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With the Gomery report now in the hands of Librano Spin Central, it’s just a matter of hours before the public gets a refresher course on testimony the blogosphere has already hashed and rehashed over the past months. That’s probably a good thing. (Speaking of spin – it’s important to note that the decision to send the report to Paul Martin in advance of its release to Parliament was by the direction of, who else? Prime Minister Paul Martin – not Justice Gomery.) |
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If the past is any indication, the national media will seize upon a few quotable quotes and recycle, analyze and dissect those to buy time while they wait for the first poll results to come in – with the usual cast of Harper critics on “standby” should it appear the Conservatives are climbing in the polls.
This thread is for your Gomery related comments, trackbacks and links. I’ll try to update this post during the day, as work permits. For that reason, I’ll leave it at the top of the page until Wednesday.
(Speaking of which, it’s been a long day in the paint booth, so don’t expect much more from me this evening.)
Canadian Conservative sees a lose-lose situation for Paul Martin – because the “Little Guy From Shawinigan” isn’t going to take the fall for this without a fight.
Where’s Belinda?
Paul Martin, Jean Lapierre and Scott Brison are holding press conference at 1 PM to respond to the Gomery report, while Reg Alcock and Jean Lapierre are scheduled for another press conference at 4 PM .
From a CPC media release;
According to media reports, Martin last night met with a handful of select ministers, including Treasury Board President Reg Alcock, Public Works Minister Scott Brison, Transport Minister Jean Lapierre and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan. (Toronto Star, November
1, 2005). Oddly, while the Transport Minister will be attending both press conferences and other ministers have been involved in shaping the Liberal government’s response to Gomery, no mention is made of Belinda Stronach, the minister supposedly responsible for responding to Gomery’s recommendations.� Why is Stronach not involved in the response if she is the minister who is supposed to be responsible for this file?�
[emphasis mine]
The Globe and Mail claims to have inside info on the contents of the report.
Ottawa � Former prime minister Jean Chr�tien will get hit with a finding of blame by Mr. Justice John Gomery today, but Prime Minister Paul Martin will not, The Globe and Mail has learned.
Among those receiving a negative finding alongside Mr. Chr�tien will be former bureaucrat Chuck Guit�, former minister of public works Alfonso Gagliano, Liberal fundraiser and Chr�tien supporter Jacques Corriveau, and Mr. Chr�tien’s long-time chief of staff, Jean Pelletier.
Does this mean Canadians can expect consequences, such an official investigation and punitive action against whoever leaked the contents? Or, will everyone just assume this is the same old, same old – the powers that be at the Globe stepping up to the plate to help Paul Martin pre-spin the report to blunt its edge?
Tough question, both organizations being equally trustworthy.
Looks like Gomery came down harder on Chretien & Co. than anyone expected, or at least, than the talking heads at CTV expected – a relief, in view of concerns that he’d soft pedal the report because of the restrictions of “Paragraph K” in preventing laying of blame.
I’m not going to attempt to live blog any of this. But I’ll point you to an article by Greg Weston that puts the Gomery report in context – and reminds the reader of the two heroes of Adscam, and of how this inquiry only touched on the massive and long-standing Librano reward system in awarding of advertising contracts across goverment.
If there’s anyting lacking from The Gomery Report, it’s a sub-title: “Tip Of An Iceberg”.
Listening to CTV right now, Gomery is stressing this point. Good job, sir.
LaFlamme is talking about the consequences for whistleblower Alan Cutler. Not one word that it had nothing to do with Sponsorship – that he blew the whistle on Paul Martin awarding an improper contract to Earnscliffe.
Report is here
A brief summary at Darcey’s.
“Gomery Pyle” takes a kick at Warren Kinsella.
Also – a very good roundup at Robot Guy. Stephen Taylor was at Chretien’s press conference heckling? That deserves a post of its own.
Remember one thing – justice Gomery is a *Liberal* judge.
This whole sequence of events has been carefully scripted.
If Gomery does lower the BOOM on Cretien I wonder if our only hope may be that Cretien lowers the bigger BOOM on Martin weather outright or from behind the scenes in the next election whenever that may be, hopefully sooner rather than later.
It’s a good thing Cretien and Martin are in the same party as it would be a shame to spoil two parties.
Whitewash-nobody goes to jail, no money gets recovered, humungous LEGAL FEES paid by the taxpayers to defend the reputations of criminals!
What matters are Gomery’s soundbytes. Martin’s dopes will spin the media dupes; Harper can wax monotonous to glazed-over eyes; but the networks can’t avoid playing the most damning soundbytes from Gomery’s verbal report over and over. Will he directly implicate Martin? If he does, it’s all over for the Libs. Will he throw Chretien under the bus and spare Martin? If so, the Libs will be breathing easy.
