"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."
Quite frankly, the idea that the Minister of Finance - simultaneously the most senior cabinet minister under the Prime Minister and the holder of the federal moneybags - knew nothing about this strains credulity almost to the breaking point.
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.
Bushwah. It's been a number of years since I would have said that of Chrétien personally. He himself was the target of accusations of conflict of interest over the so-called "Shawinagate" scandal: federal money granted to a hotel in his home riding of Shawinagan, of which he was once part owner, and which neighboured a golf course in which technically he was still a shareholder. This sponsorship thing is not a new scandal; it's been around for at least a couple of years. Of course, Chrétien also has a track record of shuffling his feet on issues of Parliamentary ethics.
""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." "
So Martin is saying that he did read about this and hear about it but that he did not bother to find out anything. Either the guy is corrupt or he is incompetent. He *should* resign.