Gagliano stoops to a new low

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Has there ever been a bigger scum-bag in the Canadian political scene?

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/04/25/1012666-cp.html
 
April 25, 2005 
MONTREAL (CP) - Former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano said Monday that Prime Minister Paul Martin has taken Canada and the federal Liberal party down the road to ruin.
"He's going to destroy the party and break up the country," Gagliano said during an interview. He said Quebec sovereignty is inevitable after the revelations at Justice John Gomery's inquiry into the sponsorship program once headed by Gagliano - and if the Conservatives replace the minority Liberal government.
"It's a question of time," said Gagliano, who was prime minister Jean Chretien's Quebec lieutenant.

"Of course, if (Quebec Liberal Premier Jean) Charest makes a miracle and forms a second government, it could possibly be put off. But I think that at this stage, the separation of Quebec from Canada is not stoppable. It's a question of time. It's going to happen."
The Gomery inquiry was ordered by Martin last year after a report by federal auditor general Sheila Fraser found irregularities in the sponsorship program set up under Chretien to promote national unity.

The inquiry has heard that sponsorship money was funnelled to Liberal-friendly ad firms in Quebec in exchange for contributions to the bankrupt Quebec wing of the party.
Gagliano, who was recalled as ambassador to Denmark by Martin, made no apologies for the revelations at the inquiry but denied allegations by former Quebec Liberal organizer Benoit Corbeil that volunteers were paid by the Groupaction Marketing firm. 
Gagliano said it was his understanding that the party paid the volunteers.

He also wondered why the sponsorship inquiry did not investigate how Martin financed his own run for the Liberal leadership.
"Certain communications firms that were close to Mr. Martin, Earnscliffe to be exact, took in ... millions of dollars," Gagliano said.
He said there was nothing scandalous in the sponsorship program to his knowledge.

 

[2 Cdo]

One comes to mind Bruce, Jean Cretin (misspelled intentionally)

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Much as Chretien was a power grabbing little control freak, I think GAGliano stoops to previously unheard of lows in scum-bagness on the Canadian political arena.
I do believe deep down inside Chretien was motivated by a deep love of the country..as long as it was his way, of course.
This guy, well........

 

[Edward Campbell]

Much as Chretien was a power grabbing little control freak, I think GAGliano stoops to previously unheard of lows in scum-bagness on the Canadian political arena.
I do believe deep down inside Chretien was motivated by a deep love of the country..as long as it was his way, of course.
This guy, well........

I don't agree.

I think Jean Chrétien was a small time, cheap crook.  Small town cheap, to be sure, but a crook all the same.

I believe that the sale of the golf course by the Auberge Grande Mere was faked so that Jean Chrétien would be 'clean' before he returned to electoral politics; but, I believe, he promised to fix things for the new owners â “ his friends â “ when he had his hands on all the levers of power.  He did.  I believe that's bribery and I believe Jean Chrétien ought to be investigated, fully, charged, tried and sent to prison for a couple of years, less a day.

 

[Infanteer]

March the guilty bastard in....

 

[Edward Campbell]

If my memory is OK:

"¢ This Liberal government assigned a team of four or five RCMP officers, headed by a Detective Inspector, to investigate a muck-raking, so called journalist's allegations about Brian Mulroney and the Air Bus 'affair' that wasn't; but

"¢ This, same, Liberal government, assigned one, lonely constable (not an accountant) to investigate Shawinigate.

I hope a new government says, "As with the investigation of former PM Mulroney, when serious allegations are made then a serious investigation is warranted.  We trust this investigation will be quick, competent and confidential and that it will not unnecessarily embarrass M. Chrétien.â ?

Watch yer fingers, Jean!  ;D

 

[Kat Stevens]

March the guilty ******* in....

Watch yer arcs, Infanteer.... ;D.  I set off a huge shitbomb in here by saying that a while back....

CHIMO, Kat

 

[Infanteer]

I guess I should, Kat.  JC hasn't been charged yet, so I'm jumping the gun by using that statement.

However, the Gomery Commission is giving me good reason to believe I was right in using it.... :rage:

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

I guess I should, Kat.  JC hasn't been charged yet, so I'm jumping the gun by using that statement.