Chretien will not take down Martin. At the end of the day, he’s a good liberal, and taking Martin down would be bad for the party.
Besides, Chretien has already won…regardless of what Gomery says about him, Martin has already ensured his legacy as a weak, ineffective, bumbling PM. He can’t win a majority and will be gone soon after the next election. Chretien doesn’t need to do anything to torpedo Martin, it’s already been done.
Chretien has already picked his fight, and it will be with Gomery, not Martin.
John, what you said makes perfect sense but a girl can still dream, can’t she? ;->
Everywhere I keep hearing the same rhetoric that the LIEberals have so successfully spun: can’t trust any of them, the devil stuff, all the same/no better. Harper and his crew had better make sure they are heard right up until the next election and that their POLICY is being heard. Most don’t have a clue about the political reforms being proposed and WHY they really would be different. Loudly, a million times, promise Canadians that they will look into all departments at every level with full audits and have everything out in the open, just what the naive public keeps saying! The general population can be such dullards sometimes.
I like most of their policy, happen to think that it’s great, if they will just make themselves heard louder – hold it in town meetings, 60 languages, go on the offensive instead of defensive.
I am sure that Gomery will not be that explosive but an election is still coming, time to prepare.
” He can’t win a majority and will be gone soon after the next election.”
I hope so JQ. But I fear otherwise. Martin and his media enablers have a two step plan:
1) Plaster the whole mess all over da liddle guy. Yeah, Chretien won’t like it. But what can he really do? Launch some kind of arcane legal action against Gomery? Maybe. Have his supporters rage on their blogs at Gomery and the Martinettes? Certainly. Will anyone pay attention? Briefly.
2) Deliver a pro forma apology for some sort of vague mishandling of the scandal and declare Adscam history. Then give lots of earnest speeches about how “traumatic” this has been for Canadians and how we all need “stability” so we can “heal”. “Stability” will, of course, be achieved by returning M. Dithers to Ottawa with a big thumping majority.
As I see it, Gomery can have only 1 of 3 possible comments on Martin’s role in AdScam:
Incompetant: Was Finance Minister but didn’t know where 100-250 million in tax dollars was going.
Anything under a billion was just chump change.
OR
Ignorant: Was completely out of the loop as Chretien played this one close to his chest.
Didn’t know and didn’t ask.
OR
Involved: Senior Minister AND from Quebec, must have known what was happening. Chretien left this little bag of flaming doggy doo-doo on the steps of 24 Sussex as a housewarming present.
Forget, I think, about Gomery being a liberal. His letter to the opposition leaders today wasn’t because he is a “good Liberal” but because he’s tired of being used as an excuse. “Wait for Gomery” “We’ll have an election after Gomery” “blah blah Gomery blah blah” and the final “I’d give you a copy BUT Gomery said no” – Gomery called bullshit.
His wife says the report won’t hold any surprises for people who watched the testimony. So…how many did? I know I didn’t start paying attention until I was told I shouldn’t (Brault). So how many Canadians have been waiting, anxiously (because PMPM said to) to be spoonfed the results?
It will be interesting, no doubt.
I’m sure the as usual the conservatives will
“snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”
Horny Toad
Or the Liberals will
“dampen dissent via cheap populist anti-Americanism, constant anti-Conservative slander, and continued promises of a multi-culti-socialist utopia (that never seems to get any closer to reality).”
We will see how Pravda (CBC- Cry Bitch Complain) handles it. Usually they get Keith Boag , the wannabe entertainment host to analyze the performance rather than the substance. He will gleefully report that Martin mounted a stinging guffaw at the results, that Anne McClelland stawartly defended the actions for the good of Canada, and Peter Mansbridge will smile back in agreement , all the while the substance of 250 million taxpayers dollars shuffled to the back of the deck.
forgot to mention the latest – 350,000 immigrants a year requested. boy that is a lot of Governor General candidates as we know we cant grow them at home.
meanwhile polls indicate that 80% of Canadians dont trust the immigration policy. more than want the oil industry nationalized, even when they are interviewing them at the pumps.
another propaganda by ommision , courtesy of your self indulgent taxpayer funded Cry,Bitch Complain network. add the $3000/veiwer/yr directly to the cable bill of the viewers and see how many would watch “Trudeau” or “DaVinci’s Inquest” or its current rehash.
The Gomery report is meaningless as it relates to votes, save Quebec. The ELB’s will still vote liberal.
The message has been clear that the liberals will
once again win in the east and still be around
for another endless trip.
