A spirited debate in the comments of the “Wells post” from earlier today. Good points made on all sides, with Mr. Wells serving up a little fact-checking on the Sponsorship shutdown timeline at the expense of readers, in response to criticisms of media sloppiness in reporting. Fair enough.
The discussion reminded me of something I read elsewhere, though – a post at Conservative Life from last Friday, in response to Ralph Goodale’s testimony;
One week after Groupaction had it’s sponsorship program contracts frozen by the PWGS; and after the company had been referred to the RCMP for fraud investigation; Mr. Goodale’s department awarded Groupaction more than a million dollars in contracts to do recruitment ads for the Department of Defence.
And they say there isn’t an open competition. Why exclude a company from Department of Defence advertising dollars just because it was featured in the Auditor General’s Report, centered out in Question Period, and under investigation by the RCMP for fraud in sponsorship contracts?
Now, refresh my memory, people. Can any of you recall the scrum with reporters cornering Goodale on this? Were there blaring headlines across the front page of the Globe and Mail? Mike Duffy pontificating on how a government could justify awarding contracts to companies under police investigation?
Me, either. But they listened in rapture to his tale of refusing Chretien’s paltry little request.
I like the new picture. Did you know there is movie actress named Julia Roberts who looks just like you? As far as the scrum goes, how does one get press accreditation for the House? If somebody with a little time and money on their hands volunteered to serve as a reporter for some little small town prairie paper could they get access to the hill? There is probably a cost to this, but it could be a fun way to spend a couple of weeks asking embarrassing questions.
I put a similar question to the folks at the Western Standard last week. Why dont they have press coverage on the Hill. No answer.
I should say though in all fairness it may be financial reasons, as its a relatively new magazine.
Maybe if we pass a collection plate we could ‘sponsor’ our own reporter for the blogging Torries? Can bloggers get accreditation? If this hour has 22 minutes is up there every week, anybody should be able to.
Haw! Do you seriously think that a representative of the Western Standard would ever get a press pass? (they should do it through a third-party- something like 100 Huntley Street?)
No problem.Im sure if we ask we could get a Gov’t sponsorship or a grant.They like giving money away.
I sure fooled CTV. See, my show, Countdown with Mike Duffy was supposed to end at McHappy Day. And they just kept on putting it on.. I guess I’ll make the countdown up to next year McHappy Day.
Tootoloo!
You really should stop asking such embarrassing questions, Kate.
Hasn’t Mr. “I’m on the inside, and not one of the little people” Wells already assured us that the media is right on top of this, and that we are all simply imagining things if we think they Liberals are being held to a much lower standard than the CPC?
BTW.. it’s ironic about your Seismic Map. That also plots out the areas of the world that I haven’t been able to float too.. yet.
I am wondering what la la land I’m living in
http://habamusrodentum.blogspot.com/2005/06/is-pmo-influencing-rcmp-grewal-gate.html
I think something is very very wrong. Is the PMO influencing the RCMP?
I, in no way, shape, or form, look like Julia Roberts. I can assure you of that!
Goodale had to refuse Cruton’s request- everybody in Shawinigan Falls is already on the governmint payroll, or has a grant. (And no- you can’t have another ‘Singing Fountain’. Haw!
Small denomination bills in plain brown envelope,
(with the Liberal logo on it), left on my table at the Flame Restaurant, (corner of Lawrence & Keel, Toronto, SVP) Then Ah shut ma mouf.
Botox, lipo, silicone, tucks, lifts, need I say more. Im thinking I could look like Julia if I had enough money.
As Dolly Parton used to say, “It Takes a Lot of Money to Look This Cheap.”
R.C.M.P. on the take, judges on the take, we need an election soon.
I bet I can guess what the money was used for…
More video of the troops Harper sent to Iraq…
And more War Museum paintings……..
We have been seeing endless parade of �political experts� and knowledgeable professors talking about politics in Canada but all missing the point.
We ought to thanks NDP for it.
The Countdown by overweight Mike Duffy (www.ctv.ca) has a interview with one American who has more knowledge then all those �experts� in Canadian media.
Just play interview with David Frum and Joy Macphail ( I bet she wish she weren�t there).
Thanks for guys like David.
Thanks NDP.
That was a quirky newscast, alright.. the story on an RCMP investigation followed up with “we got a call from the PMO just before going to air and got told to talk to a more senior RCMP guy who said there is no investigation..”
Well then, Canada!
It’s reassuring to know that the PMO has the inside track on those RCMP investigations they aren’t to comment on – even when they don’t exist.
