Posted on 04/21/2005 10:30:22 PM PDT by El Conservador
OTTAWA - In a rare address over the nation's airwaves Thursday, Prime Minister Paul Martin promised to hold an election within 30 days of an inquiry report into the sponsorship scandal.
In a seven-minute speech delivered in English, nine minutes in French, Martin pleaded with Canadians to reserve judgment on his government until all the facts are known about the scandal.
"I commit to you tonight that I will call a general election within 30 days of the publication of the commission's final report and recommendations," Martin said.
The report, to be written by Justice John Gomery, the head of the commission, is expected to be released in December.
"Let Judge Gomery do his work. Let the facts come out and then the people of Canada will have their say," Martin said in the speech, that was taped in the prime minister's parliamentary office about an hour before it aired.
Martin conceded that the scandal occurred under the Liberal government's watch while he was finance minister, saying "those who were in power are to be held responsible. And that includes me."
"Knowing what I've learned this past year, I am sorry that we weren't more vigilant, that I wasn't more vigilant," he said.
Martin's address comes as the Liberal party has come under fire following recent revelations at the Gomery Inquiry, which is investigating the sponsorship program – a $250-million project intended to promote national unity and to oppose separatism in Quebec.
In her February 2004 report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said an estimated $100 million in commissions in relation to the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies for little or no work.
Liberals saw their support plummet in the polls after the inquiry heard of an alleged scheme to funnel taxpayers' dollars to the Liberal party through sponsorship contracts.
"I will never hesitate to describe what happened on the sponsorship file for what is was: an unjustifiable mess. It's up to me to clean it up. That's my job. I am cleaning it up. And I am willing to be judged on my record of action," Martin said.
But Martin, who has been hammered daily by opposition MPs over the allegations of corruption within the Liberal party, reminded viewers that it was he who cancelled the program and immediately called for an inquiry once he became prime minister.
He took credit for firing Alfonso Gagliano, the minister responsible for the sponsorship program, from his appointment as ambassador to Denmark, and bringing in whistleblower legislation.
The prime minister also pledged that "if so much as a dollar is found to have made its way to the Liberal party from ill-gotten gains" it will be returned to Canadians.
"I want no part of that money," Martin said.
The opposition had earlier denounced the prime minister's tactic of going to the airwaves, saying that measure should be reserved for times of national crisis.
A decade ago, Jean Chrétien made a TV appeal on the eve of the Quebec referendum. Brian Mulroney spoke to the country during the constitutional battles. Pierre Trudeau took to the airwaves to justify his wage-and-price controls of 1975.
Martin said the scandal has monopolized all political discussion and he blamed opposition MPs for "partisan jousting" and for not allowing the government to deal with important issues.
The allegations have fuelled speculation that the opposition parties will bring down the government and force a spring election.
"The Parliament you sent to Ottawa less than a year ago is preoccupied with election talk and with political strategy – not with the job you sent us here to do," the prime minister said.
"If we are to have an election, one that will be at least in part about the work of Judge Gomery, surely that election should occur only when we have the work of Judge Gomery," Martin said.
It's not over until there's an oil slick on the water and a floating debris field.
So if the Liberals go down in electoral flames, what country will Canadian leftists claim they are going to flee to?
France.
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