Canadians do not care about politics, they are
lazy and not informed and do not see any reason
to change anything, after all, the conservatives
could be worse!
Democracy? Don’t make me laugh, when a leader
has been shown he has to step down and he
just says “no” where does the democratic
part come in?
NO, he will be here for some years, just hope
he is not a pig like the former prime minister
and won’t leave until someone in the liberal
party gets him out. That is how we get our
leaders.
Canadians get what they deserve, a corrupt
government, a socialist government and one
day we are going to be sorry we left this
disaster to our grandchildren. They will pay
the price for our lack of courage and
interest. As long as the government pays for
what they think we need, we sit on our duffs
and accept it.
Gomery Report PART 1:
Who did what …and when. To me this is THE REAL REPORT.
Folks, this is the one that the election should be called on.
Not PART 2, where preventative measures are suggested. Just more puffery that the politicians will ignore. As they did in the first place!!
The Liberals are promising tax breaks; no doubt as part of an election campaign. But part of the spin has been that the Liberals are waiting for the fallout from Gomery. Please Canadians scream blue bloody murder. If nothing else, this will give us a bigger tax break. Something even the know it alls around TO can grasp.
I cannot see Martin pinning the blame on Chretein. Even Paul knows Jean still has as many friends in the party and in Ottawa then he does, and his teflon suit is way more slippery than Paul’s version. If anyone is to take the fall it will be the Gagliano’s of the party or some beaureacrat. I agree no money will be paid back even if it is taxpayer money to begin with. Suffice to say Paul Martin will be “mad as hell” at whoever ripped off the Canadian people.
There’s a third factor at play here.
Because Martin adamantly promised he would get to the bottom of it, there better be somebody doing a perp walk. That means a sacrifice must be made of a high profile liberal name.
If not then Joe Sixpack is gonna look at this whole exercise as being done just for the benefit of Paul Martin and Paul Martin alone. If the sacrifice is Chretien or one of his gang, then the knives come out. If nobody in the liberal party gets hung out to dry, Martin will look guilty just because this looks like a whitewash. It would be Martin saying “see nothing went wrong, no money was mis-spent, we saved Canada”.
After the over the top rhetoric Paul Jr. likes to spout off about how he called an inquiry and he was mad as hell, he can’t just turn around now and say, “well, whatdaya know, at was just nothing after all”.
Nope, Bucky has to find a scape goat, and it has to be one of his own if he wants peace in the liberal party. Unfortuanately for him to do that, he would feed anomosity within his own ranks sowing the seeds of distrust. The entire PMO staff, cabinet, and caucus would be looking over their shoulders, and any leadership aspirant would be looking for an opening to oust the sitting leader.
Liberal Government Given the Report 12 Hours Ahead of the Opposition & Media.
The Gomery Report was supposed to be a transparent and independent process aimed at cleaning out the rot and restoring some level of credibility to the process of government in Canada. Mr. Justice Gomery just compromised himself and his process by releasing the report to the Liberal machine 12 hours ahead of the Opposition.
$550,000$$$$$$$$$ Only $550,000? BS & lies. Is this not a confession of money stolen from Canadian taxpayers; looting/pillaging of the Canadian tax base; a systematic fraud/kickback scheme; money laundering & etc. CTV News says it is a kickback scheme for the benefit of the Liberal Party. Where are the criminal charges? All planned and carried out by the Chretien/Martin Librano$. Throw the bums in jail.
Down with the Liberal Party, AdScam Martin, Jack Layton & all the socialist gangsters. >>>>
http://www.rapp.org/url/?9BRMBBVF
cnews
Later today the Liberal Party will announce a slew of financial measures intended to prove that they’ve cleaned up their accounting and punted those members involved in a kickback scheme.
Liberal spokesman Steven MacKinnon said there’s already been a “sweeping reform” of his party’s administrative practices and if Gomery finds that funds were funnelled into Grit coffers, the cash will be quickly returned. CTV News said the Grits have already prepared a $550,000 cheque and that the party will announce a new code of conduct.
This country has become a big fat, lazy socialist joke…Watch the average feeble, enabling pea brain Canuck vote (If there’s no hockey game at the same time) for the “Devil they know” (I used ‘they’ because I want to stay far removed from fouls)…If we give the Libranos another majority I hope the rest of the world pays attention and we become a standard “late night” talk show farce.
I love this country but hate what it has become.