However, the Gomery Commission is giving me good reason to believe I was right in using it.... :rage:

"Wait for it ...."

 

[Slim]

How do you know when the Liberals are lying...Their lips move.

How do you know when they're stealing...?



THEY GET ELECTED!

 

[Kat Stevens]

ummm... their eyes are open? ???

Kat

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

Guite's testimony now public:

Guite points finger in newly-released testimony

CTV.ca News Staff

Newly-released testimony by the retired bureaucrat who ran the federal sponsorship program reveals Chuck Guite as unafraid to name others he believes acted inappropriately.

A Quebec judge has lifted his brief ban on publication of testimony by the retired bureaucrat who ran the federal sponsorship program.

Guite had been testifying before Gomery's inquiry into the now-defunct program since last week, but details of his testimony had been protected by a temporary gag order.

On Wednesday afternoon, Gomery lifted his ban -- opening the door to publication of what Guite has been saying behind closed doors. A Quebec Superior Court judge overseeing Guite's criminal trial also lifted his ban.

After being implicated by so many witnesses since the commission began, it appears Guite has decided not to go down alone.

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.

The Prime Minister's Office issued this statment: ''There was never a discussion between Mr. Martin and Mr. Gagliano with respect to ensuring that any individual supplier receive contracts from the government of Canada. The prime minister never involved himself in the contracting process -- he never involved himself in the determination of contract awards. Period."

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.

Accused of exploiting a personal relationship with former prime minister Jean Chretien, Corriveau has denied the two were close.

But in his testimony, Guite said that in 1994, then-public works minister David Dingwall told him a different story.

"If you ever meet someone in bed between Jean Chretien and his wife, it'll be Corriveau," recalling Dingwall's remarks. "His comment was, you'll look after him."

In the broad sweep of his testimony, Guite even suggested Chretien's wife wielded influence over the sponsorship program.

Guite told the commission that Aline Chretien chose some of the promotional items purchased by the government. Guite said she pointed out her favourite watch, that he promptly ordered.

"We used to refer to those as Madame Chretien's watches."

Other details of Guite's sensational testimony include:

    * Corroboration of previous witnesses' depositions alleging Gagliano had personally requested sponsorship program funding for a plaque-unveiling event in Italy. "I had the request from the minister's office, the minister actually, to get that done with the specific instruction: `Make sure there's no paper trail' ," Guite said, recalling that the $6,850 project did not necessarily fall under the program's purview. "This was a plaque done for the minister's own `pride,' for lack of better term," he added.
    * The suggestion that the hiring of his successor was rigged -- at the behest of Gagliano and Chretien's then-chief of staff Jean Pelletier -- to ensure that Pierre Tremblay would get the job. Tremblay, who had been Gagliano's top aide, was unqualified for the position, Guite said.  Although he died in 2004, before making his own appearance before the inquiry, Tremblay had previously admitted to federal auditors that the sponsorship program was mismanaged.
    * An account of sponsorship money being used to fund a Vickers pet project -- the 26-part TV series Dashan & Friends in Canada, that aired in China at a cost of $10 million. "The China project from start to finish was strictly politically-driven in funding," Guite testified, saying that the project was given the go-ahead by two of Chretien's most senior aides.

Besides his sensational allegations, Guite also admitted breaking a lot of rules.

Despite a contract stipulation that he could not profit from government contracts in the first year after he left the civil service, Guite says Vickers paid him $100,000 to lobby his former boss.

"There are different ways to skin the cat," he told the commission, explaining how he advised the company on ways to skirt the rules.

Credibility challenged

Lawyers who cross examined Guite questioned his credibility.

When asked why he should be believed, Guite simply shrugged.

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.

Alongside Groupaction Marketing founder Jean Brault, Guite is facing trial on six fraud-related counts arising from sponsorship deals.

Jury selection in their trial is slated to get underway in June, but lawyers for the pair have requested the trial be delayed until September.

Concern that testimony from the Gomery inquiry might prejudice potential jurors in their clients' cases, lawyers for Brault and Guite had argued that publication bans should remain until the trials are over.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1115232583853_110641783/?hub=TopStories