong.

For the record I think Mulromey was no better than Chretien and Harper is sitting with his thumb up his butt on this issue and has only made symbolic moves.

Ted your blind partisanism is so desparately puerile. Why don't you just shack up with Scott Reid you two can have a popcorn and beer party, while someone with more substance does the needed repair work on the federal system.

Ted spouts usual relativist Liberal nonsense. If someone spends taxpayers dollars other than where journalist looking (disclosed elsewhere), that is equivalent to stealing (at least)tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars to finance election campaigns.

Frankly, though these things do happen whatever political stripe, what contrast Libs and Tories again is how they will deal with the situation.

As long as this is not another fake crisis like Shane Doan captaincy or detainee agreement, any smoking gun must be thoroughly investigated to ensure taxpayers money used in most efficient manner practicable.

As far as election goes; Ted, we agree, let's go for it.

"though these things do happen whatever political stripe"

LOL

Funny how quickly people trot that point of view after their team wins government!

Forgot about this one up above from billg: "Every government gets in trouble over partisan appointments, over spending on air travel and, over awarding of contracts, its just part of being in power"

Or way better yet, the PMO saying incredibly: "accountability measures are for crooks, not honest people" (http://www.1337hax0r.com/?p=540)

Only after the election your side wins... never before.

Liberals have so much to learn from these guys. They really are masters.

Yes indeed, a long-rolling congratulations is due to Steve Janke on this one. This has been a great story to watch unfold. A lot of inference and analysis and risk on der Jankerman's part, and commitment.

If it ends up being all for naught -- if people don't bother to take a really serious gander at the sort of stuff he continues to dig up -- we're pretty much hooped anyway in our hopes of being an uncorrupt country.

The wink-wink approach of oh, CBC, CTV, the Globe, posits a narrative in which a few people outside of the purview of Liberal cabinet ministers, prime minsters, etc., behaved badly. But anyone who's been paying attention knows that Adscam was in large part a Liberal money-laundering operation. In such a context it's irrelevent whether the helpful agents "outside" the party received more than the party itself; it's a large and nameless fund to play with, so...

If one got all one's information from CBC or CTV, one would almost get the impression that the convictions of bit players are in effect exonerations of the Liberal party, akin to some human sacrifice for the larger causes the Liberals make a show of attending to.

For the rest of us who are scratching our head, these bit-player convictions are evidenciary, living testimonials to the Liberal ongoing M.O.: private government, NGOs, a billion paths for kickbacks, etc.

Certainly many Liberals were unaware of various goings-on, but these LIberals are also certainly part of an embedded culture within which such behaviour is taken for granted and considered business as usual.

Our fake national narrative posits that a few rogues took advantage of a government preoccupied with national unity.

BS. Although it's the news, that's not the real story. It's way too early to wink and turn the other way. The same machine is gunning to get back into it's previous positon.

Let's not forget the manner in which certain Liberals defended the laundering of taxpayers' money for Liberal partisan benefit as being for a just cause.

The gallic shrug isn't considered an acceptable defense in large parts of the country. One can reasonably infer that the contract money paid to Abotech wasn't simply a case of unchecked, unexamined liberties within the RCMP; the Abotech scenario Janke brought to our attention sure seems, on the surface, like another example of the Liberal outsourcing of money-laundering, in that delightfully Liberal -- unactionable -- branch-plant sense.

Will we get answers, though, when Liberals are prone to sue people for noticing things? It's a funny country right now, there are so many questions and so few people who will answer or ask them. Hopefully this committee will move the ball upfield.

P.S. I can't seem to access from the gc website any transcripts of the parliamentary committee. Are they available to the Canadian public? Any tips?

Actually, Ted we heard plenty of that crap when Liberals in power; trouble is, they weren't failing to disclose $150,000, they were misspending $billions and stealing $millions.

Libs refused to be accountable and electorate had to punish them. They haven't changed their statist liberal values taxpayer piggybank ways; that's why they are, and shall remain for awhile, in the penalty box.

Unlike Libs, Tories didn't have to invent scandals to rationalize criminal behaviour. When are the Libs going to pay back the money they STOLE from the taxpayers?

Nice try, Ted.

You know, Ted, at least one of your quoted news articles doesn't necessarily conclude that there was any malfeasance (at least the one that I checked)...take the one about the $149K in travel costs.

Is this travel cost more or less than the average of previous Labour ministers? It doesn't say...but YOU'RE saying he's spending like a drunken sailor...show me the statistics to back up your claim. If his travel is much higher than past Ministers, then you have a reasonable claim...if not, then you're just debasing yourself.

