May 04, 2005
Martin in the middle
Paul Martin's political strategy has consisted of denials that he knew anything about Adscam, combined with deflection of the blame toward Liberal "rogues" mostly associated with Jean Chretien. It might still work. But Chuck Guite's testimony will make that a lot harder:
Throughout his week testifying in Montreal, Guite named names, including the prime minister's.
Guite testified that back in 2000, he was told that then-finance minister Paul Martin had intervened to ensure a Liberal-friendly ad firm wouldn't lose its lucrative contracts with the federal sponsorship program.
Guite had already left the civil service by then, and was lobbying the government on behalf of the Toronto-based advertising agency Vickers and Benson Ltd.
Hoping to secure the future of his firm's ad contracts with Ottawa, Guite said he had lunch with his former boss, Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano.
"He said he'd look after it," Guite told the commission.
A week later, Guite says he got a call from Gagliano's chief of staff, Pierre Tremblay.
"The minister had spoken with both ministers and the volume of business would be maintained," Guite testified. He claimed he was assured Vicker's contracts with two federal departments -- Industry under John Manley and Finance under Paul Martin -- were safe.
Martin and Manley have issued statements denying the allegations.
Corroborating Guite's testimony is complicated by the fact Tremblay died last year.
Guite also claimed ad contracts were routinely handed out to reward ad agencies that did election work for the Liberals.
"It was politically driven," he said, explaining that he was constantly being told to help out the party's friends such as ad executive Jacques Corriveau.
[...]
Despite the seriousness of Guite's allegations, CTV reporter Jed Kahane says the embattled Liberals might find one "saving grace" in his testimony.
"Guite says the system was even more political when the Conservatives were in power," Kahane said.
Liberal promises to change that, Guite said, wound up producing new ways in which the government could look after its friends.
When the Progressive Conservatives merged with the Canadian Alliance last year, the Liberals cried crocodile tears for one of Canada's "historic, founding political parties" being swallowed up the Alberta Reform rednecks. In the coming weeks, look for the Liberals to seize on Guite's testimony about when the Tories were in power, and argue that the Conservative Party is just the old PC Party with a new name.
Posted by damian at May 4, 2005 06:20 PM | TrackBack