The Fleecing: PWGSC Feds' 10% solution, Fraud: Guite & Italian Grand Prix, Corruption & What to Do, Investor Info, Feds-Airports & Ports

This is "unprecedented" says Mike Duffy

Do not miss.
Liberals put new limits on opposition motions -- anything to thwart democracy -- CTV.ca News Staff

CTV Newsnet: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper 7:19




Liberals: Playing the Same Tune

In other words, give my party another chance to fleece you -- in the name of national unity.

National unity is on the line: Joe Volpe CTV.ca News Staff

[. . . . ] "The greatest threat to national unity is what the Liberals have apparently done in Quebec through what's being investigated by the Gomery inquiry," said Manning.

"And for them to pretend that any national unity problem that's created now is someone else's responsibility is simply not believable." [. . . . ]

[Ed] Broadbent, however, said waiting for Gomery might just make things worse for the government.

"I think we're going to see more fallout from the Liberals," he said

PWGSC: Feds' 10% solution 'a disaster'

Feds' 10% solution 'a disaster' April 19, 2005, Greg Weston, Sun Ottawa Bureau

Perhaps taking a page from Adscam and the art of the Liberal shakedown, Paul Martin's government is quietly in the process of trying to screw thousands of its best Canadian suppliers out of billions of dollars.

The federal purchasing department recently sent a rather stunning letter to more than 2,600 Canadian companies that supply the government with everything from computers to new carpets.

[. . . . ]

Search: by 10% (or else, strongly implied) , The "greening" of government in this case , Do the math: Since , Susan Murray, spokesperson for Public Works Minister Scott Brison




Kinsella -- Martin's Political Ties to Earnscliffe Strategy Group -- Intimidation

Kinsella warned Martin aide of problems CP, April 18, 2005

[. . . . ] "Terrie, all of this spells trouble and you know it," Kinsella wrote in his letter.

"The competition was flawed, the payment is excessive, the work is probably not needed, and the research community can be fully expected to blow the whistle on the political connections here."

Kinsella was an aide to Public Works Minister David Dingwall at the time and was responsible for ensuring that government departments followed contracting rules. He was later a fierce supporter of Jean Chretien in the leadership dispute with Martin.

[. . . . ] In a sign of the political heat involved, Kinsella told the committee that he received a telephone call recently from someone who suggested Dingwall might come under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office to refute Kinsella's testimony.

Kinsella said he took that as intimidation. He refused to name the caller publicly, but said he would pass on the name to the committee chairman.

Related:

Martin under fire: Kinsella alleges PM knew about 'rigged' contracts

Paul Martin knew about claims of "bad behaviour" involving public-opinion contracts for a firm closely tied to his leadership campaign but threatened to quit his job as finance minister if his top advisor was disciplined, a former Liberal aide testified yesterday.

Martin took personal hand in contracts for Earnscliffe, MPs told Jim Brown, April 19, 05, National Post

[. . . . ] Several other Martin confidants also worked at Earnscliffe, which was often jokingly referred to at the time as Martin's prime-minister's-office-in-waiting. [. . . . ]

Kinsella also startled the hearing by claiming he had received a phone call, just before he testified, warning him that his old boss Dingwall might come under pressure from the Prime Minister's Office to "disavow" some of the things he planned to say.

"I took it to be intimidation," said Kinsella.

He wouldn't make the name of the caller public but agreed to give it privately to Conservative committee chairman John Williams. [. . . . ]

Corruption & What You May Do About It

Turn your speakers on, watch and listen.

The Issue -- and action a citizen may take.

Transcripts for the Gomery Inquiry Public Hearings are here but sadly out of date, with respect to translation. If you listen and watch it live, translation is provided. Eventually -- translation maybe before an election is called?

The Gomery Inquiry Transcripts -- in French -- English translation when? I doubt that it is a government priority and the translation department has much work to do.


