#1 Sponsorship Program -- Gomery Inquiry -- The Time Has Come When the Frost Hits the Rhubarb

Update: I want to make myself clear.

All the posts below from Hansard contain outraged Quebeckers who do not believe corruption defines Quebec and Quebeckers. All the decent Quebec citizens want it to end.

It is not Quebec sleaze; it is particular to those involved, who may, or may not, include the highest reaches of our government and/or the Liberal Party. At this point, we do not know.


Pertinent online radio:

CFRA: Ottawa -- discussion on whether Quebec should leave Canada, whether it has, in effect, already left -- and more. Link to this and listen. while you read or skim the following.


May I recommend?

The Canadian Geographic Atlas -- for a break from the sleaze -- by people who actually "produce" instead of "consult" or prepare "advertising" to prop up . . . to sell us to ourselves through . . . Fill in the rest for yourself.



Now to the . . .

37th PARLIAMENT, 3rd SESSION Standing Committee on Public Accounts -- EVIDENCE, March 24, 2004 -- Sponsorship Program (1430)

Note: emphasis is mine. NJC

(1430)

Sponsorship Program

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just told the leader of the Bloc that if the Liberal Party is involved in criminal activity, it will return the money. I want the Prime Minister to commit to the House that if the Liberal Party of Canada is involved in criminal activity, it will be charged to the full extent of the law.

Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, what I said, in order to set the record straight, is that if inappropriate moneys have been received, they will be returned. I have said that from the beginning. Now, in terms of the answer, no one in this country is above the law.

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, let us be absolutely clear. The RCMP has been called in. If the Liberal Party is involved in criminal activity, it will be charged. Will the Prime Minister say it?

Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the statement that was made by Mr. Mitchell is that the Liberal Party has been defrauded and that the RCMP has been called in to determine if the Liberal Party was the target of fraud.

[. . . . ]

Mr. Benoît Sauvageau (Repentigny, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the real victims of the sponsorship scandal are not the Liberals but the taxpayers.

On behalf of the taxpayers, victims of the sponsorships, I ask the Liberal government why it does not immediately set up a trust fund for the dirty money the Liberals received as part of the sponsorship scandal? [. . . . ]

There is much more. Search.



Hansard: Sponsorship Program (1425) March 24, 05

Sponsorship Program

Mr. Gilles Duceppe (Laurier—Sainte-Marie, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the Gomery commission is revealing some surprises. The Liberal Party is apparently the victim of a plot hatched by a so-called parallel group. Public testimony alone shows the government story is not credible. It reveals that the Liberal Party is at the heart of the sponsorship scandal to such an extent that, in the past three elections, all Liberal candidates from Shawinigan to Outremont to LaSalle have benefited from tainted money.

Instead of being an accessory, will the Prime Minister demand that the Liberal Party reimburse the tainted money?

Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc must know that supporters of all political parties, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative Party and the NDP, are honest people devoted to their party, their country and their cause. It is important not attempt to tarnish the reputation of thousands of party supporters.

If one isolated group of people has done something inappropriate, it will be punished. We will see with the Gomery commission. The consequences will be felt by—

[. . . . ] Mr. Gilles Duceppe: The Ali Babas of this world can keep quiet. There is only one thing to do—stop being an accessory, return the tainted money, create a trust fund immediately. I will repeat this outside anytime.

[. . . . ] Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, according to previous testimony at the Gomery inquiry, a number of high profile Liberals have been identified as being very active in the sponsorship scandal including Carle, Pelletier, Chrétien, Gagliano, Corbeil, Morseli, Bard, Corriveau. The list is long.

[. . . . ] Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the government is trying to shirk its responsibilities by separating the Liberals into the old guard and the new guard.

Has the Prime Minister already forgotten that he was the second in command under the old guard, that he was the finance minister, that he was the vice-chair of the Treasury Board under the old guard and that many of his current ministers were part of what he calls the old guard, that is, the same old gang?

[. . . . ] (1430)

Sponsorship Program

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just told the leader of the Bloc that if the Liberal Party is involved in criminal activity, it will return the money. I want the Prime Minister to commit to the House that if the Liberal Party of Canada is involved in criminal activity, it will be charged to the full extent of the
law.

Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, what I said, in order to set the record straight, is that if inappropriate moneys have been received, they will be returned. I have said that from the beginning. Now, in terms of the answer, no one in this country is above the law.

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, let us be absolutely clear. The RCMP has been called in. If the Liberal Party is involved in criminal activity, it will be charged. Will the Prime Minister say it?

Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the statement that was made by Mr. Mitchell is that the Liberal Party has been defrauded and that the RCMP has been called in to determine if the Liberal Party was the target of fraud.

[. . . . ] Mr. Michel Gauthier (Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ): Mr. Speaker, when he established the Gomery inquiry, the Prime Minister himself stated that there was political involvement in the sponsorship scandal. [. . . . ]

Mr. Michel Gauthier (Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the Prime Minister is doing everything he can to dissociate the Liberal Party from the sponsorship scandal. To accomplish this, he is trying to tell us that the Liberal Party has nothing to do with it, and is a victim. Yet the Liberal Party is at the very heart of the sponsorship gimmick, and we all know that.

How can the Prime Minister justify the fact that, the day after Jean Chrétien testified before the Gomery inquiry, he welcomed him to caucus where he was given a hero's ovation? If he wants to distance himself from all this, why did he find Jean Chrétien so admirable the day after his testimony?

[. . . . ] Mr. Benoît Sauvageau (Repentigny, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the real victims of the sponsorship scandal are not the Liberals but the taxpayers.

On behalf of the taxpayers, victims of the sponsorships, I ask the Liberal government why it does not immediately set up a trust fund for the dirty money the Liberals received as part of the sponsorship scandal?

(1440)

[. . . . ] Mr. Benoît Sauvageau (Repentigny, BQ): Mr. Speaker, they must not wait for the end of the Gomery inquiry to put the dirty money in trust; it must be done now.

Since the names of some of the people involved are already known, and some of the money involved has been identified, and we know that the gangrene has spread to the highest levels of the Liberal Party, how can the government pretend to be a victim of sponsorships, when it refuses to take the dirty money out of its coffers? [. . . . ]

More will come.

Frost Hits the Rhubarb