Bud Talkinghorn: Sponsorship, Gun Registry, Souped-up Camero, Gran Prix Formula 1, BDC--All in the Family, Arbour, Revenge, Firewalls, Kazemi & CA Gov

Bud Talkinghorn

The Brault testimony -- Where does one even begin?

Like a dying man who wants to clear his conscience, Brault has testified to the vast chicanery of our government -- alleged corruption, of course. He seems to have hoarded every incriminating scrap--day planners, invoices and correspondence. The broad strokes of the revelations shows a Liberal Party engaging in a massive criminal conspiracy to fleece Canadians. However, it was the small, individual scams revealed that are breathtaking for me.

Testimony that Gabriel Chretien, brother to Jean, received $4,000 from Groupaction for "the cause". The "cause" requests demanded by other Liberal bigwigs reached the hundreds of thousands level. Mr. Morselli, a Gagliano henchman, was furious that Brault never paid the second installment of a $100,000 bribe to secure the Gun Registry contract. And we wonder how that registry ever got a a billion dollars, plus?

Then there was the fatuous souped-up Camero stock car scam. For $200,000, plus Groupaction's usual hefty commission, Canadians got a series of stockcar races, with the Camero. not driven by Villeneuve, but by a Groupaction employee. I nearly forgot, the car did have a few Canadian bumper stickers. Unfortunately the larger Groupaction stickers tended to obscure them. The stickers cost $2,000, but the government was charged $30,000 for them.

Staying with that all Canadian sport, car racing, the government paid $900,000, plus a $114,000 "production cost". to sponsor the Gran Prix Formula 1. The agreed-on price for sponsoring this event was $700,000. The rest was pure Liberal / Groupaction gravy. The best one can say for these events is that, at least, they actually occurred.

Some events that Brault billed for were phantom ones. The Liberals paid $330,000 up front for an open air 'salon' that never materialized. Nobody in the government ever thought of asking for a refund, until now. I can only presume that the Mafia are taking copious notes on how to launder the proceeds.

On another occasion, when Brault was growing afraid that Alain Renaud, his chief Liberal contact, was getting too much attention, he tried to cut him off the payroll. Renaud had already been paid $1.1 million. Then Tony Mignacca, an organizer for Alfonso Gagliano, threatened him with the loss of a Via Rail contract. "Mr. Choo choo would not be pleased with his lack of cooperation", he was told. [Mr. Choo Choo in ViaRail, who could that be? ]

The Pandora's Box has been opened, but not all the ills and evils have flown out yet. The top "rainmaker" for federal contracts, Alain Renaud, testified that one $30,000 kickback was to go exclusively for the re-election of Jean Chretien. We are left to wonder what the kickback to that election campaign was from that Belgian fraudster, the one who got over $600,000 in loans from the Business Development Bank. When Francois Beaudoin, the bank's president, refused to loan even more to this bankrupt Inn, Chretien attacked his character and had him fired. Big Jean wasn't just the guy who, figuratively, drove the get-a-way car, he could play the enforcer, when necessary.

The fallout from this single whistleblower has sent shockwaves through the political system. Die-hard Liberals will have to wear clothespins on their noses to cast a vote for the Liberals.

Scott Brison, who has had to field most of the barbed questions in Question Periods, should simply record his stock response and hit play when they come:

These are sheer allegations. Nothing more. Let us wait for the Gomery Commission to finish its work.

Among members of the poor electorate, it is the final body blow. Instead of their placing politicians on a par with used car salesmen, they have dropped them to the gangster category. Let's hope there is a tidal wave of disgust when the inevitable early election arrives. Now that Brault has "ratted on" the Liberals, the following witnesses are going to be freed from the grip of amnesia that afflicted Jean Lefleur. A veritable cesspool of bribery and influence peddling at the highest levels awaits us. Let it overflow and touch each Canadian taxpayer.

© Bud Talkinghorn -- in my humble opinion, of course




The Kazemi scandal deepens

It came as a shock to me to discover that the Liberals knew months ago that Ms. Kazemi had in fact been tortured to death. The government tried to hide behind the argument that they had to remain silent to protect the Iranian doctor; yet, he had or has been living in Sweden for months. Once his story was confirmed, he could have been given immediate refugee status. We allow undocumented, bogus refugees into the country every day. Our ambassador should have been recalled and economic sanctions applied. There must be a financial angle to maintaining trade with this pariah regime. Perhaps now that ex-Prime Minister Jean Chretien has finished with the Yukos Oil scam in Russia, he has turned his attention to Iran's oil. Or do powerful Liberal supporters have interests there? The depth of corruption that underpins the Liberal hold on power is such that almost any accusation against them is mulled over. The anemic response to the Kazemi case certainly does not give one a sense of security while travelling abroad.

