The true offspring of Howard Wilson--another ethics lapdog

Speaking of ethics, The National Post (Wed. 11) showcased the lack thereof in the new, (supposedly improved) Ethics Commissioner, Bernard Shapiro. After months of investigating and $150,000 in legal payments, Shapiro claims that Judy Sgro is innocent of all influence peddling charges against her. However, he refused to release his complete report to a House of Commons committee. He did admit to using the same law firm to handle the case which is presently defending the Liberal party at the Gomery Inquiry. This is a firm which donated $165,000 to the Liberals between 2000 and 2003, as well as donating $25,000 to Paul Martin's leadership campaign [That is the part we know about; check.]. The firm was also picked without any tendering procedure. The whole thing is akin to hiring Lucky Luciano to investigate Al Capone.

Ed Broadbent--the only NDPer I would ever consider voting for--criticized Shapiro for exempting both John Manley and Lyle Vanclief, two former Liberal cabinet ministers, from the two year restriction on lobbying. Broadbent also pointed out that Shapiro has done nothing about investigating eight decisions by Howard Wilson, his predecessor, which were overturned by the courts. The vicious slandering of Mr. Beaudoin, who was forced out of the Business Development Bank by Chretien, so Chretien could appoint his buddy, Jean Carle, is the most famous case. And then there is Shapiro's failure to honour his promise to review and update the electorate on Paul Martin's position in regards to when he should recuse himself from financial decisions. Considering that Martin's CSL raked in $161 million in government loans, grants, and other sums, that should have been his first concern. [Now, Bud, don't forget PM has "absolutely no" interest in CSL since he sold it to his sons -- so we can all rest easy -- can't we? NJC]

All in all, there is every indication that Mr. Shapiro is turning out to be another of the Liberal's "democratic deficits". If the watchdog over government ethics is merely another Martinite lackey, than what hope do we have of stemming the slimy practices we keep seeing emerge?

There have been so many scandals in the Liberal years that it is almost impossible to remember them all. Stephen Harper this week in Parliament mentioned one of these I had forgotten. Groupe Action made a report on something that the Liberals' claimed was lost; so they were paid another half million to reproduce an almost identical report. I suspect if we could get to the real corruption that occurred throughout the Liberals' reign, it would be a billion. The Gomery Commission will only show us the tip of the iceberg of this fraud. A poll today (May 9th) showed that 63% of those polled thought Paul Martin was dishonest. I shudder to think how high the number would have been if they had asked about Jean Chretien's veracity.

© Bud Talkinghorn

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