Peter Newman--An old lefty laments the decline of Jean Chretien

I was a bit shocked to see Newman's critique of Chretien in The National Post (May 14, 05). He started by sharing his recollections of the early Chretien, whom he saw as a humane, self-deprecating individual in his political infancy. However, Lord Acton's maxim: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", proved to define Chretien's rise in power and his later personna.

Newman sees Chretien's attempts to discredit the Gomery Inquiry as consistent with his past behaviour. When the Somalia Commission got too close to the top brass and senior politicians, he closed it down. Even worse was his attitude to the Horace Klever Inquiry, which showed that blood transfusions were knowingly given, despite the fact that they were contaminated with Hepatitis C and HIV. Ottawa knew this was happening; yet did nothing about it. The Liberals also refused to grant financial aid to those that became infected until public outrage forced them to act. As for the HRDC scandal, Chretien blatantly lied when he claimed that only $6,500 went missing. Newman notes that: ". . . a Human Resources' internal audit revealed that at least 469 departmental files lacked proper documentation or follow-ups. When the Auditor-General confirmed the problem, Chretien shut down the subsequent hearings by forbidding Liberal members to attend, thus denying the inquiry the necessary quorum."

Now the Gomery Inquiry is getting testimony about suitcases of illegal campaign money being delivered to his riding of Shawinigan, where he had called his candidates. Are we to believe that Chretien didn't know about these candidates being financed with secret cash? The electorate should remember that it is not simply Paul Martin and his gang that have besmirched the Liberal brand, but also the man who led the party for 11 years. The sponsorship scandal was incubated, and ultimately controlled, by Chretien. For Liberal insiders to try to now distance themselves from his most egregious actions is like all the Nazi monsters at Nuremberg claiming Hitler was the only one responsible. The judges didn't buy that argument, nor should the public buy the Liberals' feeble alibi that they were only following Chretien's orders.

© Bud Talkinghorn

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