Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Deadmonton
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/

"The scandal has been the talk of Ottawa since 2002, when federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser recommended the RCMP investigate how $1.6 million in federal government advertising contracts were handed out to a Montreal ad agency.

There had been rumours that a government advertising and sponsorship program set up to promote unity in the wake of the 1995 referendum in Quebec, was little more than a vehicle to reward loyal Liberal supporters. The fund was run by the Public Works Department, headed by then Prime Minister Chrétien's Quebec lieutenant, Alphonso Gagliano."


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/g..._testimony.html

"During his testimony at the inquiry, Brault described a system that churned out secret payments to Liberal campaign workers — payments that were covered up with fake invoices.

The paper trail suggests Brault made $1.1 million in contributions to the Liberal party that never appeared on the books. That was in addition to the $166,000 in legitimate donations Brault and his companies made to the Liberals over seven years.

Brault said he found out that the "magic recipe" to get sponsorship contracts was to "lend a sympathetic ear" to the party's demands.

In 1996, he testified, he met with Jacques Corriveau, head of Pluridesign and a key member of Jean Chrétien's Liberal leadership campaigns.

Brault said that, during a meeting on April 16, 1996, Corriveau asked him to "take under [his] wing for a period of a year, one person who was well liked" by the party — Serge Gosselin.

Brault testified that Gosselin, a communications expert, never had an office at Groupaction, and did little or no work. Nevertheless, Brault agreed to pay him more than $80,000.

Party workers put on Groupaction payroll

Brault also told the inquiry that he put about a dozen party workers on his staff during the 1997 election campaign.

After that election, the Quebec wing of the Liberal party was broke, and owed money for campaign signs and pamphlets produced for candidates across the province, among other things.

One of the party's creditors was Corriveau, whose company produced billboards and posters for Liberal candidates in Quebec.

Brault claims Corriveau asked him in the spring of 1998 to funnel to the party 10 per cent of the commission fees Brault charged on some sponsorship contracts. Groupaction charged the federal government a 12-per-cent commission to manage sponsorship projects.

"My understanding is that this money was destined for the Liberal cause," said Brault."

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Anyone eles following this?
(not likely)
The Liberals may not recover from this one.

Libérez-Nous des Libéraux!

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They'll recover because there is no alternative other than anti-abortion anti-pot anti-gay more jesus

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Stronach crosses the floor, joins Liberal cabinet
http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/...?hub=topstories

In a stunning move, Conservative MP Belinda Stronach has crossed the floor and has been appointed to the Liberal cabinet to become Minister of Human Resources.

"I have been uncomfortable for some time with the direction the leader of the Conservative Party has been taking," said Stronach, who was considered one of the rising young stars of the Tory caucus.

Seated next to the prime minister at a morning news conference in Ottawa, Stronach said she doesn't see Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper as being "truly sensitive" to the needs and the complexities of Canada.

"Also, by forcing an election before the Conservative party has grown and established itself in Quebec, the hold over Quebec of the Bloc Quebecois can only grow into the vacuum. The result will be to stack the deck in favour of separatism, and the possibility of a Conservative government beholden to the separatists."

Martin said he and the 39-year-old Stronach share common beliefs on questions of policy and politics, including the Gomery commission investigating the sponsorship scandal.

"Based on these shared beliefs, she and I have agreed that she fits more comfortably, can serve more appropriately and can contribute more substantially as a member of the government caucus," he said.

"Accordingly, I am very pleased to announce that Ms. Stronach will cross the floor and has agreed to join the cabinet as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development."

Martin said he and Stronach sealed their deal Monday night.
The move could give the Liberals a better chance of passing a crucial confidence motion on the federal budget scheduled for Thursday.

"What Ms. Stronach has done is a courageous gesture," said Martin in French, especially in light of the uncertainty over which direction the Liberal Party is headed after Thursday's vote.

"One vote will not make a difference in Thursday's vote," said Martin. He pointed out that what is so "gutsy" about Stronach's decision is that she made it "knowing that there's the possibility of the fact that we're going into an election campaign."

Two weeks ago, Stronach warned that teaming up with the Bloc Quebecois to defeat the federal budget in the confidence vote might be a bad move that could backfire on the Conservatives.

"I do have concern that lining up with the Bloc is not good for Canada, to defeat this budget and to trigger an election," said Stronach.

She said critical portions of the budget -- particularly the billions promised for municipal infrastructure -- were extremely important to individuals in her riding north of Toronto and other constituencies in the area.

In a question and answer session following the announcement, Stronach refused to answer a reporter's questions regarding the future of her relationship with Conservative House Leader Peter MacKay.

'Betrayed'

"A number of our caucus members are feeling quite devastated, quite betrayed by this," said Harper at his own press conference shortly following the Liberals' announcement.