© Bud Talkinghorn

My Comment:

I vaguely remember something about SNC Lavalin and Iran, but check further -- I may be getting this mixed up with an article on SNC Lavalin and some other country. There is so much going on that the head spins and memories flee, replaced by something new. NJC



Note: I apologize to Bud for not posting all the following when I should have. . . but life and events get in the way. These are still relevant; besides, people seem to like Bud's articles. NJC



Events overran my Gomery blog within the hour

Much of what I wrote about Brault's possible testimony was broadcast--with some exceptions concerning his criminal trial. So far, Brault has admitted that Groupaction was brought into the Gun Registry by none other than Jean Lefleur. A New Brunswick communication firm, Compass, was brought in as well. They all met with Chuck Guite for a supper at an expensive restaurant. This was after Groupaction had made their pitch for contracts. There were numerous liasons with federal and provincial Liberals following that one. Prosecutor Roy took Brault down the money trail. Invoives to Alain Renault, a powerful lobbyist, ran into $190,000 during 1996 while the total cost for Renault's services over four years was $1.2 million. That might sound excessive until you understand the hundreds of millions that Groupaction and other agencies siphoned off in government contracts. While the CBC commentators dance around Jean Chretien's direct involvement in these crimes, one did pipe up, "But he is still the elephant in the room." Well, the hippo in the room is Alfonso Gagliano, the Liberals' erstwhile Quebec lieutenant.

© Bud Talkinghorn -- all allegations, as yet, of course



O Brave New Global World

Note: I think what Bud says is relevant. Yesterday and again this morning (April 11), the CBC ( Solomon and McNeil, Sunday morning ) featured Louise Arbour and discussion of the world's woes. Someone is pushing Louise Arbour and global government. And now, to Bud . . . . NJC


Lately, in The National Post there was a small, anecdotal essay by Peter Newman regarding Paul Martin. In conversation, Martin was full of utopian ideas about how the West should guarantee the Third World, health, income, and technology equivalent to Canada's. Newman took this as a sincere desire. He is now wondering (bless his old liberal soul) whether Martin will fulfill that messianic vision.

The very idea that a fairly seasoned politician would consider such ruinous nonsense is bizarre. And he went on to become the Finance Minister. What he was envisioning was a United Nations completely run amok. The idea of driving the tax burden higher for Canadians, while a bunch of UN-type kleptocrats buy new palaces is too much to endure. It is more repugnant than Jean Chretien's futile attempt to create a positive legacy with his Africa Fund idea. Paul brings up Germany's enormous effort to bring East Germany up to their Western standards. This is the East Germany that already had an industrial infastructure and a remnent of memory of free enterprise. Fifteen years later it has risen from previous dysfunctional state; to become the poorest area of Germany. Untold billions of dollars were pumped into it, simply to arrive at this poor cousin state. Now what can we expect from the Third World? There, we are dealing with countries that can't even handle their argricultural sector. Where civil war is raging--or about to rage--and the governments are not only corrupt, but totally inefficient. Rather, the government should prop up the important Second World countries. Already Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela have drifted to the left, abetted by the burgeoning poor. These countries are surely more important to our security and economic aims than Africa's. Paul Martin should stop talking to Maurice Strong, a man who fitted Don Cherry's idea of the classic "pinko, liberal elite".

It's all about our failing health care and pension systems, Paul -- and corruption derailing governing, not Strong's global efforts to solve the self-inflicted ills of the world's basket cases.

© Bud Talkinghorn




A poisoned apple falls on Martin's head and he discovers the law of revenge


The buzz is all about what Breault testified about in the Gomery Commission. I watched Mike Duffy on CTV Newsnet and he had witnessed the entire affair. He claimed that even Liberal insiders believe that the testimony proves so damaging to the Liberal Party that it might bring it down. He also made the comment that that Chretien had left behind landmines for Martin to stumble upon. A shrewd observation that one. Chretien is nothing, if not vindictive, viz Beaudoin the head of the Business Development Corporation (or Bank?). From the viewpoint of Brault a little honesty about Adscam might help scare the big boys into fixing his trial, or at least a cozy Club Fed incarceration. He is not going to fall on his sword for the likes of Chretien or Martin--unless there is a pay-off. "Pay-off" has always been the name of the game. This is going to be interesting. Maybe we will get to see Guite turn on his masters as well. There are a lot of politicians who are not going to have to take some steam to build up a good sweat.