Look for the good in the Gomery report, it will affect Quebec voters and hopefully they vote for the Bloc and Parti Quebecois in even larger numbers. We as Western Canadians should also be supporting the Parti Quebecois in every way possible. What if? What if a legitimate Western wing of the PQ and Bloc was set up to raise funds for the next elections, both federal and Provincial in Quebec. Think about it, not only would we have a direct say, for a change, but it would be tax deductable. Once the door is opened by Quebec leaving the Weat would then have a real say in it’s future. pierre the pig’s constitution [ the Quebec and legal full employment act] is history and then we have real choice, STAY or LEAVE, ON OUR TERMS..
If theres a delay how come the globe have it on the front page? DId gomery send it to them thinking they were the liberal party?
Now what was the name of the guy from earnscliffe who Paul Martin tried to put on Govt payroll illegally that started the whole thing rolling?
This moment in history will turn on the strategists, not the politicians. The Tories have every single gift that can be handed to them vis a vis Adscam, but what’s got people engaged is the income trust debacle. So Scott Reid and EArnscliffe are armed and ready, but the Tories have to surpass their efforts. The ad campaigns featuring Stick Chick up and shrieking at the Librano$ from the Tory front pew,condemning Adscam and other misappropriation of funds, should be a huge feature. It’s down to the backrooms here. Martin hasn’t the intelligence to fight this battle himself, never mind credibility or integrity. Harper is TOO intelligent, credible and decent to engage the an electorate who appreciate street thugs like Cretin. Spin away, folks. This battle is up for grabs.
I suspect Canadians will get a massive dose of MSM ass kissing Paul Martin for months on end. And it all starts today. Watch teletubby on CTV and Newman on CBC closely.
Not just PMPM; I caught Mike Duffy ass-kissing Alfonso Gagliano of all people this morning, saying crap like “nobody worked harder at promoting Canada in Quebec”, “he went to lots of events in Quebec waving the Canadian flag,” and the richest, “he always had a cheque for $5000 or $10000 to hand out at these events”. Yeah, Mike, of OUR DAMN MONEY, you Librano putz!
Good thing there was nothing heavy in arms-reach or I might’ve needed a new television. What a sickening sycophantic display.
Where’s BS? Belinda Stronach? She’s busy taking the sheets off the beds; the sheets are needed for the lap dance tables at Sue City. Head of security; what’s dat? Librano$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Stronachs sued by ex-cop
Federal cabinet minister Belinda Stronach and her dad are being sued by a former cop who claims their giant Aurora firm unfairly dumped him as its head of security. Full Story
MP tears strip off fed policy
The Liberal government is “complicit” in the trafficking of women with a visa policy that fast-tracks foreign strippers and lap dancers, a Conservative MP charged yesterday.
cnews
She’s not there for lack of being able to think on her feet.
Interesting thread, though I’ve been reading variants of it for months. Let’s try to put some perspective on the situation. Variants of ‘adscam’ will keep happening — we have a long history of political ‘scandal’ in this country, and we are not unique. In addition, misuse of public money is common to all parties that have held power, either federally or provincially. People (particularly the sorts that tend to self-select into political careers) cannot be in close proximity to the ‘cookie jar’ without reaching in from time to time. Let’s also remember that the actual dollar amount we’re talking about with ‘adscam’ is small change, relatively speaking. Is this really our most pressing national issue? Is this even really a ‘scandal’? I suspect it’s just a natural consequence of politics.
For an undoutedly more interesting expression of similar points, see Des Morton’s piece in the June issue of Policy Options: http://www.irpp.org/po/
Well that was a lot of wait for nothing.
Hands up those who believe Martin exonerated? High fives in Liberal quarters. Anybody who watched the inquiry knows that Martin was treated with kid gloves and outright deference. Cretin’s ego will force him to tell the truth.
A clip on talk radio a few days ago got me thinking – it was of Chuck Guite repeating over and over “I don’t remember …I don’t recall”.
I suspect that there’s enough footage of Paul Martin during his testimony claiming ignorance “I didn’t know… I had no idea … no, sir … I don’t recall…”for a similar “made for campaign advertising” opportunity for the Conservatives to employ, if they have their wits about them.
This report is pretty much what was expected, now will PMPM allow the Auditor General unfettered access to all Crown corps, ministries, departments, agencies, branches and the so called “Private Foundations”? Probably not, because they still have lots to hide.
The Conservatives have overplayed their hand on this. Exageration and hyperbole are CPC stock in trade and it is going to be their undoing.
Al must have gone to Lie-beral spin camp.
Gomery has entered the Canadian lexicon-synonymous with whitewash.
“Let’s also remember that the actual dollar amount we’re talking about with ‘adscam’ is small change, relatively speaking.”
Elizabeth, are you seriously attempting to whitewash this issue based on the fact that it was a small amount of the GDP? Previous governments under Mulroney have been severely taken to task already by the electorate. Sorry, I’m not a Ph.D candidate or a politician but I don’t care if it has been going on…it MUST STOP NOW I don’t want Canada to become an Italy where payoffs dictate who gets government business.
