Rewriting history
Kevin Libin - Monday,28 November 2005
Western Standard
The Liberal kickback scandal may go down in history as the first massive government fraud that was nobody in government's fault. Read through the final authority on the matter, the report from Justice John Gomery, and it's right there in black and white. Under the heading "Assigning Responsibility," Gomery writes that no responsibility can be assigned: "The Fact Finding Report is not a judgment, and the conclusions do not establish the legal responsibility, either civil or criminal, of the persons and organizations singled out for critical comment or a finding of misconduct."
That was the deal, of course, in the terms of reference given to Gomery by the guy who convened the inquiry. While Prime Minister Paul Martin and his team will remind us endlessly that he was the man who called in Gomery in the first place, what they don't mention is that he was also the guy who told Gomery where he was allowed to look. What he could investigate was the misappropriation of sponsorship program dollars being spent by the Liberal government on Quebec ad firms--and that's it. That's why it's the "sponsorship inquiry." What Canadians really needed was a corruption inquiry.
Because, in the end, Gomery settles on the conclusion that the whole sponsorship ordeal was the work of rogue party bagmen and a handful of bureaucrats and aides. He finds that former PM Jean Chrétien should have known what they were up to (though Chrétien will fight that in court--and I'm certain the tenacious ol' scrapper will win), and declares Martin "exonerated"--at least as far as this investigation goes. Mind you, it didn't go far. Remember how the revelation of widespread Liberal corruption came to light in the first place? It wasn't because of the Quebec sponsorship program.
Rather, it was thanks to the whistle-blowing of an accountant in the Public Works Ministry. In November 1995--years before sponsorship was even set up--Allan Cutler was asked to approve a contract for the Finance Department in which a $250,000 contract would be awarded to Earnscliffe Research and Communication, an Ottawa PR firm. The contract didn't specify what work was to be done, if any, for all that money, so Cutler refused. He reported the incident to his superiors, but eventually word came from the top that Finance would overrule his decision. It did.
The Finance Department that ran roughshod over public spending controls to get that fat contract--and several others--to Earnscliffe, was headed by none other than Paul Martin. And while Gomery was charged by Martin with investigating chapters three and four of the 2003 auditor general report that was spurred by Cutler's whistleblowing, Martin didn't allow him to look at chapter five, which looked at the Earnscliffe contracts.
Why? Maybe because Earnscliffe was swarming with Martin cronies--Scott Reid, Michael Robinson, Elly Alboim, David Herle, Terrie O'Leary and Francis Fox were all at Earnscliffe while Martin was finance minister, and every one has since gone on to join the prime minister's staff. Fox was even made a senator in August.
But since Martin wasn't involved in sponsorship specifically, he can now safely declare himself exonerated. Most voters will believe it, history will be rewritten, the whole Cutler affair will be forgotten and Martin will be known as the man who cleaned up government corruption. That is, until it happens again.
Kevin Libin - Monday,28 November 2005
Western Standard
The Liberal kickback scandal may go down in history as the first massive government fraud that was nobody in government's fault. Read through the final authority on the matter, the report from Justice John Gomery, and it's right there in black and white. Under the heading "Assigning Responsibility," Gomery writes that no responsibility can be assigned: "The Fact Finding Report is not a judgment, and the conclusions do not establish the legal responsibility, either civil or criminal, of the persons and organizations singled out for critical comment or a finding of misconduct."
That was the deal, of course, in the terms of reference given to Gomery by the guy who convened the inquiry. While Prime Minister Paul Martin and his team will remind us endlessly that he was the man who called in Gomery in the first place, what they don't mention is that he was also the guy who told Gomery where he was allowed to look. What he could investigate was the misappropriation of sponsorship program dollars being spent by the Liberal government on Quebec ad firms--and that's it. That's why it's the "sponsorship inquiry." What Canadians really needed was a corruption inquiry.
Because, in the end, Gomery settles on the conclusion that the whole sponsorship ordeal was the work of rogue party bagmen and a handful of bureaucrats and aides. He finds that former PM Jean Chrétien should have known what they were up to (though Chrétien will fight that in court--and I'm certain the tenacious ol' scrapper will win), and declares Martin "exonerated"--at least as far as this investigation goes. Mind you, it didn't go far. Remember how the revelation of widespread Liberal corruption came to light in the first place? It wasn't because of the Quebec sponsorship program.
Rather, it was thanks to the whistle-blowing of an accountant in the Public Works Ministry. In November 1995--years before sponsorship was even set up--Allan Cutler was asked to approve a contract for the Finance Department in which a $250,000 contract would be awarded to Earnscliffe Research and Communication, an Ottawa PR firm. The contract didn't specify what work was to be done, if any, for all that money, so Cutler refused. He reported the incident to his superiors, but eventually word came from the top that Finance would overrule his decision. It did.
The Finance Department that ran roughshod over public spending controls to get that fat contract--and several others--to Earnscliffe, was headed by none other than Paul Martin. And while Gomery was charged by Martin with investigating chapters three and four of the 2003 auditor general report that was spurred by Cutler's whistleblowing, Martin didn't allow him to look at chapter five, which looked at the Earnscliffe contracts.
Why? Maybe because Earnscliffe was swarming with Martin cronies--Scott Reid, Michael Robinson, Elly Alboim, David Herle, Terrie O'Leary and Francis Fox were all at Earnscliffe while Martin was finance minister, and every one has since gone on to join the prime minister's staff. Fox was even made a senator in August.
But since Martin wasn't involved in sponsorship specifically, he can now safely declare himself exonerated. Most voters will believe it, history will be rewritten, the whole Cutler affair will be forgotten and Martin will be known as the man who cleaned up government corruption. That is, until it happens again.
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