Yeah, wtf was that? And without blinking an eye…
Then I watched the National – although the story was… dunno,fourth on the list? it was actually relatively (for CBC) moderate – they must have updated it (maybe they visit here too?) because while they had the “expert” talk about no cash, they talked to someone else who appeared to be pretty appalled with the whole thing, regardless.
Maybe all the nasty emails we’ve been sending have sunk in.
It would be interesting to find out what’s required to be “accredited” at the House…
I was quite surprised by MP Kenny yesterday talking about the thousands of emails the MPs have been receiving over various issues (what, I’m not the only one???). So maybe cbc & ctv are also receiving a few thousand a day?
And I wonder how many subscriptions have been cancelled to the Post (I did over the knuckledragging remarks), the Globe (I did because sorry, Blatchford, you’re the only thing worth reading but I can live without your words of wisdom – until you get a blog) and the Gazette (someone had said they had better Gomery coverage, which they did, but they’ve also got more than a few wingnuts and also do the “scary Harper” thing too much).
I never thought I’d see the day where the Sun chain carried more “news”… strange times indeed.
on the bright side, my die-hard-Liberal uncle admitted he voted Green last election and will do it again (or independent) this time around.
WOOHOO! (Ok, he lives in AB and not in the Screecher’s or Kilgour’s riding, but still…)
Oh dear. Steve Madely, CFRA Ottawa (no friend of the Liberals), has just had on two CFRA sound engineers going through parts of the Grewal tapes and concluding the tapes were obviously edited–as Madely said, “amateur-hour editing”.
If true what were Grewal, and then Harper et al., doing/thinking?
Mark
Ottawa
“I, in no way, shape, or form, look like Julia Roberts. I can assure you of that!”
Face it Kate, you’re a hottie. Just accept it.
I agree with the commenters who see a need for the blogging community having a non MSM source blogging on the events the MSM attend but omit. ( Too bad Monte Solgerg has a day job)
We could fill a large storge device monthly with what the MSM omits…”omit” that’s a trendoid buzz phrase for sectarian editiing.
Kate MacMillan = Erin Brockovich?
I would say Kate looks more like a grown-up version of that cutie from “Some Kind of Wonderful”. (But then, I’m no fan of Julia Roberts, not even looks-wise)
Candace while I applaud you cancelling your subscriptions on principle, I find that I need newspapers, ( I get the Calgary Herald and Post) if only to keep up to what the enemy is doing.
For what it’s worth, it seems the editing is only on portions of the tapes, largely in Punjabi, with just Grewal/Dosanjh on them. The tapes with Murphy on them appear unedited.
Mark
Ottawa
Habamus Rodentum, I’m still reeling from the latest CTV report regarding the RCMP. Let’s recap:
CTV reports via a Corporal Deschenes that “We are looking into the allegations of what happened and what everyone is talking about if, in fact, a criminal act happened”.
CTV then reports that the Prime Minister’s office has telephoned moments prior to broadcast and that they must call a more superior officer to get the “real” version.
RCMP Chief Superintendent Bernie Corrigan now says “All we have is the letter. There is no criminal investigation. I can confirm that 100 per cent.”
– No offers were made – No investigation is necessary –
Full story at:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1117631336070_113040536/?hub=TopStories
Scientists use molecule as computer switch
Globe and Mail – 12 hours ago
By SIMON AVERY. Scientists in Alberta say they have taken a giant leap in the tiny world of molecular electronics, building a transistor out of a single molecule and opening the way for the creation one day …
In Alberta?
Up with Alberta.
Go, Alberta.
Googlenews.ca
A copy of my correspondence for your edification and enjoyment.
Dear Prime Minister Paul Martin,
Stephen Harper, Leader of Her Majesty�s Loyal Opposition
Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Quebecois
Jack Layton, Leader of New Democratic Party
It would appear that the learned Prime Minister Paul Martin is really a Tory in disguise. PM Paul Martin�s conversion to the Tory cause, is reminiscent of his namesake on the road to Damascus. Suddenly, we have Paul Martin the �Peeler� attempting to govern without significant confidence in the House of Parliament. The Prime Minister is doing a fine imitation of his 19th century counterpart PM Robert Peeler; albeit without a significant moral compass for his party.