We paid for Guite's trip to Italian Grand Prix

MONTREAL - The Gomery inquiry has unearthed some unusual bills in its investigation of the federal government's sponsorship scandal, but few stand out as starkly as a 1998 Groupaction correspondence to the organizers of the Montreal Grand Prix. [. . . . ]

Corruption

Grand Prix organizers aided Groupaction plan to buy tickets with public cash Brian Daly, Macleans, Apr. 18, 05

MONTREAL (CP) - Top Canadian Grand Prix organizers conspired with the Groupaction ad firm to hide $264,000 in racing tickets under a sponsorship contract, the federal sponsorship inquiry heard Monday.

Documents show the scheme was one of two occasions where race officials falsified paperwork to shower expensive Formula One tickets on the ad firm at the centre of the sponsorship scandal. Two Grand Prix vice-presidents admitted the federal sponsorship contract for the 1998 auto race was boosted to $900,000 from $700,000 the previous year. [. . . . ]

Diane Francis: Taxpayers deserve to know where the money goes



Canadian dollar among primary currencies most sensitive to oil-price shocks

Falling metals prices and anticipation that low interest rates will remain unchanged are factors often blamed when the loonie performs poorly. But the Canadian dollar is also seen as a particularly oil-sensitive currency, according to CIBC World Markets. So when crude oil prices fell last week, the loonie was understandably the second-worst performer among primary currencies. CIBC sees the declining price of crude oil as a short-term correction, but political uncertainty related to a possible federal election call is also likely weighing on the dollar.

Trust

A Crisis of Trust -- Investment industry needs to be cleaned up Linda Leatherdale, Apr. 19. 05, Toronto Sun

[. . . . ] If we threaten to fight back by withholding taxes, we go to jail. But the political fraudsters will walk. Just wait.

"It's time to clean up our government and our investment industry before it is too late," warns Stan Buell, founder of the Small Investor Protection Association. "The government in power must be turfed out, a new government must be held accountable and made to reform our investment industry, if Canadians hope to live in a future where corruption does not rule."

TESTIFIED

Buell has taken his fight to the Senate banking committee in Ottawa, where he testified that . . . .

Now, here's how you can speak out. . . .

The Ontario Securities Commission is holding [. . . . ]

If you've got an investment horror story to share, show up. [. . . . ]

For the sake of the future of this country, and to put an end to corruption, it's time to stand up, and speak out. [. . . . ]

Link to Leatherdale's article to find out what you may do.




Feds & Airports: "Slaughtering the goose that lays the golden eggs"

Only Ottawa makes money from flying Robert Stromberg, Financial Post, April 19, 2005

Robert Stromberg is the recently retired chair of the Saskatoon Airport Authority. This is excerpted from his final remarks at the authority's annual meeting.; The StarPhoenix

[. . . . ] So guess who's making big money in the Canadian aviation industry? It's the Government of Canada. And it starts with the scandal of airport rent, but it goes further.

Add to that the additional money the federal government is collecting:

- $200-million from the security tax

- $500-million from GST on the purchase of airline tickets

- $50-million from aviation fuel tax.

And just to rub salt in the wounds, the federal government demands free space in airports, including Saskatoon. So in addition to charging rent and providing no services, they're also squatters.

That totals nearly a billion dollars every year in taxes from the air industry. All this from a federal government with a financial surplus amounting to billions of dollars. [. . . . ]

Montreal's container traffic increases an unprecedented 13% in first quarter

The Port of Montreal's container traffic surged an unprecedented 13% in the first quarter and will set another record in 2005 despite a slowdown expected in the summer months. In March alone more than a million tonnes of container cargo were handled, a new monthly peak, bringing the first-quarter total to 2.8 million tonnes, Dominic Taddeo, the Montreal Port Authority's chief executive, said yesterday. "We've got a 39.8% share of the North Atlantic market against New York's 35%, but with the tempo of the North American and European economies it's only realistic to set the gain at about 4% for all 2005," he said after the MPA's annual meeting.

And how many containers are checked by port security? How many members of a criminal gang(s) work at the Port?