Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Scandal-rocked Grits call in the Mounties (Canadian Libs pay victim card - gut check time for CPC)
London Free Press - Canada ^ | April 5, 2005 | BRIAN DALY, CP

Posted on 04/05/2005 8:49:51 AM PDT by GMMAC

Scandal-rocked Grits call in the Mounties

LONDON FREE PRESS
April 5, 2005

BRIAN DALY, CP

MONTREAL -- The federal Liberal party, beset by persistent allegations public money was funnelled into its Quebec wing, said yesterday it has asked the RCMP to investigate the possibility the party was a victim of fraud. The announcement at the sponsorship inquiry by party lawyer Doug Mitchell comes three days after ad man Jean Brault delivered testimony said to be devastating to the minority Liberal government.

"I have been directed by my clients to contact the RCMP to ask that they investigate the possibility that the party itself may have been the target of fraud or other harmful acts by certain individuals," Mitchell told reporters.

"Using inappropriate means to gain undeserved benefit . . . is, if proven to be true, criminal action, plain and simple," Mitchell said.

The details of Brault's testimony, delivered Thursday and Friday, are covered by a publication ban.

But the testimony was said to be so serious that all federal parties were working on election scenarios.

The Liberals went into full defensive mode yesterday, seeking and winning full standing at the inquiry, allowing them to cross-examine Brault and other witnesses.

In granting the status to the Liberals, inquiry judge John Gomery acknowledged the potentially damaging nature of testimony he has heard.

"The reputation of the party risks being affected by what I've heard and maybe by what I will hear," said Gomery.

"I think it would be unfair if the Liberal party didn't have the right to cross-examine witnesses."

The Liberals already had intervener status at the inquiry.

Gomery is probing all aspects of the $250-million sponsorship program, including allegations public money was funnelled into the coffers of the Liberal party's Quebec wing.

The inquiry has heard from former advertising staff who said their bosses, who had grown rich off sponsorship contracts, pressured them to donate money to the Liberals.

Mitchell defended the party yesterday, pointing out it was still in major debt when Prime Minister Paul Martin took over in 2003.

"In particular, the Quebec wing of the party was some $3 million in debt," Mitchell said outside the courtroom.

"This is hardly in keeping with assertions that the party was receiving substantial financial benefit through inappropriate means."

NDP Leader Jack Layton and Conservative Deputy Leader Peter MacKay both have shied away from suggestions their parties could force a quick election over the latest revelations.

In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper stopped short of threatening to bring down the Liberal government, but said voters will have the final say about the testimony.

"The judge, the police and Canadians will be the judge of how involved the Liberal party was (in sponsorship misdeeds)," Harper told the Commons.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, opposed the motion asking for Liberal lawyers to cross-examine witnesses. Party lawyers said in a letter to the inquiry they did not have sufficient time to contest the Liberal motion before Gomery.

Harper told the Commons it took "gall" to paint the Liberals as a victim of the sponsorship scandal.

As Opposition members cried "shame" and "guilty," Martin said the Liberal party consists of thousands of men and women across Canada who are dedicated to their party and country.

"They work day in and day out . . . for the benefit of Canadians," he said.

"Those members of the Liberal party should not have to bear the rumours . . . or the burden of the activities of a very small few who may have colluded against the party.

"We will defend those Liberals. These are Canadians . . . who have given their all for their country."

Before Gomery issued the publication ban, the inquiry heard testimony shedding more light on links between sponsorship cash and the Liberal party's Quebec wing.

Former communications executive Gilles-Andre Gosselin testified Brault strong-armed him into making a $10,000 donation to the Liberals in 1999.

Gosselin said Brault sent the $10,000 cheque on his behalf and against his will.

The inquiry also heard last fall that another ad agency, Media IDA Vision, donated $5,000 to the Quebec wing out of the same account in which it kept sponsorship money.

The RCMP was called in, but found insufficient evidence for criminal prosecution.

Gomery ruled yesterday that Treasury Board will pay for the Liberals' lawyers at the commission.

The judge's decision came shortly before Brault, president of Groupaction Marketing, resumed his testimony.

Groupaction played a major role in the sponsorship program in the 1990s, earning millions of dollars in commissions and other fees.

The publication ban was imposed by Gomery last week to safeguard Brault's right to a fair trial in separate, pending criminal proceedings.

But the gag order, which applies across Canada, did not prevent some testimony leaking into the public domain over the weekend through a U.S.-based web log.

Copyright © The London Free Press


TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: adscam; canada; corruuption; gomery; liberals
"Only in Canada you say?" - Sure, where else on earth would this band of arrogant - but ever politically correct - thieves have the gall to play the "victim card"?

Gomery revelations on the internet

"Gut check" time for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives: stand up for our right to know, demand full public accountability, no more elite Judicial publication ban - bring 'em down now!
1 posted on 04/05/2005 8:49:59 AM PDT by GMMAC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Former Proud Canadian; Great Dane; Alberta's Child; headsonpikes; coteblanche; Ryle; ...