We will have to do a little better than the equivocating compass of moral relativism, which suggests certain objects only have value when one chooses to place value on them. The offering of patronage from the PMO through use of �plausible deniability� and so called �same sex� marriage debate comes to mind. Now we have the bald faced deal brokering by the Gurmant Grewal tapes, subject to �public deniability� for all to see. I extend my salutations to the government for sinking to a new criminal low; in its efforts to hijack democracy. Moreover, seeing that marriage is a provincial power per S. 92(12) of the Constitution Act 1867 all promises against religious discrimination will be rendered a nullity. Perhaps the Prime Minister would like to consult with Pope Benedict XVI on the nullification of marriage, for he has clearly mislead on the issue of constitutional responsibilities. Are we the public to assume that there is no moral objectivity outside of oneself, save the lowest common denominator as expressed by the government?
To wit, one only need note the performance of Belinda Stronach newly minted Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. Belinda has single-handedly reinvigorated the 19th century �Bed-Chamber Crisis� by creating one of her own. Given that Ms. Stronach has yet to finish her degree; it would seem that she has some skills development to work on herself. As a starting point, if I may be so bold to suggest, be a little less strident in the placement of those stiletto Gucci heels, as they clearly have the capacity to cause significant pain. Please choose a better epitaph than the �Ministry of Silly Walks�. An alternate interpretation, is to suggest we have government by the corporation, for the corporation; the hidden hand of federal politics.
Next we have the proposed legalization of marajuana. Of course I am delighted to contemplate that the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces may be �higher than a kite� as he decides whether we go to war or not. Given that our previous Prime Minister Jean Chretien has suggested he would be the first to light up after legalization gives me pause to wonder about the quality of advice given in the PMO. To contemplate a stoned Prime Minister involved in Ballistic Missile Defence�.. �Oh lets press the launch button!� Well thank God Almighty we have avoided this certain disaster given my previous writings on the BMD subject. We hardly need discover new and inventive ways in which to incinerate ourselves.
Further paralleling PM Robert Peel, the Irish Potatoe famine has as its corollary the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Repeal of the Corn Laws is hardly the prescription of the past. Surely to God we are not, as part of the international community, going to let the planting season pass only to leave an estimated 2 million displaced to simply starve. This will only serve to add insult to the 180,000 lives already lost to blatant bloody mindedness. Our commitment as a nation, to the security of persons and human life, at home and abroad, has to be more significant than to suggest to Almighty God: �Return to Sender�. While welcome, it will take more than underwriting funding for the African Union mission; some significant on the ground troop strength through the United Nations or other force combination has to make its way there in very short order. Using the existing African Union force to integrate new peacekeepers might be the place to start. 2700 soldiers spread out over a nation the size of France is not going to do the trick. The alternative is to add Sudan to the humanitarian disasters of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, etc. If the western world nations don�t make a concerted effort in this regard, we are no better than the so called despot regimes we so often decry, for we have become in Burke�s words mere bystanders. Or to use the Irish phrase, we don�t �give a tinker�s damn�. Given that Prime Minister Paul Martin has visited Darfur himself; he is no doubt aware of the grave consequences of not acting. It is quite one thing to condemn verbally a despotic regime; it is quite another to ignore the egregious errors this same regime manifestly commits. It means precious little to appeal to God for guidance in one�s throne speeches, when we studiously ignore our God given intelligence to provide solutions. One needs no Divine miracle, when the correct solution is to give governments a good collective kick in the backside to do it�s duty. Through systematic under funding of the military, a fact the Prime Minister himself has admitted to, we have created the inability to respond over the past decade. We as a nation should be loading planes of peacekeepers now; before it is too late. We quite simply need to place �boots on the ground�, before the planting season window of opportunity irrevocably closes.
No man, who is not inflamed by vain-glory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavours, are of power to defeat the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
The Constitution Act 1867 suggests that per s.91 that the House of Parliament has the power to make laws in respect of �Peace, Order and Good Government�. One might reasonably make the case we have been delivered unto �War, Chaos and Bad Government�.
Most recently we have had non-confidence motions passed which suggested that due to the lack of progress with Liberal Party and governmental corruption that �� the government should resign.� This was subsequently reaffirmed in 3 motions to adjourn the House. What part of the statement �get ye gone� does the government have such great difficulty in understanding?
Evidently, we are rewriting Westminster Parliamentary tradition; now to be replaced by the dictum �Government will enjoy the Queen�s pleasure to govern; so long as it is politically convenient to delay, through whatever means necessary legal or not, until suitable defections are secured, from members of Her Majesty�s Loyal Opposition�. Ostensibly, this new precedent will be extended into the future by months and years. I congratulate the government on overthrowing Parliamentary convention, not to mention laws against bribery, and replacing it with, in the words of historian Michael Bliss, �proto-tyranny�. The current Liberal Party, as practiced, has crossed the democratic version of the river Styx. Welcome to Hades, ladies and gentlemen, the temperature should be rising shortly.
