Open Thread: Gomery Report

110 Replies to “Open Thread: Gomery Report”

1. Martin is a pathologocal liar:
   http://andrewcoyne.com/2005/04/lunch-with-claude.php
   http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050418/martin_boulay_050418?s_name=&no_ads=
   And if this isn’t proof enough, here’s more on an unrelated topic:
   http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050927/questionperiod_RCMPfamilies_20050927/20050927?hub=TopStories
   The man makes my skin crawl….I’m going to take a shower now

2. So Martin is innocent because he “couldn’t” know.
   If this contention has any validity, then he also couldn’t know where to cut spending and realocate tax dollars to successfully “slay the deficit” (another Martin contention). He was just lucky, a victim of circumstance.
   Thats the reason why the facade of St Martin the innocent won’t hold for long.
   Its down to who is gonna do the perp walk.
   Bucky better get somebody real soon before the MSM story of “Is Martin incompetent” grows legs.

3. From south of the border it looks like the only people that are trouble are those who were already “outed” by the leaks earlier in the year. Granted, the Gomery Report is not a criminal investigation, and finding of blame isn’t the same thing as saying someone is a crook…but I find it odd that the people that Gomery put the hammer on were those who were already publicly shown to _be_ below reproach.
   From the leaks earlier Pelletier, Guit�, Gagliano, Tremblay, and the LPCQ were all
   suspect. Quail gets blamed for not ferreting out the rats, Martin gets a clear pass, and Teflon Jean is shown as a easily fooled leader.
   But even the LPCQ gets a pass because the entire kickback scheme is laid at the feet of Brault, Corriveau and Morselli…again all people that were mentioned in the leaks and thus in the press. Otherwise it is simply an “institutional failure”. Not one other person in the LPCQ knew what was going on?
   I can’t help but think of where Nixon would be if he had appointed one of the Committee to Re-Elect the President lawyers to investigate the Watergate break-in. Perhaps the same spot Martin is in with the Gomery Report.
   I think this is why such investigations either need to be made with a truly independent authority or they need to be transparent. The Warren Commission indeed.

4. Gomery’s so over now. Ding. Round over-Martin wins. Take a week to scream, then what? Don’t forget to use Libranos, Lieberals, and lots of $$$$$$$. You may be right, but can you win anymore?
   The average voter wants active legislating government, not obsessive bean counting.
   “As the next federal election draws closer and closer, perhaps Tory leader Stephen Harper should consider jumping down off of his ideological high horse to take a quick look at what the NDP is doing. While the opposition parties clearly have a role to play in criticizing government, there�s also the little matter of drafting legislation. Conservative MPs have been quick to echo the Big Six peanut gallery in condemning the lack of action by the Liberals on a number of issues, but have offered very little in the way of policy alternatives of their own. The smoke from the Gomery reports will eventually blow away, undoubtedly leaving the Liberals at least somewhat blackened in the process. If the Tories want to have any chance of dethroning them, they�d best follow the NDP’s lead and come up with something more than mud to sling and fingers to point.”
   ~ Maisonneuve Magazine Media Scout 1/11/05.
   Elizabeth is right. This is nothing compared to not governing. “Is this really our most pressing national issue?”

5. I thought Harper was going to burst into tears. The dope looked like someone had run over his dog. When is someone going to be honest with this lackwit and tell him it’s time to develope a little policy.

6. “Martin Sends Report to RCMP”
   Can you say” I cannot comment on an ongoing RCMP investigation.”?? I thought you could.
   This “Gomery Report – The Musical” is more choreographed that South Pacific.
   “There is nothing like the blame…” (to music)
   sorry, too much caffine today.

7. “Elizabeth is right. This is nothing compared to not governing. “Is this really our most pressing national issue?”
   Granted the lack of leadership by the Liberal Party is another issue. However, Elizabeth mocked our federal system by characterizing them as people who can’t resist leering at an irresistable cookie jar, which is our public purse.
   “I suspect it’s just a natural consequence of politics. ”
   If we can’t take our federal system seriously, why should separatists?

8. Ho Hum Anything new today? Business as usual in ottawa.

9. Memo to Smilin Jack:
   That you sound you hear is the clock and your 15 minutes are just about up.
   While Pauly drags you or your Health critic off to yet another “disappointing” meeting to accomplish nothing (still/again), Harper has issued you the ultimatum, are you in support of this corruption or are you not?
   So come the newxt election debates, you can point to you accomplishments on Health Care in conjunction with the Liberals, hollow promises all, but you can’t target their mismanagement(See Turner, John circa 1984).
   You see Jack, when you try to pretend to be the country’s leader, sooner or later you have to make a decision and that time is now.