Tory "gut check" time PING!


2 posted on 04/05/2005 8:51:51 AM PDT by GMMAC (lots of terror cells in Canada - I'll be waving my US flag when the Marines arrive!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC

This is absolutely outrageous! Why do we put up with this?


3 posted on 04/05/2005 9:15:00 AM PDT by In The Crease (Canada---no leftists need apply.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC

The question is will the opposition use tbeir parliamentary immunity and as the government about these allegations.


4 posted on 04/05/2005 9:34:02 AM PDT by youngtory (The Conservative Party of Canada is no longer conservative all thanks to Harper.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC
I was talking to my partner today about the substance of the new charges that can be found at: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/cat_canada.php.

His reply, "everybody knows that".

5 posted on 04/05/2005 9:43:44 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Former Proud Canadian

That's the way things work in the Canadian justice system.

The perp is always a 'victim' of something, an abusive father, bullying, poverty etc. The Liberals were broke, they needed the money so they are victims of poverty.


6 posted on 04/05/2005 9:52:36 AM PDT by Nathan Zachary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC
Seems this adscam kick back scheme is out of the same play book as the "oil for food" scam.

Very interesting.

7 posted on 04/05/2005 10:21:34 AM PDT by concrete is my business (lay a solid foundation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC

The Dominion of Canada had land for settlement.

New, improved Liberal Canada has turf for dividing.


8 posted on 04/05/2005 10:50:07 AM PDT by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC; All
What I have so far:

 
 UPDATE: Liberal Meltdown in Canada (absolutley devastating information)  
http://noncogent.blogspot.com/2005/04/gomery-considering-charging-bloggers.html
 Gomery Considering Charging Bloggers It has been suggested to me by what is admittedly second-hand information, that Justice John Gomery will consider charging any Canadian blogger who not only provides a link to a site containing banned material, but any Canadian blogger who “names the site containing the banned material.”
 Website owner could be charged with contempt of court. [ 1, 2 ]
 I dont think Canadians will accept this.
This is absolutley devastating information.
http://mkbraaten.blogspot.com
 Gomerygate [ 1, 2 ]
 
Blogosphere 1, Liberals 0 -- It is the borderlessness of the Internet that has made possible the release of the truth about the Liberals to the Canadian public. Yet we are still in a phase of change where the Liberals are able to harass and intimidate some Canadian blogs, such as NealeNews, into silence. At this point, it was the Americans who came to Canadians’ aid, by posting the information denied to Canadians on a number of American websites.
 Brault may have fingered Alfonso Gagliano’s links to mob
 
 
Beat to Quarters (FR mentioned)
-- Captain's Quarters has really stirred up the Canadian blogosphere by carrying details of court testimony on a governmental scandal that is banned from publication in the Great White North. The scandal is about the use of Canadian government money, laundered through a private ad agency, to hire Liberal Party hacks, and is so serious it may catapault the Canadian conservatives into power. This incident marks one more step by the blogosphere into the realm of news generation as opposed to mere commentary.
 
 
 Here's all the dirty laundry we couldn't hear ....and it confirms what mnay of us here had suspected about the Liberal funding rackets in Quebec.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004220.php
 I would highly recommend that ALL Canadians read Captain's Quarters and Instapundit today!!! They have some interesting blog entries!!
 
 
Canada: Blogger busts Adscam ban, officials thinking of charging Canadian blogger. -- For those who don't know, the American blog which busted the Canadian wankers is:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/
Just keep scrolling for multiple entries.  Actually, here's the post which reveals the testimony, the reporting of which is a crime in Canada:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004220.php
 According to 'authorities' linking to the post is a crime in Canada.

9 posted on 04/05/2005 11:42:47 AM PDT by backhoe (Just an old Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the trackball into the Sunset...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #10 Removed by Moderator

To: vanbc
Well newbie, first of all as the "Progressive Conservative" Party no longer exists nationally and hasn't now for the better part of two years, it seems like your initial dilemma is effectively solved.

Secondly, if you go to the trouble of actually reading the new Conservative Party's social polices* - as opposed to getting them in distorted form from the main stream media - I doubt you'll find them all that "conservative".

BTW, if you're just looking for any excuse to keep on receiving the sort of the abuse the Liberals have been giving you and every other Canadian taxpayer, why even bother to vote?
Pineapples used as suppositories apparently have pretty much the same effect.
Sheeesh!

* http://www.conservative.ca/english/index.asp
11 posted on 04/05/2005 7:46:47 PM PDT by GMMAC (lots of terror cells in Canada - I'll be waving my US flag when the Marines arrive!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: GMMAC
Can anyone tell me if the firearms registry debacle is somewhere in this scandal? I have heard that it has entered the scandal somewhere. Can anyone tell?

Swannie
12 posted on 04/06/2005 7:57:01 PM PDT by Swannie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson