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notyoueither
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of naught
Aug 2001
time: 22:33
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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...?hub=TopStories
quote:
New Gomery testimony spurs talk of election
CTV.ca News Staff
The possible collapse of the Liberal minority government is once again a hot topic on Parliament Hill, fuelled by reports of explosive new testimony at the sponsorship inquiry.
Although exact details of the testimony cannot be revealed due to a publication ban, there are reports its disclosure would prove so devastating that Paul Martin's Liberal minority could fall if it became public.
Watching developments in Ottawa Friday night, CTV's Mike Duffy says the capital is buzzing with speculation the opposition will confront the Liberals with some of that testimony next week.
"It's probably going to be raised here on Monday by the opposition," Duffy told CTV News.
"Because MPs have privilege on the floor of the House of Commons it is conceivable that the Bloc Quebecois could get up and run some information from behind the closed doors" at the Gomery inquiry, he said.
According to a report from The Canadian Press, the threat is looming so large all parties are quickly reviewing their election plans,
Liberal MPs in so-called "safe seats" have been asked to contact neighbouring ridings to help organize local campaigns, CP reports. One Liberal MP, who asked to remain anonymous, went so far as to tell the news agency: "Our election readiness went up 20 per cent today."
Martin's government is already on edge over a critical budget vote that all parties had at one time signalled willingness to support.
Their backing was called into question, however, after the Liberals added measures to broaden the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and implement the recent offshore oil agreement.
That thrust the Conservative Party, with their opposition to Kyoto, into a political predicament as the combination of their vote with those of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois would be enough to bring the government down.
Until now, no party wanted to be responsible for calling Canadians back to the polls so soon after the last election.
But mounting criticism spurred by a stream of revelations at the sponsorship inquiry headed by Justice John Gomery appears to be changing that.
"All I can say is that given what was said yesterday the political landscape may be changing quite rapidly," Conservative Justice Critic Vic Toews told CP.
Montreal advertising executive Jean Brault appeared before the inquiry in Montreal Thursday.
His testimony is covered by a publication ban intended to protect his right to a fair trial on criminal-fraud charges related to the now-defunct sponsorship program.
That means his inquiry testimony could be made public once his trial is over.
Lawyers for the former Groupaction chief petitioned a Montreal court Friday, to have his May trial date pushed back to September.
The court is expected to issue its decision next Wednesday.
While the NDP accused the Liberals of attempting to orchestrate both their own demise and a scapegoat in the Opposition, senior Liberals dismissed such accusations wholesale.
According to Martin spokesperson Scott Reid, no matter how explosive the inquiry testimony, the present government shouldn't pay a price.
"You will not see anybody identified with the Paul Martin team involved in any of the accusations put forward," Reid told CP. "Because that's not how the Paul Martin team works."
He also dismissed suggestions his party is angling for a return to the polls.
"The Canadian people do not want an election," he said.
"The government does not want an election. The only leader who has spoken about the possibility of an election is Stephen Harper."
Last week, Harper suggested he was set for a showdown with the government over the federal budget bill.
Debate on the bill begins next week.
With reports from CTV News and The Canadian Press |
Is this an April fool's joke?
Anyone from around Montreal or with some connections know what was so 'explosive'? I've been looking since hearing about it on a local Chorus station, but it isn't even showing up as a story anywhere else (that I've looked so far).
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notyoueither
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of naught
Aug 2001
time: 22:33
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The lid lifts, a little.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/nati...-ban050407.html
quote:
Brault alleged donations to Liberals linked to sponsorship work
Last Updated Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:31:05 EDT
CBC News
MONTREAL - The former head of a Quebec advertising company testified to the Gomery inquiry that he was repeatedly asked to give cash donations to the Liberal party, and put election workers on his payroll, in exchange for federal sponsorship contracts.
Former Groupaction executive Jean Brault testifies.
INDEPTH: Jean Brault's testimony
Jean Brault, the former head of Groupaction Marketing, testified that the scheme to funnel taxpayers' dollars to the Liberal party in the 1993, 1997 and 2000 federal election campaigns continued as recently as 2002.
"If it wasn't for our contributions to the party, we never would have had such a big piece of the sponsorship pie," he said.
Brault began testifying about his role in the sponsorship program last week, but Justice John Gomery banned publication of his testimony.
The ad executive had been scheduled to go on trial, along with co-accused Chuck Guité, on May 2 on fraud charges relating to sponsorship contracts.
Last week, Gomery ruled that allowing media to report on Brault's testimony at the inquiry could hurt the two men's chances of getting a fair hearing in their criminal trial.
Lawyers for Brault and Guité had asked that the trial be put off until September, but on Wednesday, a Quebec judge postponed it only until June 6.
In the wake of that decision, Gomery partially lifted the publication ban at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, allowing many details of Brault's testimony to be broadcast.
Brault discovers 'magic recipe' for work
During his testimony at the inquiry, Brault described a system that churned out secret payments to Liberal campaign workers – payments that were covered up with fake invoices.
The paper trail suggests Brault made $1.1 million in contributions to the Liberal party that never appeared on the books. That was in addition to the $166,000 in legitimate donations Brault and his companies made to the Liberals over seven years.
Brault said he found out that the "magic recipe" to get sponsorship contracts was to "lend a sympathetic ear" to the party's demands.
Jacques Corriveau, head of Pluridesign. (file photo)
In 1996, he testified, he met with Jacques Corriveau, head of Pluridesign and a key member of Jean Chrétien's Liberal leadership campaigns.
Brault said that during a meeting on April 16, 1996, Corriveau asked him to "take under my wing for a period of a year, one person who was well liked" by the party – Serge Gosselin.
Brault testified that Gosselin, a communications expert, never had an office at Groupaction and did little or no work. Nevertheless, Brault agreed to pay him more than $80,000.
Party workers put on Groupaction payroll
Brault also told the inquiry that he put about a dozen party workers on his staff during the 1997 election campaign.
After that election, the Quebec wing of the Liberal party was broke and owed money for campaign signs and pamphlets produced for candidates across the province, among other things.
One of the party's creditors was Corriveau, whose company produced billboards and posters for Liberal candidates in Quebec.
Benoît Corbeil, a former Liberal Party official.
Brault claims Corriveau asked him in the spring of 1998 to funnel to the party 10 per cent of the commission fees Brault charged on some sponsorship contracts. Groupaction charged the federal government a 12-per-cent commission to manage sponsorship projects.
"My understanding is that this money was destined for the Liberal cause," said Brault.
Brault named two other high-ranking members of the federal Liberal party as key cogs in the sponsorship scheme: Alain Renaud, who worked at the party's offices in Montreal; and Benoît Corbeil, a former official at the party's offices.
Brault told the inquiry that Renaud was paid $1.1 million between 1996 and 2001.
Renaud left Groupaction in September 2000, but decided he wanted to come back six months later. Brault balked.
He told the inquiry that he then received a phone call from Tony Mignacca, a close aide to former Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano.
Brault said Mignacca hinted Groupaction's large contract with Via Rail might be in jeopardy if Renaud was not hired back.
Brault also spoke of a meeting he had when Joe Morselli, a close friend of Gagliano, took over fundraising duties for the party in Quebec.
Brault says he was asked to meet Morselli in an Italian restaurant and leave envelopes with thousands of dollars in cash for the party on a chair.
"I went up to go to the bathroom," he said. "When I got back, the money was gone."
The federal government is trying to recover $30 million from Brault in funds related to the $250-million sponsorship program.
In February 2004, Auditor General Sheila Fraser released a report suggesting that as much as $100 million from the program went to Quebec-based advertising companies for little or no work.
Prime Minister Paul Martin immediately called a public inquiry into the affair. |
There are more people cued up to testify in Montreal.
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Kontiki
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Canada
Aug 2001
time: 00:33
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What's the real alternative to the Liberals?
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Kontiki
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Canada
Aug 2001
time: 00:33
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Exactly. I wouldn't pin it on "stupid voters".
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Kontiki
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Canada
Aug 2001
time: 00:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Wezil
We vote for crooks rather than the other guys because the other guys are "scary".
What a brave people. |
So it's a mark of courage and honour to vote for a either a party that would take a massive leftward lurch or one that would unquestioningly take us to war in Iraq, cut social services and has a large and extemely vocal component that's quite socially conservative?
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Apolyton Time is 00:33. |
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02-04-2005 07:25
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