| snugs |
ok, we've got one US thread on the go right now, so to be fair and balanced we've got to have a canadian thread too. :p
So Martin wasn't involved.... lol, whatta surprise eh.
http://www.canada.com/national/glob...6c-40466ed354ef
Gomery report fingers former PM
Jean Chretien as among those to be blamed
OTTAWA -- Justice John Gomery says former prime minister Jean Chretien shares the blame for one of the worst political scandals in Canadians history that involved illegal kickbacks to the Quebec wing of the Liberal party.
As for Paul Martin, Gomery says, he was out of the loop and is off the hook. Gomery’s first report on the scandal is a 1,000-page blockbuster tale that documents the abuse of tens of millions of taxpayers dollars that leaves the reader with no doubt about who he believed and didn’t during months of oft-explosive and oft-contradictory testimony before his judicial inquiry.
In short, Gomery made clear he believed Chuck Guite, the “untouchable” high-ranking official who ran the $250-million program, when he said he got political direction on which sponsorships to promote and the what amounts to disperse to which advertising agencies.
Gomery exonerates Prime Minister Paul Martin, who was finance minister at the time the sponsorship program was in operation, “from any blame for carelessness and misconduct” in connection with what the judge portrayed as a secretive, tightly-held operation.
Gomery points a firm finger of blame at Chretien, Jean Pelletier, his chief of staff at the time, Alphonso Gagliano, the former minister of public works, Guite, Gagliano’s pointman on the sponsorship scandal, as well as a handful of Quebec Liberal political operatives and advertising bosses.
The report is a no-holds-barred account of how the sponsorship program, designed to raise the federal presence in Quebec after the federalists’ squeaker referendum victory in 1995, became a cash cow for a handful of Liberal-friendly advertising executives, and, in turn, a financial helpline for Liberal party in Quebec.
Gomery concluded Jacques Corriveau, president of Pluri Design Canada and a longtime Chretien pal, was “at the heart” of an elaborate kickback scheme to enrich the coffers of the Liberal’s Quebec wing.
The judge says there is no evidence either Chretien or Pelletier were directly involved in funnelling sponsorship funds back to the party, but that they must be “blamed for omissions.”
“Since Mr. Chretien chose to run the program from his own office, and to have his own exempt staff take charge of its direction, he is accountable for the defective manner in which sponsorship program and initiatives were implemented,” Gomery wrote. “Mr. Pelletier failed to take the most elementary precautions against mismanagement – and Mr. Chretien was responsible for him.”
Gomery said the professed “good intentions” of promoting Canadian unity are “not an excuse for maladministration of this magnitude.” “The prime minister and his chief of staff abrogated to themselves the direction of a virtually secret program of discretionary spending to selected beneficiaries, saying that in good faith they believed in good faith that those grants would enhance Canadian unity.
Gomery disparages each man’s testimony that they thought the program would be properly administered by Guite and his organization. “They did not verify this assumption even though they had created a program lacking all the normal safeguards against administration,” Gomery said. “The assumption was naive, imprudent and entirely unfounded.”
Gomery also casts blamed on five advertising agencies in Quebec, all of whom contributed to the Liberal Party. “Whether legal or illicit, there was at least an implicit link between the contributions and the expectations that government contracts would be awarded,” he said.
He accused the agencies of “profiteering,” thanks to the negligent administratio of the sponsorship program by public works. In effect, he confirmed they engaged in gross overcharging, overbilling, charging for work not performed, conficts of interests and other dubious practices. |
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| Bad Egg |
The report tells us pretty much what we knew already. Now Paul can call an election, accuse the PC's of wanting to take healthcare away from old folks, abortion away from young women & generally being the modern reincarnation of the KKK.
:dunno: Same old song, as long as the Conservatives are Western based the Libs will play that off the East's fears and the status quo will remain.
If you are wondering why Klein pops his head up during the federal election campaigns and shoots the federal PC's in the foot, it is because it is the provincial PC' interest to keep a bad old Liberal government in Ottawa as a boogeyman to keep the locals voting PC. Any inroads made by provincial Libs or NDP made in the last 20 years were when Mulroney was in charge.
Canadian politics is annoyingly predictable and predictably annoying. |
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| LeadSled |
Yep I agree, its unfortunate, but the East is going to keep voting in the Liberals no matter how many gun registration fiascos or advertising scams they run.
I honestly can't think of how a country can be so polarized and remain this way. Honestly I am a somewhat proud Canadian, but if given the chance to vote for a Western seperatist group, I'd seriously consider it. I don't want to have to support this BS anymore. |
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| notaturbotalon |
| It's amazing some people can feel canadian pride. Our country is so obviously split down the middle, I can't believe it still functions. My biggest political fear right now is what will happen when Ralph is out of office, what if the next premier has no backbone and decides to share our wealth with the east. We'll basically be working our asses off to feed to big brothers then, the East and the US, what will be left for us. |
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| DeathBy240 |
quote:
Originally posted by notaturbotalon
It's amazing some people can feel canadian pride. Our country is so obviously split down the middle, I can't believe it still functions. My biggest political fear right now is what will happen when Ralph is out of office, what if the next premier has no backbone and decides to share our wealth with the east. We'll basically be working our asses off to feed to big brothers then, the East and the US, what will be left for us.
Why shouldn't we help out the East? Was it you, or was it Ralph that put all the oil beneath us? No.
I hate how fucking greedy this province is... |
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| shorti |
quote:
Originally posted by DeathBy240
Why shouldn't we help out the East? Was it you, or was it Ralph that put all the oil beneath us? No.
I hate how fucking greedy this province is...
did the east help us when we were dirt poor about 30 years ago?
fuck no
remember the national energy program? ya know where the east took billions from alberta. |
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| ChromeDragon |
Well most of them didn't pay attention in the past (or weren't alive) when it was Alberta receiving the transfer payments. The thing is, the east didn't bitch about transfer payments anywhere near as much as Albertans do.