He said the move obviously makes the defeat of the government on Thursday "much less likely."

But Harper added it "doesn't, in any way, change the principled position that our caucus has taken on this issue that the governing party is corrupt."

"It is in the process of ruining the nation's finances with the biggest vote-buying spree in history, and it is doing tremendous damage to the cause of federalism in Quebec," said the Tory leader.

He said Stronach notified him of her decision just moments before her press conference with the prime minister, but that he saw it coming after hearing grumblings coming from Stronach about the impact of voting against the budget.

Harper also said he was "relieved" that this all happening now, instead of in the middle of an election campaign.

Stronach, the former president and CEO of Magna International, made a bold entry into politics by challenging Stephen Harper for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2004.

While she lost that battle, she went on to win the riding of Newmarket-Aurora in Ontario.

The Numbers Game

While Stronach's defection to the Liberals has narrowed the gap, it by no means guarantees the Grits will win Thursday's budget vote.

Prior to Stronach crossing the floor, the Liberals, with the support of the NDP, had 150 votes. That left them three votes shy of the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois, whose combined 153 members planned to vote against the budget.

Now that Stronach has defected, the Liberals and the NDP now have 151 votes and the Tories and the Bloc 152.

Carolyn Parrish, a former Liberal MP who now sits as an Independent, has said she will vote with the Liberals, bringing their numbers up to 152.

That leaves the two remaining independents, David Kilgour and Chuck Cadman. If both vote against the budget, the government will fall.

If one votes with the Liberals and the other against, there would still be a tie.

And that would likely be broken in favour of the Liberals by House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken.

Tory MP Darrell Stinson is still expected to be absent because of illness, but the government has said one of its members will sit out the vote if that is the case.
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Pretty big news, canada wise. The conservatives ae being complete pricks about this ie. trying to force a election by teaming up with their antithesis (The Quebecois -Separatists) before the official report comes out.

Like the Conserative party has never had a scandal.


PS.
Stronarch was the hope from mainstream acceptance by the conservatives. She was the buissness woman, millionaress who got the tongues wagging spending some time with Clinton. Pretty cute too. Interesting stuff.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...14/ixworld.html

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Cool stuff.

Stronach is a bit of a powerhungry newcomer though, isn't she?

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Registered: Apr 2001
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yeah. she ran for leader of the conservatives, i would imagine she's more interested in politics than ideology.
i haven't been following the sponsorship thing much, because i don't think it's that important. i mean, i hope those involved are held accountable, but it shouldn't really change anybody's mind on anything in my opinion. scandal is a matter of individuals, not ideals.
well, usually.
mostly i just like minority government and i'm worried there will be another election. its about serving the people, not who's in power, but because the opposition insists on playing the system instead of doing its job (they would argue i think that it is their job to oppose everything, which is certainly not true) ottawa will probably be useless for a while.

i think MPs are there as representatives of the people, not that the number of seats a party has represents a certain mandate. i don't like that people just can't let things be without trying to win at everything.

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In other Canadaian news, the BC elections are being held, and the BC Liberals (little relation to the federal liberals) I hear have been playing some nasty tricks. From shifting accountability for their deficits to the NDP, to push polling, to bubble-boy political rallies (screen out opposition), to haveing a radio call-in from a single parent who wasn't a single parent but a liberal party official.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...14978431013_29/
Thanks American Political Strategists.

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Political chess continues
Stronach is a Huge blow to the Tories.

Makes for an interesting no confidence vote.

What will Harpers next move be?

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Registered: Jul 2001
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As the Queen is in Canada, she might have to dissolve Parliament personally, rather than the Governor-General.

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153/152

tie break by speaker.

Pariliament lives

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Canadian politics comes alive!

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Don't you have a Supreme Court?

With wigs?

Or at least Whigs?

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there's a supreme court, yeah. i don't know if they wear wigs though, and i don't remember who would be the whigs.

haha.

ps. four women, but no minorities.

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quote:

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Originally posted by buddha's penis
ps. four women, but no minorities.

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okay, visible minorities. including french people doesn't count as affirmative action, or whatever our canadian equivalent would be called.
though now that you mention it, french canadians are rather over-represented in politics. because we're a bilingual state! we can't show any disrespect to our poor conquered post-gallic brothers.

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Three seats on the Supreme Court must go to Quebeckers, according to Wikipedia.

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yeah. i think any sort of official recognition is a bit retarded. it should be, if anything, proportional to population instead of a sort of appeasement.
though i suppose the whole thing looks a lot different to people from the east who've actually heard french spoken in public. having never met a french-canadian (who wasn't homeless (it's warmer here)), i don't really think about them or think the french question is all that important.

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