Indeed, now we have president Chirac suggesting he will resist the democratic will of the people, in the event they vote �No�, in a referendum on the European Constitution. How far will this poison to democracy spread? So this is democracy, only accepted when it accords with the will of the elite?
Moreover, we have the following announcement made on May 25th, 2005: The federal Liberals would consider ignoring a House of Commons defeat should they lose any of the several coming votes that are matters of confidence between now and the end of the spring session, Chief Government Whip Karen Redman says. !!! We won�t be taking any lessons from the Parliamentary pedants who inhabit the government benches.
The aforementioned statement in effect suggests that we will inaugurate a period of �taxation without representation�. I congratulate the Chief Government Whip for renewing and modernizing the 1837 Rebellion. Perhaps we should be loading our muskets with ball and shot right about now; given the government has departed the democratic mortal coil.
I gather we now have the rationale for the ill reputed gun registry.
Ms. Redman�s statement has to number among the most inflammatory and incendiary since the demagogues mounted the Bema on the Pynx, Acropolis.
But an attempt to turn the right of election into such a farce and mockery as a fictitious fine and recovery, will, I hope, have another fate; because the laws which give it are infinitely dear to us, and the evasion is infinitely contemptible.
�. I see no other way for the preservation of a decent attention to public interest in the Representatives, but THE INTERPOSITION OF THE BODY OF THE PEOPLE ITSELF, whenever it shall appear, by some flagrant and notorious act, by some capital innovation, that these Representatives are going to over-leap the fences of the law, and to introduce an arbitrary power. This interposition is a most unpleasant remedy. But, if it be a legal remedy, it is intended on some occasion to be used; to be used then only, when it is evident that nothing else can hold the Constitution to its true principles. Edmund Burke, THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS
This government has passed on! This government is no more! This government has ceased to be! This government is expired and gone to meet its maker! This government is a stiff. This government is bereft of life, this government rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed the government to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! The government�s metabolic processes are now history! The government is off the twig! The government has kicked the bucket, the government has shuffled off it�s mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisibile!! This government has had its lot, it is no longer, it is expired, it has departed. THIS IS AN EX-GOVERNMENT!! (With apologies to Monty Python�s parrot sketch.)
Auguring the potential establishment of a dictatorship, per the residual power of the crown per S. 91(29) Constitution Act 1867 to suspend all Charter Rights per S.33 of the Constitution Act 1982 is hardly in keeping with the Westminster Parliamentary tradition. As the Queen and public might be want to say: �WE are not amused.�
To paraphrase one Globe and Mail editorial: The government would spit in the face of the Queen, Parliament and the people and call it respect.
Edmund Burke might make this observation: “Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, can never willingly abandon it.”
Some Internet bloggers, have even gone so far as to suggest: �Where is Guy Fawkes when you really need him?�
Perhaps a more apt description of our government is �Rump Parliament� harking back to Oliver Cromwell. The only difference being that now one must adhere to a corrupted secular rather than religious orthodoxy.
My family has over the course of five generations variously survived the machinations of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Erich Honnecker. We will be taking no more lessons in despotism and blind stupidity, as we have completed our historical tour of duty. We have greater self respect than mere cannon fodder of ages past and have the medals to prove it.
Well if the unlearned government has passed into the self-styled role of the Philistines of Parliament; we will simply have to declare ourselves �freemen and freewomen� of Canada. So government now proposes taxation without representation; or rather simply theft of democracy itself. By the Chief Government Whip�s own statement to defy future confidence votes, we have become a stolen nation. But seeing as the government has been doing this on the sponsorship file it comes as no surprise. Quite frankly, you can take this proposition straight to Hell.
So let me recap my family�s experience of government under the Liberal Party rule:
1. They failed to provide funding for adequate health services for my mother, and required notice of supervised neglect before accepting her as a patient. (Year 2000)
2. The government through the offices of Canada Revenue Agency, has suggested by logical inference, that I kill my son to secure the Disability Tax Credit. (Year 2003) To date I still await an apology for CRA�s venture into criminality. Further CRA has again failed to approve the DTC for my son Nicolaas notwithstanding the recommendations 2.5 of the Technical Advisory Committee on Tax Measures for Persons with Disabilities and a $9-22.5 Billion spending spree to secure a �cats claws in the wooden panelling� margin in the House. (2005)
3. The government has allowed systematic corruption of the electoral process in my home province Quebec;
bringing the spectre of the break up of the country, due to its fundamental inability to believe in a balanced federalism. (1994 � 2002) It has further tainted its authority by circumventing a free and fair electoral process.