As another example, if I travel on business and the company I work for pays for the trip, I don't declare it as my personal travel cost...the company paid for it, not me. The same, I am guessing, may go for the Labour Minister. What are the "rules" regarding listing of expenses...is he supposed to list the expenses even if (perhaps) some other department or entity is paying for it? As the staffer said, the expenses are there...just not necessarily against the Labour Minister's name. If this is against the "rules", then he should be reprimanded for poor accounting practices...if it isn't against the "rules", then bugger off. How is this in any way "crooked"?

Just on the basis of this one example, I would say you're trying to make a mountain out of a molehill for political purposes...no problem, it's fair game in politics...until you cry about how non-partisan you pretend to be. Then you debase yourself (again).

Notice I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong...I'm just saying that you haven't proven any malfeasance whatsoever. There's no evidence of theft, just poor accounting (intentional or unintentional is unknown).

I suspect you're just trying to get as much negative print out there as possible knowing that there will never be a retraction if you're wrong. I suspect that is just part of your lawyer's bag of tricks (I have a low regard for lawyers, in case you couldn't tell).

"I'm just saying that you haven't proven any malfeasance whatsoever. There's no evidence of theft, just poor accounting (intentional or unintentional is unknown). "

Sounds like a Liberal PMO staffer circa 2003 when the MSM broke the story on Adscam.

But I keep forgetting... Conservatives are born with clean and odourless sh-t. Silly me.

Hey Ted, this post is about a LIBERAL scandal; you doth protest too much. Anyway, the point you refuse to get is improper bookeeping and disclosure, serious matters in themselves, don't even come close to the incompetence, malpheasance and criminality of previous Lib administrations.

Oh yeah, at least they represented Canadian values. Love the way you guys prop up detainee scandal on evidence that would be laughed out of any court; with the Abotech issue we have audit results and a smoking gun,yet you arrogantly assume everyone as corrupt as Liberals. Does that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling? Kinda like Adscam, eh?

Ted said:

"Conservatives are born with clean and odourless sh-t."

That's why they've taken up the Sheryl Crow one square sheet of toilet paper challenge. Just a couple of light bulbs short of a chandelier.

The LIEBerals manure spreader requires that they take up the MEGATONNE challenge to clean up their Ottawa cesspool.

February 10, 2004 — Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report reveals up to $100 million of the $250 million sponsorship program was awarded to Liberal-friendly advertising firms and Crown corporations for little or no work.

Ted, the corruption and rot of the Liberals is so extensive from the Cretin on down and I am sure the RCMP pension money will be shown to be part of their scandals. No party in my LIFE has been shown to be as corrupt as this gang of crooks that you belong to. The sad part of Canada's political climate is that people continue to blindly vote for them and condone this practice, they just don't care.

You can nitpick all you want but the CPC has systematically accomplished their stated election goals. Your party did nothing for 14 years! This travel discrepency will be shown to be an accounting procedure and fully explained, if not the parties involved will be fired or prosecuted. Conservatives are doers whereas Liberals are talkers. Your one claim to fame, paying down the deficit, will probably be shown as just an accounting entry moving the Public Union pension of 30B to appear to pay it off.

If there is any kind of a crisis facing Canada that would require quick military reaction would you want your Liberal buffoons in charge? Even the Chief of Defense Staff, appointed by the Liberals, called it a decade of darkness.

I believe what Ted is doing is called 'projecting'.

The liberals accomplished absolutely nothing over the last ten years and this miserable case of failure grinds their guts up so badly that they cannot even stand themselves. They therefore try to 'project' their self-misery on those who are honest and successful citizens.

Look in the mirror Ted and you will see the reason why the libs failed.

So Ted -- I don 't quite get this one: I. . . for the first time actually joined the party [Liberals] so I could do something about it instead of just whining on the sidelines. So here you are again -- "whining on the sidelines." And not much change -- as far as I can see -- in the Liberal party. Perhaps there is something wrong with your political instincts.

Well said, EBD. Thank you Mr. Janke, for your original ground-breaking and continuing work on this file. As Plato said, "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men".

Yes Ted the Abotech hearing will probably end up with ANOTHER Liberal criminal trial...what else is new! We have a Liberal criminal trial just starting in Vancouver...a well known Liberal admitted to paying bribes...again what else is new!

My understanding there is still over 30 ongoing RCMP investigations of the Liberal Party...i wonder how many trials this will produce?

All these hearings,investigations, and trials caused by the Liberal Party is costing the Taxpayers multi millions...these costs should be charged back to the Liberal Party.

By the way Ted, you woudn`t happen to know where the RCMP could locate the $40 million of taxpayers dollars that was stolen by the Liberals and is still missing?

No more investigations. Time for an inquiry; right Ted?