Posted on 02/17/2004 7:09:55 AM PST by Ashamed Canadian
OTTAWA (CP) - Jean Chretien offered a glimpse Monday of how differently he might have handled a sponsorship scandal that has plunged the Liberal party into crisis.
With a series of wisecracks and a shrug of the shoulders, the ex-prime minister dusted off the sunny old 'what, me worry?' routine that helped him stickhandle his way through the political minefield for a decade in office.
"We should be skiing today, it would be better," he cackled to the horde of reporters chasing him from his law office to a waiting van.
Chretien served up yet another quip when asked what he thought of how successor Paul Martin was reacting to the explosive scandal.
"I don't think anymore," he replied mischievously.
"For 40 years I replied to all your questions. Now I'm no more the government. . . . Now if you have questions ask the government."
Unlike Chretien, the current prime minister is perfectly willing to talk seriously about the scandal. . .and talk . . .and talk.
Martin vowed long ago to be a study in contrast with his predecessor, and he has been just that while responding to the current scandal in sober and serious tones in TV interviews, on open-line radio, and in a series of press conferences.
He held two more news conferences Monday. He has called a public inquiry to shed light on the scandal. He has declared that heads will roll if the guilty parties are discovered and he has said he will testify before the inquiry if called upon.
He promised to resign if it is proven he knew of the scheme to funnel $100 million to friends of the Liberal party before 2002 and did nothing to stop it.
"We have said time and again that this is a new government, with a new prime minister and a new attitude," said a Martin aide.
"We're not going to pretend that $100 million of financial abuse is something less than the dramatic and maddening problem that it is.
"Canadians are angry and so is this government."
The Chretien people can't believe their ears.
Several members of the old guard have privately heaped scorn on an approach they say has exacerbated the scandal and threatened the government in an upcoming federal election.
"This thing was a three-alarm fire that they have turned into a five-alarm fire," one member of the old guard said derisively.
"Political scientists will be studying this decades from now, analyzing the mistakes that were made."
Another Chretien confidant explained how the former prime minister would have handled the scandal ignited by a devastating report last week by Auditor General Sheila Fraser.
Chretien would have treated it as old news recycled from a 2002 preliminary report by the auditor general and added that the problems were already being dealt with through police investigations and a cleanup of the program.
"The question isn't, 'How would (Chretien) have handled this?' You saw exactly how he handled it," said one confidant who has remained in contact with the former prime minister.
"There's really nothing new in this report. This has been going on for two years. . . . Let the police do their job."
Another veteran Liberal suggested that the hyperactive response from Martin is as deadly as paddling furiously while submerged in quicksand.
"One of the basic rules of crisis management is don't panic, and don't look like you're panicking," said the top backroomer.
"(Chretien) didn't have an in-your-face style. He understood the risks of over-exposure, and he understood the benefits of ambivalency and not blocking off options."
Above all else, Chretien would never have backed himself into a corner by promising to resign if found to have been aware of the scandal, the veteran strategist said.
Some have suggested Martin has left his political fate twisting in the hands of Liberals who never supported his leadership.
Any foe within the party can now drive his political career onto life support by claiming - truly or falsely - to have had a conversation with him about the scam years ago.
"You don't know what you don't know. You don't want to create hostages to fortune," the strategist warned in a prediction aimed at Martin.
But Martin's handlers were patently unimpressed with the advice and accused Chretien's gang of handing them the predicament.
Fraser's report was tossed on their lap when Chretien adjourned Parliament before the Liberal leadership convention in November, delaying the report's delivery until last week.
"If they (Chretien's gang) are so confident that their managment of this issue would have been so brilliant then the question remains why they didn't release the report themselves and answer for it at that time," said one adviser.
Two Chretien aides countered that the Martin camp has only itself to blame.
They noted that Chretien wanted to retire in February 2004 but the Martin-controlled Liberal executive pushed him out early and scheduled a convention that happened to coincide with the original target date for Fraser's report.
As fate would have it, the hot potato only landed on their lap because they were impatient with Chretien, one suggested.
"We didn't ask for a November convention," one Chretien adviser said.
THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, INCLUDING FORMER PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRETIEN AND CURRENT PRIME MINISTER PAUL MARTIN ARE A BUNCH OF DIRTY, CHEATING, ROTTON, CORRUPT LIARS!!!!
LIARS, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM.
Thank you!
Liberals everywhere - we want to help people with other people's money - and take our percentage...
So, what would he call the gun registry?
Not to mention the Human Resources Canada 1.2B unaccounted for?! Result: no heads rolled, the head, Jane DumbA*s Stewart given a 200K job as head of the Intl. Labor Org. in Geneva.
LIARS, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM.
BUMP TO THE TOP
Ooooh. They raised minimum wage after a decade! Wow, they got my vote, who cares about the billions of dollars they've pissed down the drain? Who cares what they said about the Americans? Right? Great, let's vote them back in. /sarcasm
Actually, I'm reading this sentence again and I'm still trying to figure out what it means. No offence, but that is the most atrocious grammar I've ever seen on here.
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