10. A Sad Gomerymas day for Canadian Conservatives

    The Gomery report is out and there really isn’t any news that will cause the Martin Government to collapse. In fact, Martin was specifically exonerated in the language of the report. There’s several important lessons to be learned from what, in t…

11. Does anyone know if it is possible to sue the liberal party in small claims court for the money they stole? It wouldn’t pay in finacial terms but it would chew up a lot of Liberal time and money to have to defend thousands of small lawsuits.

12. say it with me “Class Action Lawsuit”

13. Check out this morning’s ‘toon over at AWM. The CPC should be reciting it from now until election day.
    And to think they called “da little guy” the Teflon Don. He’s an amateur compared to Paulie.
    Paul Martin and his Librano pals remind me of the old American adage of “If it’s good for General Motors, it’s good for the USA”. Up here, just substitute “General Motors” with your choice of:
    The Liberal Party
    Earnscliff
    Bombardier
    Any non-Alberta/anti-Alberta entity
    The UN
    Maurice Strong
    …and replace “USA” with “Can-uh-duh”.

14. While you can’t sue the government directly, I think if you singled out a politcal party directly, you may have a case for a class action.
    I can picture it now, the Liberals would be forced to declare, “You can’t sue US, because WE are Canada. The natural governing party”.

15. I suspect Layton will hang on as long as he can because he has not got two terms in him. He sees this as his only opportunity to imprint his vision of (left) Canada, and he’s not going to let a thing like ethics and corruption stand in the way. Chretien due up at 3:30 EST. Now this will be worth the price of admission.

16. You’ve got to remember that a lot of people involved in this thing practice “amorte”. Remember, we’re dealing with a lot of gangsters and racketeers here.
    We learned about this whole deal because some civilians who were being shaken down testified even though some of them were frightened about doing so. However, after the civilians have testified you run out of civilians. Then you’ve hit a firewall because the only people left to testify are players.
    Many of these players are not concerned about our rules. For example, it took 3 or 4 trials to bring down John Gotti. The mob would bribe jurors, threaten jurors, and so forth.
    All the real players have something on each other. So if one player decides to rat out another player, he realizes that the player he rats on can rat him out. It’s all one big system of mutually assured destruction. It’s like the blackmailer who is aware that others can blackmail him. You keep your mouth shut, keep the business going, and keep your superiors happy.
    Some people have likened this to Watergate, but I would say it’s more like Tamany Hall. And you have to realize that the racketeers are in bed with gangsters who would not hesitate to knock someone off if it became necessary. Look what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.
    In the final analysis, maybe some fall guys will be designated to take the hit. The Librano$ do not have the capacity, the desire, or the intention to investigate themselves. You know the old Zen saying, “a knife does not have the ability to cut itself; an eyeball does not have the capacity to see itself.”
    Once you start dealing with the players you get nothing but stonewall.

17. Regarding PMPM’s supposed reparations, IF and I do mean IF he actually follows through on them. I still say too little too late. Trust is gone, I heard some one ask if the shoe was on the other foot and it were Conservatives involved in a scandal of this kind would Albertans flock enmasse towards the liberals as an alternative? I say perhaps not willingly but they certainly would throw the crooks out, in fact what we did to the legacy of Mulroney was for a lot less than a scandal of this kind.
    Daryl

18. One sure has to bend over backwards to see the bright side.
    Paul Martin begins restitution at 1.4 million or something like that, just on short term memory here. Exact numbers don�t mean much anyway. It just gives an indication of the colossal gall of Martin and the Libranos.
    I thought a beginning down – payment may have been a pledge to liquidate Canada Steamship Lines and return the proceeds to the public purse.
    This was to be only a beginning jesture whereby a flood of other Libranos would follow Paul�s example, sell assets and mortgage homes and return the ill gotten funds to Canadian general revenues.
    I�m struggling with this paltry 1.4 million. Should we collectivly laugh at this? Is this a joke?
    Just the missing HP/Compaq computers for DND comes to 146 Millions of dollars and that is only one of 100 scandals.
    Perspective Paul please! Perspective! TG

19. A moment ago, I said “amorte”. Obviously, I meant “omorte” (the code of silence).
    A lot of people seem to feel that somehow big Pauli “the Little Guy” Martin can go down. Would someone please explain to me how The Little Guy can go down? He was Chretien’s bookkeeper. That’s like saying that he was the mob’s bookkeeper. Both he and Gagliano were mob bookkeepers.
    Martin had something on Chretien because it took a long time for Martin to get Cretien to relinquish power. And on the other time, Chretien had something on Martin because it took a long time to decide to go. And Gagliano has a lot on both of them and they both have a lot on Gagliano. And nobody wants to mess with Gagliano’s people because they fully understand what he is capable of. And for all we know Martin and Chretien have the same capacities.
    When Belinda crossed the aisle you could easily see that ethics, morality and good government stop at the Librano$ party coffers. If they’re capable of engineering Belinda’s spectacular defection, they obviously have no qualms about pulling whatever they need to when it becomes necessary.
    At the moment I just don’t see how The Little Guy can go down.