We are a country people, not competing provinces. When is this going to get into people's heads?
When the oil is all gone we will go back to being one of the provinces being supported if we don't develop our economy outside the oil sector. |
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| snugs |
quote:
Originally posted by LeadSled
I honestly can't think of how a country can be so polarized and remain this way. Honestly I am a somewhat proud Canadian, but if given the chance to vote for a Western seperatist group, I'd seriously consider it. I don't want to have to support this BS anymore.
lol, now there's that good ol' conservative western angst I was hoping to see.
Each party plays the people of the regions in order to maintain their base of support. The PCs whip the flatlanders into a froth about being alienated and the Libs portray the PCs as being wingnuts where they can, and people eat it up.
I figure it will be another minority liberal government next time, possibly with the NDP picking up some seats and the PQ doing better in Quebec.... Harper just doesn't come across as the guy people want to see in charge. :dunno: |
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| SilverZ24 |
quote:
Originally posted by ChromeDragon
The thing is, the east didn't bitch about transfer payments anywhere near as much as Albertans do.
Have you heard Ontario bitch about the transfer payments lately??
And it will be really funny when the maritime provinces one day make enough from offshore drilling that they have to make transfer payments. Can you imagine the complaining they will do? lol |
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| Bad Egg |
The Liberals will slide out from this mess like they always do. Canadians seem to expect corruption from government and are therefore never that shocked when it eventually emerges. We in Canada prefer the devil we know and barring another recession we won't change the party in power.
We are just barely smart enough to not give the NDP too much power, and the Conservatives are just wimpy enough not to provide a real alternative to the Liberals. Without a charasmatic leader of the PCs to reverse the fortunes of the Conservatives in central Canada we will just see anothe 1/2 decade of the same crooks robbing us blind.
We get the government we deserve.
<I think Alberta should seperate and charge a lobster tax on all the East Coasters before they can get their working papers.> |
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| LeadSled |
Alberta currently has the second largest total oil reserve in the world, next to the Saudi's, and the amount that's recoverable is always increasing. I hope as our output of oil rises ( oilsands production slated to triple over the next 10 years) that we invest in long term projects for longer term stability.
I can't see any reason to increase the $$$ we send to the East. Deathby240 makes it sound like we won the lottery. Albertans work the most hours per week of any province and we live with the consequences of the developement, including environmental and infrastructure and health strains. Obviously they have all the money they need if there's billions of dollars sitting around to blow on gun registries or convincing Quebec to have Canadian pride (ad scam). I'd rather see the money stay where it was produced and improve education, health care and roads here for the people who actually work to make the money.
I am honestly ashamed to live in the only Federal Liberal riding in Alberta. Who in the downtown sector votes for these clowns? |
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| Talontsi96 |
It's funny how a few million dollars federally is such a hot topic but when Ralphy screwed the Beef ranchers (Mad cow relief) by blowing over 200 million provincially (yes just within our province not the whole country) and filtered it throuh the packers (screwing the ranchers and us taxpayers) its not that hot of a topic.
When Ralphy and his PC buddies were renting cars for over $1000 a day and paying $10 for a cup of orange juice on their trips it was a mere half a page article in the paper one day.
When Ralphy deregulated our power/gas and we ended up paying double then tripple of what we were paying (in the fricking cold) its all over looked. We Albertans were paying the lowest power rates in the world untill Ralphy and the genius PCs decided they could improve the system.
And the best of all when Ralphy is by some mirracle confronted about the Mad Cow screw up he just answers "I don't have to answer that" and storms out. Hello its our money and youre not the King...you better answer....
I say any government that stays in power for too long will end up being corrupt. This goes for for the Liberals (federally) and for the PC (in Alberta). |
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| Buddyworm |
I'm glad I'm not very politically inclined. I think I'd go crazy. The way I see it, they're all shitheads. I can see why people my age don't vote. The government comes across as a bunch of old dried up prunes intent on pissing away as much money as they possibly can.
Sure, I'll vote for the lesser of two evils, but like it's going to matter.
B-Wurm :D |
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| Talontsi96 |
quote:
Originally posted by Buddyworm
The way I see it, they're all shitheads. I can see why people my age don't vote. The government comes across as a bunch of old dried up prunes intent on pissing away as much money as they possibly can.
B-Wurm :D
Unfortunately that is absolutely true a specially when they have many, many, many terms to get comfy in their seats and get all the connections worked out to spend/filter OUR money. On top of it they sometimes get cocky and think that no matter what they do they will get re-elected anyway. That's when they do shit they want without even caring what the public thinks. Of course some times they just send people (rebate) checks just before election to buy their votes and for most people it works since cash seems to have a nice tendency to make people forget about the bad shit from the past.
What people don't seem to realize is that the cheques they are getting are not the "governments" money...its our money that was taken from us in the first place and ten fold at that...
The way to keep them honest (relatively) is to keep them guessing about their future re-election and their job security. This has a tendency for them to at least try to do a good job and stay honest or they'll get fired. If they figure their jobs are guaranteed they just don't give a shit and do what they want without concequences.
The Liberals have been in power for too long Federally....the same goes for the PC's here but I doubt that people will see this and anything will really change in the near future.
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| lilweiner |
| WTF why send our money to the east ... all those lazy fuckers are coming out here working for 9 months, then going on unemployment anywayz.... so... whos fucking the system? maybe if they werent abusing the system, maybe there would be some extra $$$ to send their way, but they all come here work for a lil bit, then sit on thier fat ass. Maybe if we all did our part in canada it would be a perfect place, but it only takes one person to mess up the machine. |
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