© Bud Talkinghorn





The Liberals -- erecting firewalls

First, the Liberals set up the Gomery Inquiry in the hope that they could buy time. "Let the inquiry do their job", has been the answer to any noxious information coming out. Then they launched a lawsuit against the ad agencies that bilked taxpayers. The suit was for $41 million--less than half of the amount that Sheila Fraser suspects was siphoned off from the sponsorship program. That trial, the Liberals hoped, would extend beyond their mandate. They could refuse to answer any questions about their evidence against the perpetrators, because "It is before the courts". Finally, the Liberals began to really panic at Brault's testimony, and demanded a standing before the Gomery Commission. They wanted to have a full day for their lawyers to refute Braut's recollections, ostensibly because they, too, are the "victims" of chicanery. A priceless bit of spin doctoring, that! All this on top of Chretien's going to the Federal Court to have Justice Gomery removed from the Commission. What's next, a wave of witness assassinations? David Dingwall's comment to Chuck Guite, something to this effect, we can trust you because you didn't rat out your PC bosses, so you won't rat on us, is growing more doubtful by the day. My word, even Liberal Cabinet Ministers use the argot of the Mafia. That should have been a tip-off to their scruples right there. Thankfully, the blogosphere is on the case and Canadians have heard some of what Brault has had to say and the Liberals' feeble attempts to besmirch his evidence.

© Bud Talkinghorn




This smoking gun is brought to you by Groupaction

My day was made when I read the editorial page of the National Post one day this week. There, tucked into a column by L. Ian MacDonald was the revelation that Groupaction did handle the Gun Registry ad contract. This brings up the subject of the vast overruns in the registry's budget--zooming from only two million to over $1-billion. When reporters talk about "explosive information" coming out, is it because Brault is telling the Gomery Commission they scammed that contract, as well? The shockwaves that would reverberate from such testimony would sink the Liberals. The idea that the Gun Registry, that absurd sacred cow which the Liberals will defend to the death, is just another patronage / kickback scheme would be the coup de grace. The leftist rhetoric maintaining, "Even a billion is not too much, if it saves one life" would sound rather hollow following this revelation. Then, consider what that admission would do to the NDP support for the minority Liberals. The Gun Registry is exactly the kind of statism that the NDP would impose if they came to power. To find out that the Liberals were simply using it as a slush fund, would quickly drain that support.

Another interesting bit of testimony was given outside the courtroom, when Alain Richard, a PR flack for Groupaction, admitted that between $50,000 and $90,000 was given to the separtist PQ. Money that ostensively was targetted for federalism, but ends up in the hands of their arch-enemy is explosive indeed. Martin would have to stop donning his Captain Canada cloak. Jean Charest is in the same sweat lodge as Martin, because there are possible links to pay-offs to the provincial Liberals as well. Charest's communication director quit over how to contain the damage. Worse, his interim replacement will be Michel Guitard, who was a former director of Groupe Everest. That firm was investigated for sponsorship corruption.

Small wonder the Quebecois have been glued to their televisions. The unfolding story is better than a soap opera. Now that Brault is exposing the whole set-up, will the other witnesses be more forecoming? It will be hard to follow Jean Lefleur's litany of "I don't remember" answers. I still hate to see how this scandal keeps being viewed as mainly a Quebec issue. The rest of Canada has an equal concern about our money being squandered. The gas crisis is going to make raging inflation a major electoral concern. The Liberals squandered while the average Canadian struggled to make ends meet. Will Guite will have a few revised stories to tell later?

To add a Tony Soprano touch, La Presse reported that Joe Morselli, a top fund raiser for both the federal and the provincial Liberals (also chief organizer for Alfonso Gagliano) was given the catering contract for the Federal Tax Center in Shawinigan, along with that for the RCMP headquarters in Montreal. Mr. Morselli must have made some powerful enemies, as his car was blown up outside his house in 1989. Think of the plot implications--Chretien's Shawinigan, Gagliano, and an attempted mob hit. This story has legs.

© Bud Talkinghorn




The spin-offs from the Gomery Inquiry will defeat Liberal spin

The Gomery Inquiry has aroused memories of previous Liberal scandals. Now the populous is asking itself how corrupt the HRDC scandal really was. Over a billion dollars worth of "Transitional Jobs funds" were so mismanaged that we don't know where the money went. The responsibiliy for handing out the loot was given to the Quebec Liberal Party faithful. It was patronage heaven. One professor at McGill asked for a certain sum and was given twice the requested amount. When he informed HRDC about the mistake, he was told to keep the money. Another grant recipient had not even asked for any money. Were millions skimmed off by charlatans, while large sums were kicked back to the Liberal Party?

And has anybody logically explained how a gun registry that was supposed to be self-supporting could have escalated to a $1-billion and more? Now we have the Liberals demanding legal standing in the Inquiry. The cost to the taxpayers for this Liberal spin exercise will be in the millions. This is the government which closed down the Somalia Inquiry, just when it was the turn for top civilians to testify. The only outcome from that farce was the disbanding of the Airborne Regiment. In short, the disreputable actions of a few soldiers resulted in the collective punishment of the entire regiment. One can only hope that the Liberals will apply the same collective punishment to itself and disband.

© Bud Talkinghorn