4. The government has demonstrated that it was willing to entertain assisted suicide through offices of the
Attorney General demonstrating it�s general low regard for the security of the person and or human life.
(Fall 2004)
5. The government has failed to pursue a substantive �boots on the ground� effort to avert a 2 million person
human disaster in Darfur, Sudan. We have about two weeks to cobble something together, before it all just slips away. Planting season is not coming back. Despite my pleading back on December 10, 2004 and the urging of numerous others, such as David Kilgour MP to name but one, we have failed to adequately redress the appalling conditions present. Indeed, UN Secretrary General Kofi Annan has described conditions as �heart wrenching�. While funding is welcome, the time to act is now.
6. The government now proposes further undemocratic behaviour, with respect to further confidence votes
under cutting the notion of democracy itself; advancing in effect the proposition of taxation without representation. So much for the promise of correcting the democratic deficit; it would appear to have rather significantly increased to the point of disenfranchisement.
7. The government through the office of the PMO has perniciously pursued patronage appointments in consideration of abstentions on the May 19th, 2005 confidence vote.
When the government comes to its senses please let me know. I await your considered reply.
One regrettably has to come to the conclusion, that we have been led by rogues and fools.
“You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say;
and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!” Oliver Cromwell
Yours sincerely,
Hans Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
“CTV then reports that the Prime Minister’s office has telephoned moments prior to broadcast and that they must call a more superior officer to get the “real” version.”
This is code for having to creep up the chain of command from police to the political commissars who issue the “official” versions of what ever the “boss” wants them to say.
Sorry, but a decade of Fed-Lib regime distention has made a political body of the RCMP brass and I remain permanently cynical as to their objectivity where investigating their political masters is concerned.
A perfect example of what is wrong with the MSM–the last paragraphy of Lawrence Martin’s column in the Globe today:
“The likelihood of change is remote. In Ottawa, Alberta and the West will continue to have the status of hinterland. In the struggle for our future, Canada will remain as close to the European model as the American one, which is the way, it seems, the people prefer it.”
In other words, Albertans in the “hinterland” are not “people”. The arrogance of this statement is only exceeded by Mr Martin’s failure to recognize the implication of what he writes.
This sort of thing happens constantly when journalists, while conceding the CPC’s strength in the West, then go on to say in the next sentence that the CPC’s problem is that they are too extreme (or whatever) for “Canadians” to take. Thereby denying the status of Canadian to a very large portion of the Western population. And, to repeat, those writing this stuff do not even see the logical consequence of what they’re saying.
Mark
Ottawa
So now the RCMP has time to send Officers in full dress mode to a private Treudeau (Liebral Family) wedding but can’t be bothered to investigate a scandal that imperils democracy in our little Banana Republic!!!
Incredible is all I can say. This stinks to high heaven. I have just lost the last bit of respect I had for our formerly valiant police force. They’re nothing more than security for the Liebral Family Business anymore. Disgusting!
When the Central Broacasting committee aka CBC does it’s bussiness report they always ask if the expert has any stocks in the companies they have just talked about. They never ask the same question of the political experts. If they don’t establish any bias the expert might have by asking, are you a member of any political party?, or, which party did you vote for in the last election? they are potentially providing unpaid political air time for one political party. How Canadian is that?
Its starting to look like the RCMP are nothing more than the Fiberals GESTAPO.
Free medicare or FREEDOM (pick 1)
A man with a gun is a citizen
A man without a gun is a subject
RCMP: For your latest Liberal Talking Points call Chief Superintendent Bernie Corrigan of the RCMP – that’s the Royal Canadian Mouth Piece!
Hello Kate:
I wrote the article on Goodale after checking the Froupaction contracts at Strategis. It is publicly available info. I sent this letter(below)to every Conservative MP and newspaper I could think of. No one seemed to notice. I asked Conservative Life to help and he printed the stroy. It’s finally being picked up by bloggers. I have enclosed the article below and another about how Paul martin is linked to the sponsorship scandal you would think the media would be interested in… but nothing. It’s up to us I guess.