Even worse to a federalistic, this has turned Quebec federalism into something dirty…a sleezy backroom manipulation scheme to win (or buy) the minds of Quebeckers. Gosh, its SOOOOO nice to hear you talk of our hard earned tax money as a cookie jar waiting to be robbed.
“Is this really our most pressing national issue?”
That along with the Quebec separatist sentiment that directly resulted from this sleeze seems to be pretty damn important! Go back to your calculator and tell us that this is less than 0.1% of our GDP.
Let the white-wash begin. A quick scan of msm says St. Jean and St. Paul are squeeky clean. That was the out come Gomery was paid to come to.
“Listening to CTV right now”
Why aren’t you watching Fox? Oh right, because Faux News doesn’t give a crap about Canada and you rubes hollered for it instead of a Canadian tv channel with a conservative lean.
Liberals announce Judge Gomery to be appointed to the senate.
Anybody interested in body language note the tension in the delivery of anchors and hacks alike? They ain’t buying this, and it shows. How long they can sustain the facade of acceptance is unclear, but there’s no mistaking that despite what they’re editors/owners are telling them in regard to spin, they can’t mouth the words with any conviction. More and greater fallout to come, I suspect.
And Elizabeth, it’s not and never has been about money. It’s about integrity. You must be a Liberal or you’d have known that.
So, PM was finance Minister when this all happened but because nobody could recall if his fingers were personally in the till, he is vindicated? Sorry, that will not cut it. Leadership (a foreign term for lieberano$)means that you are responsible for your department, group, squad, whatever, for everything that happens, good or bad. You bask in the glory and take blame for the defeat, period!
Sadly, it seem that “Teflon Jean” gave Martin his Teflon suit along with the office of PM. I’ll bet ya he is sorry about that, eh.
Quote from teh report:
“The LPCQ (Liberal Party of Canada Quebec) as an institution cannot escape responsibility for the
misconduct of its officers and representatives.”
SO, Martin isn’t responsible, the whole Liberal party is responsibl;e.
I held out hope that Gomery would have some balls. I couldn’t be more disappointed. He had a glorious opportunity to ignite a call for serious reform of our completely un-democratic system; instead, he became a spineless Liberal Party accomplice. Proving himself as big a coward as PMPM, he wouldn’t even take questions from the press. “Read my report…the whole report…it’s all important…all 50,000 pages…now get to it, Canada…” Yeah, right. He’s just ensured NO ONE will read the report, handing over control of the spin to CBC, CTV, and their handlers in the PMO. What a joke.
This is the magic bullet folks – nothing more to see here. Two words – Warren Commission.
No surprises really.
Chretien and a few close allies get blamed.
Martin and the LIberal party get of scot free.
No one will do any time, no money will be repaid, nothing really will be done at all and the majority of Canadians won’t know or care.
Did anyone really think the Gomery Inquiry was really going to get to the bottom of things?
Its like we are watching reruns of “Yes Minister” everything costs the taxpayer money. whether its stolen by the libs or the lawyers it doesnt matter.
As always with these inquiries and the spindoctor lawyers after, this isnt over yet. and by the time its finished the $hit will be spread far and thin enough to be looking like brown lacquer. No lib will be touched.
Justice Gomery has a trained legal mind. It is important, therefore, to parse the precise and very narrow words he has chosen to communicate his message. In this regard, see page 430 of the Fact Finding Report for the keystone which the Liberals will rely upon in the next federal contest.
The particular phrase reads: “On the evidence there is no basis for attributing blame or responsibility for the maladministration of the Sponsorship Program to any other Minister of the Chretien Cabinet…Mr. Martin…is entitled…to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct.”
A proper, legal reading of these phrases leads to the following, critically important result:
No legal conclusions are offered by Justice Gomery regarding the veracity of statements by Martin to the effect that he knew nothing about the existence of the so-called program. Hence, Martin cannot rely upon this part of the report to support his contention that he did not know about the existence of the program or about kickbacks. Martin can only affirm that Gomery did not find him responsible for the mismanagement of public funds under the SP.
The polling question is not whether or not Martin was responsible for the theft. The proper question is whether or not Martin is telling the truth about his knowledge of this fact. Stated otherwise, was Martin wilfully blind? And did Martin benefit, in any way, from the theft of monies from ordinary Canadians?
Interpereting legalese like this is beyond the capacity of 99% of our journalists, let alone the population at large. Gomery knows this, too. He knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he put the word “exonerated” in that paragraph.