Posted on 02/15/2004 5:50:33 PM PST by Pikamax
I'll be vindicated or resign: Martin PM goes live-to-air with Rex Murphy and residents of Canada
BY ALEXANDER PANETTA AND JIM BROWN CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Paul Martin put his political life on the line today by boldly promising to resign if a public inquiry shows he had prior knowledge of a sponsorship scandal that saw $100 million in public funds go to Liberal-friendly advertising and public relations firms. "Anybody who is found to have known that people are kiting cheques, that people are falsifying invoices - me or anybody else - should resign," Martin said on CBC's Cross Country Checkup.
"I've made that very, very clear. I don't think we have to debate that. Anybody who knew that kind of thing was going on and let it happen, they don't belong in public life."
The prime minister made the statement as a succession of open-line radio callers vented their outrage over the scandal that has plunged the Liberal party and government into disarray.
One caller baldly told Martin that casting a ballot for the Liberals in the next election would suggest people don't care about being ripped off.
"What kind of message would we be sending to you in Ottawa if in fact we voted Liberal? We'd be saying, 'You can steal from us and that's OK,' " said Brad Smith of Toronto.
"It's enough, Mr. Martin. It is enough. It makes my stomach feel sick."
The prime minister remained poised during the barrage, insisting he is as mad as anybody else and wants to get to the bottom of the affair.
But he dodged a key question that kept popping up - would he delay an anticipated spring election until after all the facts have come out on the sponsorship affair.
"When we go to the polls I'm really not in a position to say," he told one questioner.
Martin appeared ready for the barrage as he held his latest in a flurry of public appearances since the scandal broke with the publication of Auditor General Sheila Fraser's damning report last week.
The prime minister sat stone-faced as CBC host Rex Murphy read a letter from one woman who said she had voted Liberal her whole life but now declared herself "Martin's worst nightmare."
Martin has said repeatedly he was kept out of the loop under former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien while a small group of bureaucrats and political figures mishandled the sponsorship program.
"Did I hear rumours, were there articles in the newspapers that obviously I read about this?" Martin asked rhetorically. "Clearly, yes, I did hear rumours. I read the articles in the newspapers.
"If the question is, did I know that people were kiting cheques, that people were making payments that were inappropriate, did I know all of those things? The answer is absolutely not. I did not know that."
Murphy predicted the upcoming election will hinge on Martin's handling of the current crisis.
"Nothing like this has hit the Liberal party in quite a long time," said the open-line host. "The outcry has been astonishing, down on the street, in people's homes and in 1,000 offices."
One caller accused the prime minister of turning a blind eye to the scandal when he was finance minister under Chrétien.
"I'm tempted to suspect that your ignorance was in part wilful, and that you may have taken a decision, at some point very early on, not to find out about some of these things," said Bruce Toombs of Montreal.
He maintained an election must be delayed so "justice is done at the polls if it's not done judicially."
Martin and his government have been under fire since the auditor general reported that up to $100 million - of a total $250 million in sponsorship funding - went to private consultants who did little to advance the objectives of raising the federal profile in Quebec and promoting Canadian unity.
"I am mad as hell that some people did this," Martin said earlier Sunday in an interview on CTV Question Period.
"I am mad that there are some people who clearly perverted what should have been a government program that should have done a lot of good. I am very mad that some people may have enriched themselves, and I am very determined to get to the bottom of this and punish those who were involved."
One of Martin's tactics in the wake of Fraser's report has been to distance himself from Chrétien, saying the former prime minister seldom sought his counsel on Quebec political affairs.
A Martin aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, has even been quoted as suggesting the Chrétien government knowingly covered up evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Martin was more charitable Sunday, calling Chrétien a man of "unquestioned integrity" and saying he's sure his former boss was not personally involved in the scandal.
But he again insisted he was kept out of the loop by Chrétien's people on Quebec-related issues because of their falling-out over the party leadership.
Some Chrétien loyalists have argued that Martin is making a mistake and sowing division within the party by trying to shift the blame to the previous administration.
The prime minister, who in addition to calling a public inquiry has said he will co-operate with a Commons committee that is also looking into the affair, dismissed talk of civil war within Liberal ranks.
He was adamant, in the CTV interview, that the government can recover from its troubles and persuade voters to shift their attention to its policy agenda of health care, education and other issues.
"If we go into an election making it very clear that we're dealing with this mess, if we go into an election basically saying to Canadians that we are going to improve the quality of their lives, we are going to build a stronger country, we'll win the election."
Not so fast. The liberals in Ottawa have stayed in power by giving away goodies to the more vote rich Eastern provinces, especially Ontario and Quebec. They've done this by practically raping the Western provinces, who are getting to the point that they're talking about secession. I'd welcome Alberta to the Union in a heartbeat.
You say Canadians can go cry in their milk because they are the ones who elected the corrupt Liberals. Québec didn't elect them but the Rest of Canada did so you are right but you forget that the Liberals have had no opposition for the past decade and it's only now that the Conservatives under Harper are starting to sound credible. Even now, though, it would be a great feat is the Conservatives won the next elections with a majority government -- nobody believes it! I think it's a case of power corrupting absolutely!
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