20. Notice the first words out of the Liberal spin machine were “I’m not to blame!” And these folks are going to fix the system and ensure it “never happens again.” My friends it is happening again and again. If the Auditor General could truly investigate this cycle and culture of corruption, we would see this truly as the tip of the iceberg. BTW, notice Liberals have inserted “fully” in front of exonerated, implying no blame or accountability whatsoever for Mr Martin. Justice Gomery used specific language – actual culpability and carelessness. What about wilful ignorance. It was common knowledge this program was being manipulated politically way before Alan Cutler and Sheila Fraser blew the whistle.

21. That’s “omerta.”

22. Gomery said Martin as FM was exonerated. Layton is busily pointing out that Martin has merely continued where Adscam left off with Dingwall, Eggleton, Fox, etc. Sounds like he might be ready to join Harper and Duceppe in pulling the plug, unless it’s all for show. But even Jack isn’t that good an actor. And watching the Liberals on QP, there isn’t much joy radiating from that part of the House. Maybe a bombshell to come from Chretien and Gagliano. This certainly isn’t over, and nobody except the media appear to be buying Martin’s exoneration. Maybe Gomery’s remark about being the sole author wasn’t so much the Mulroney camp as Liberal strategists lending a hand with the editing.

23. Hey Paul – why don’t you see if you can get Macleans to devote a cover story to Allan Cutler, and the price he paid for blowing the whistle on the Finance Dep’t and their Earnscliffe Fund?
    Let’s see what you’re made of….

24. In a section Justice Gomery writes that “Martin � is entitled, like other ministers in the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct.”
    Gomery also praises Ralph Goodale for quickly shutting down the sponsorship program when he was appointed minister of Public Works. Goodale became Finance Minister when Martin became Prime Minister.

25. The PM may have been out of the loop on the Adscam criminal free-for-all, but for the Liberals — as well as the CBC and other Liberal media — to describe Martin’s ignorance of his own party’s culture as an outright exoneration of the Liberal Party is an assault on common sense.
    It’s as if a pirate ship, which has been on a rampage for years, is finally captured and boarded; a fellow named Martin emerges, squinting, from a cabin below, to proclaim, with waving finger, that he personally had been below deck, unaware, when the lawless activities took place, and that therefore the ship and it’s crew must be released and allowed to continue on, but this time with him at the helm.
    Well, how about a few well-place blasts below the waterline instead?

26. Way to go! Kate. TG

27. “carelessness or misconduct” more like gross incompetence.
    He was finance minister – the only man signing the cheques, so to speak, how did the PMO even get this money without his knowledge. It’s been a very disappointing day ….

28. Jack needs to join the call for an election. Waiting until the spring will kill him… he’ll not be able to beat the Liberal spin machine. They’ll take all the credit for any NDP deals, and he knows it. So tell Jack to join the election call. Do what I did. Pick up the phone.
    From their website:
    Contact Us
    Canada’s NDP
    300 – 279 Laurier West
    Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9
    Phone: 613-236-3613
    Toll Free: 1-866-525-2555
    Fax: 613-230-9950
    TTY: 1-866-776-7742

29. The Liberals in Question Period today reminded me of a man saying: “Hey, don’t give me such a hard time, I’ve stopped beating my wife.”
    Or as Khrushchev might have put it after his 1956 speech critical of Stalin’s “cult of personality”: “Hey, it was all Stalin’s fault, the Communist Party is just fine”.
    Mark
    Ottawa

30. It should be a cover story, how Allan Cutler’s ethical tendencies resulted in his career being “permanently sidetracked” while those who diligently ignored criminal malfeasance received promotions and extra remuneration, and how, after Cutler took some information to the “internal audit branch” at Public Works, he was told by Guite that he would be declared “surplus”.
    I suspect the same thing would happen to anyone at Macleans — what with its Ontario circulation figures — who would make an issue about what the Liberals did to such truth-tellers as cutler. It would be like poking the boss in the eye with a stick.
    And no one wants to be declared “surplus”.

31. You have an employee in a position of trust. You come home unexpectedly and catch him slipping out the back door with your big screen tv and your cd player and collection. Checking around, you find that your family silver and china, your wine collection and many other valuables are missing. They deny, deny and deny that they have taken anything. In fact, they will bring in their brother, the local parking attendant to complet a full investigation. The investigation goes on and determines that the employee was merely cleaning behind your entertainment centre and had to move the TV and cd player. And, how dare you, without actual evidence, accuse them of stealing the silver, china, etc. And,”by the way, give us our key back; we have work to do…”

32. Cutler > Alboim > Earnscliffe > Finance Canada > AdScam Martin.
    The other 6 documents are here:
    http://www.politicswatch.com/sponsorship-mar16-2004.htm
    Whistle blown on Earnscliffe “scheme” in ’95 >>>
    Document 7: Jan 29, 1996 memo from Cutler to Elly Alboim of Earnscliffe.
    “Dear Mr. Alboim:
    “This is written to confirm that Earnscliffe Research & Communications is being requested to provide communications strategy and communications advice on policy issues as follows:
    “Client: Finance Canada
    “Estimated Expenditure: $246,100.00 GST included.”
    In a postscript, it should be noted that over eight years later Alboim still works at Earnscliffe and was recently rewarded a contract worth up to $20,000 to provide communications advice regarding the upcoming federal budget for Goodale at finance. >>>

33. Vary gratifying to see a growing focus on Whistle Blower legislation and the great values it will bring to Government and Corporations in Canada.
    Not only is this WB recognition gaining here in the Arena of Canada’s best blog site, and I admit we are still a small and specialized community, [just being real], but also on the MSM, namely the CBC of all places.
    Today, during a noon hour conflab and phone-in with Vancouver Sun columnist Barbara Yaffi, the value of Whistle Blower Protection was discussed and the program ended again on the note of how important Bill C-11 really is.
    Check archives (sorry, I always let people improve themselves by doing some work), at:
    http://BendGovt.blog.ca
    73s TG

34. This is only the beginning of the beginning – “Tip of An Iceberg” is about right. It’s a political Chinese finger trap – the more PM tries to wriggle out from Adscam etc., the more he’ll cast aspersion on other major Libs past & present – but facing prosecution they’ll be happy to drag him right back in. Even if the RCMP isn’t on the level, it ain’t that bad.
    Not to “toot my own horn”, Kate, but I just wanted to share my American-living-in-Canada feelings with you nice folks, especially as all my instincts about this affair have been correct since I was still engaged and in Texas, packing to move to Alberta, 15 months ago. So hope you don’t mind me inviting folks over to my blog to share “Gomery: Before the deluge” and “Some reality on Chretien and Martin”. Thanks.

35. P.S. Don’t be too hard on Mr. Justice Gomery – re: the Prime Minister, as we say at home, if you don’t want to hang a man yourself, sometimes all you have to do is give him enough rope to hang himself. (See my remark about Chinese finger trap above.) I think they say something similar out here in the West, perhaps Mr. Martin should have spent more time out here.

36. Any indication as to whether Elections Canada is going to launch an investigation into the Gomery reports allogation that the Liberal party contravened the Elections Act.
    I believe that having a major political party deregistered and liquidated would be just the thing to ensure this kind of corruption never happens again.

37. Kate,
    Didn’t another North American politican say” I am not a crook”?
    As for Wells getting Mac-Lean’s to do a story on Cutler…. not unless our Lucky 17 turn their Lotto 649 winnings over to the Liberal Party.. if you get my drift.

38. Quebec will save us by voting for sovereignty next referendum. But, rather than giving them special status to keep them associated with Canada — something the Libranos will readily agree to — ROC should insist that all provinces have the identical special status. This should result in a much reduced role for Ottawa, which will have to turn back tax points to all of the provinces, and curb the feds’ ability to bribe together a viable constituency out of a disparate, Canada-wide electorate. Bring on the Swiss model under which the feds can only do what the cantons agree to pay for, accountability is clear, and few people even know the PM’s name.

39. Chretien was in fine form. Fingered Martin insomuch as they both knew what the Treasury told them, and the Treasury, with Martin as VP, didn’t report any problems. With it going to federal court, say goodbye to any more talk about Gomery, and any chance of an election until the judicial review is finished. Who says Chretien and Martin aren’t friends?

