so are the Days Of Their Lies…
In his opening statement to the Commons committee investigating the mess, the defiant former public works minister painted himself as the victim and said that the public accusations and innuendo has all but ended his long political career.
“I feel that I am the one who has paid the greatest price for this scandal so far,” he said. “I have lived up to my part of the bargain. In return, I now learn that I should be considered responsible for a fiasco that was not of my doing.”
[cue violins]
Gagliano was in charge of the department when it funneled millions of dollars to Quebec advertising agencies for little or no work.
As minister, Gagliano said he did everything in his power to fulfill his cabinet obligations. Management was not his responsibility, though. As such, holding him accountable for every department employee is unfair.
“I never had the control or power over my department that would have given me the ability to answer for all that went open with them.”
“I am just a patsy!”
Gagliano acknowledged he met with Guite three or four times per year and had signed off on some seven-figure spending increases without reviewing any documentation.
“I assumed all the paperwork … was in the file,” he said. “I didn’t see it, I didn’t ask for it.”
While his life trickled away waiting for a bone marrow transplant from his long lost brother, his ex-wife secretly plotted to steal the family firm…
In his questions for the former minister, Conservative Party MP Peter MacKay communicated his disbelief.
“You’re telling us today that you were just essentially a finger puppet of your own department, that you had no control over the sponsorship program?” he asked.
Hard to believe, but true. And the story doesn’t end there…. lost and presumed dead for these past two years, in reality, Gagliano was being held captive in a fortress in Denmark.
to be continued…
Andrew Coyne has the Hogan’s Heroes version.