Goodale Gave Groupaction Million Dollar Contract for Defence Ads After “Sponsorship Freeze”
Today, Ralph Goodale, former Minister of Public Works and Government Services took the stand at Gomery. Taking over a department where he knew there were problems, Goodale described the managerial efficiency with which he took to the task of cleaning up the mess. Goodale said his first action was to immediately place a freeze on all sponsorship contracts until each file could be investigated.
One week after Groupaction had it’s sponsorship program contracts frozen by the PWGS; and after the company had been referred to the RCMP for fraud investigation; Mr. Goodale’s department awarded Groupaction more than a million dollars in contracts to do recruitment ads for the Department of Defence.
And they say there isn’t an open competition. Why exclude a company from Department of Defence advertising dollars just because it was featured in the Auditor General’s Report, centered out in Question Period, and under investigation by the RCMP for fraud in sponsorship contracts?
Unfortunately Gomery has no authority to scrutinize Groupaction’s work other than for sponsorship contracts. Will anyone?
Timeline of Groupaction Contracts:
May 8, 2002: Auditor General Sheila Fraser releases a report saying federal bureaucrats broke “just about every rule in the book” in their dealings with the marketing firm Groupaction. The RCMP will look into $1.6 million in federal contracts awarded to the Montreal advertising firm. (CBC)
May 24, 2002Government Contract to Groupaction: $ 107,000.00
82082-010504/001/CZ – 001 (For Advertising Services for the CRTC)
May 27, 2002 Public Works and Government Services Minister Goodale puts a freeze on all sponsorship program contracts.
May 29, 2002: Public Works Minister Ralph Goodale says that RCMP officers are looking at more files (other than Groupaction) from his department and that new files had been referred to the police. (CBC)
Jun 05, 2002Government Contracts to Groupaction: $ 208,650.00
W8B43-020002/001/CZ – 001 (Advertising Services for Dept. National Defence)
Jun 05, 2002 Government Contract to Groupaction: $ 856,000.00
W8B43-020002/001/CZ – 000 (Advertising Services for Dept. National Defence)
MARTIN’S LINK TO SPONSORSHIP-JACQUES HUDON
Who is Jacques Hudon?
According to the federal Lobbyist Registry, Jacques Hudon was a lobbyist for Groupaction.
There is a parliamentary Committee record that refers to Mr. Hudon as Prime Minister Paul Martin’s former speech writer.
Hudon called his lobbying firm, “Groupcontact Government Relations”. I can find no trace of this company. The phone number Hudon gave for “Groupcontract” was (613) 230-2323 which turns out to be the phone number for “Gosselin Public Relations” (A division of Groupaction).
The record states Mr. Hudon’s client was Groupction, represented by Jean Brault (one of the few people charged by the RCMP in the sponsorship scandal). On the lobby registry, Hudon states his email address was hudon@groupaction.com while Brault’s whom he was supposed to be representing was brault@groupaction.com. With a Groupaction telephone number, address, and email address, it would seem Mr. Hudon was actually employed by Groupaction.
The record shows Hudon also lobbied for clients Lafleur Communications, Gosselin (two more companies implicated in the sponsorship scandal), “Just for Laughs/Juste Pour Rire” and a company called Drakkar.
According to party finance records, Mr. Hudon�s employer/client Groupaction donated to the Liberal party of Canada�most of the time. In 2003 when the Liberals were in trouble in Quebec from the sponsorship scandal, Groupaction donated to the Liberals and to the Bloc Quebecois. Yes–the sponsorship money we were told was stolen in the name of unity found it’s way to a political party whose goal is the independence of Quebec. In 2003, Just for Laughs, did the same thing. �Just for Laughs� donated every year to the Liberal Party of Canada except in 2003, when they donated to the Bloc Quebecois as well. This was probably an attempt to try to move the scam to whom-ever was in power to try to cover it up and keep it going.
Just For Laughs did get funding from the Ministry of Heritage after Mr. Hudon lobbied for them and also received a portion of the sponsorship funds allocated in Quebec. After Jean Chr�tien’s former aid, Jean Carle (also charged with fraud in the sponsorship scandal), was hired by the Just For Laughs festival, their funding from the Ministry of Heritage tripled by $100,000.00.
The parliamentary committee investigating the sponsorship scandal was cancelled when an election was called by Paul Martin–days before Hudon was about to testify before the committee.
Mr. Hudon is not on the witness list for the Gomery Commission. Why aren’t we hearing from this central figure?
Today, Industry Canada’s district manager for Quebec, in charge of handing out government contracts is named Jacques Hudon.
The sponsorship inquiry needs to hear from Jacques Hudon or Gomery’s work will never “be done”.