40. Back to the idea of sueing the Liberals, could I sue the liberal candidate in my riding? If he recieved benefit from liberal campaign ads or funds from the Liberal party, would that open up any avenues to sue to wear these pricks down a bit? They’re going to be short of funds with their donations being well down, not to mention they won’t have the Adscam money to pay for the next election campaign. If nothing else it would keep them busy and cost them money. It would also look good in a headline to have a pile of small claims court lawsuits or a few large class action suits against the governing party. Who knows, having the local candidate spending his time and money to defend himself in court might discourage a few from running again.
    Squeeze enough of these rats and maybe one of them will sing.
    It might discourage a few liberal ‘volunteers’ as well, if there is actually such a thing.

41. Maybe not a bad idea, John. “Confederation” as such didn’t work for us Yanks (I mean pre-1788, not the 1860s Southern variety), but perhaps stricter “confederalism” would be better for Canada than the current “federalism”. I’ve definitely been thinking so the last few months as I’ve been learning about Canadian govt & politics. Would make not just Quebequois, but everyone, happier, I think.

42. I’m not a lawyer, though I play one on the internet… my guess is that any attempt to sue the Liberals in small claims would be best done by those who have a tax receipt for a Liberal donation in their possession.

43. Chretien and Martin pointing fingers at each other again doesn’t change the fact that the Liberal Party of Canada is comprised of lying, cheating, stealing theives who deserve to rot in a jail cell for all of their remaining days on this planet. From the smallest of grants to the as yet unaudited and unexplained $9 Billion Dollar Private Foundations(so called). There are so many scandals ready to break that the Lie-beral’s will never be able to explain it all away. Their mouth’s remind me of manure spreaders, don’t stand to close you might get some on you.

44. It doesn’t matter if Martin is supposedly “exonerated” by one report. The Liberal Party, regardless of leadership, is well-known now to Canadians as being corrupt to the bone. Particularly due to the evidence of Gomery and what the report itself says.
    My take:
    http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2005/11/after-gomery-report-liberals-are-still.html

45. The Liberal Party has a bad case of Gomeria – one which only be cured by voters

46. Sure, Martin and Chretien publicly point the finger at each other, but neither of them charges the other with any indictable offense.
    “It’s his fault! It’s his fault!” But nobody spills the beans. Because if one of them started spilling the beans, they would both go down and take a lot of others with them.
    It’s very easy to try to deflect the blame provided it doesn’t threaten the other with any serious consequences.

47. Just as I called it..
    Before this report came out, I pointed out that Gomery is a Liberal judge, appointed to this role by Paul Martin. (It’s the first comment in this thread).
    This is a carefully scripted performance. Paul Martin is lying to Canadians.
    What a joke.

48. Toronto Tory, I recognize and agree with your rightful claim. *Just as you called it.*
    That Paul Martin could be held innocent is simply beyond a kndergarden level of common sense and logic.
    I then have to question the purity of Judge Gomery. Sorry if that seems sacrelidge or offensive but what other logical choice is there.
    Does Gomery have some sort of devine faith in Paul Martin? The way people believe in God? Or, is there something to motivate Gomery here?
    Paul Martin seems like a good natured grand fatherly type, but the Canadian ship crews he fired and replaced with Central American crews, don’t think he is so kind.
    Registration of Canadian S. L. ships in Barbados to avoid paying taxes to Canada seems less than a grandfatherly gesture.
    I marvel at the political stupidity of these behaviours. CSL are no where near bankruptcy so he could have retained Canadian crews at least.
    I also made a forcast of sorts in April /05 having to do with Whistle-Blower law and Bill C-11 referring then to Allan Cutler.
    Today’s CBC coverage featured Mr. Cutler and Bill C-11. He made clear that the bill as it now stands is ineffective. The public however are understanding how important it is and there is every reason to hope that BillC-11
    will become properly beefed up before it becomes law. TG

49. One question that keeps coming up that I cannot find any answer to. Can the PMO actually issue lifetime bans to members of his own party? Even JC doubted Martin’s authority to do this during his “most excellent performance”. This looks to be just more BS spin from PMPM that the unquestioning MSM is more than happy to regurgitate onto Canadians. I can’t imagine it’s a decision that a leader of a party can make.
    Submit a recommendation to the party president to ban someone on evidence of misconduct. I’d buy that. Unilaterally execute someone in your own party because “yer da boss” – I seriously doubt even the LPC charter allows for that. But then again, this is a third-world socialist political party we’re talking about…

50. if you think for a moment the Librano’s don’t have money to fight the next election you’d better think again ! where do you suppose the “Two Billion $$$$$” from the gun registry has gone to!!!!!