Paul Martin�s Culture of Corruption

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Feb. 16, 2004
By Clinton P. Desveaux

$250 Million is missing, unaccounted for, and there are some people suggesting that some of this money was laundered into Liberal slush funds through a sophisticated sponsorship scheme. The latest scandal to strike the administration of Paul Martin, shows how allegations of theft and illegal activity reaches within the Liberal Party of Canada, Crown Corporations, and the beaurocracy entrusted with the public purse.

If Monies were being laundered into this illegal scheme, guess the individual�s name signing off on the cheques? Well the same individual who was signing off on the cheques for the newly revised $2 billion gun registry, the former Liberal Finance Minister and current Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. We won�t even discuss the $1 billion HRDC boondoggle that happened under his so-called prudent watch.

All of Martin�s sycophants will tell you he was innocent, I know they will shout this from the mountaintops as if it were gospel, because some exist in my family. Yet even when Paul Martin claimed he knew nothing, the next day in the Ottawa Sun, a story appears where he was advised in a caucus meeting in 1999, he was asked to look into it this mess according to one Liberal MP from Quebec, Marlene Jennings. Yet Martin chose to do nothing. The National Post received a leaked letter from 2002, addressed and sent to Paul Martin, repeating similar questions to those that appeared in the Ottawa Sun story.

Paul Martin and his organization have been engaged in taking over the Liberal party, and overthrowing a democratically elected Prime Minister for the last 14 years, the first time this has happened in Canadian history.

Their undeniable brilliance in yanking the party machine away from former Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien only points out their �street smarts� (Jean Chr�tien favourite words) and their ability to hear everything happening on the ground.

According to Sheila Copps former cabinet minister, who was appearing on a CPAC news program, these cheques require the signing off of at least 6 individuals, starting from the top and working there way down through the chain of command.

One would assume with ears and eyes so close to the ground, Martin�s leadership organization would hear and see the waves rippling through the pond from this massive sponsorship scheme.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who should be responsible for the criminal investigation, have also been implicated in this mess. Between 1997 and 1999 the RCMP received $3 million plus from 8 different contracts. According to the Auditor General of Canada, "A separate non-government bank account was used for all deposits and payments to the RCMP's Quebec Division; this was a contravention of the Financial Administration Act ... In addition, all transactions for Quebec Division were recorded in a manual accounting system rather than in the RCMP's corporate accounting system. We were unable to verify the transactions from the Quebec bank account because some of the supporting documents had been destroyed."

When one runs the jails, it is highly unlikely that one will be placed in them, so the question that should be asked is, who will be able to prosecute the criminals involved in this activity?

Stephen Harper who is a possible leader for the new Conservative Party of Canada said: �Paul Martin and the Liberal Party are surrounded by scandal on all sides. As Minister of Finance, Mr. Martin signed the cheques for the HRDC boondoggle, the firearm registry fiasco, $161-million taxpayer dollars to CSL, and the Liberal sponsorship scandals.

�We now know what happened in the sponsorship scandals � corruption on a scale we have not seen in my lifetime. What we do not yet know is why and how.

�Does Paul Martin seriously expect us to believe that he is a stranger in the Liberal Party? He was not only Minister of Finance during the Sponsorship scandal, but he served as the senior minister for Quebec in the last election. He sat on the cabinet�s Quebec Committee with Alfonso Gagliano � a man whom Martin has just fired. I demand to know the reason he was fired.

�Paul Martin was connected all the way to the top; he and the Liberal Party owe us an explanation. He must tell us what he knew, or what he wilfully did not know. He cannot refer this to yet another inquiry; we asked for that years ago�

�This scandal is four years old. As a minister involved at the time, and now as Liberal Party Leader, Paul Martin has a responsibility to tell us why and how the Liberal Party did what it did. And if he does not answer, these are questions that I will ask him every day of the upcoming federal election campaign.�

Prime Minister Paul Martin was not only Finance Minister, but also Quebec�s highest ranked Cabinet Minister, and most important of all the Vice Chair of the Treasury Board Committee. The Treasury Board Committee is in charge of looking after the oversight of public spending, its role is to make sure that all rules are being followed when public monies are being used. We are being expected to believe that Paul Martin new nothing? It seems that Paul Martin is quickly becoming his party�s Brian Mulroney�

Young single mothers, and middle class blue-collar workers deserve to be treated with respect; people work hard for their earnings. This �missing� money could have gone into tax cuts, making life easier for working families to get ahead. We the working public, don�t have access to the tax shelters that Paul Martin and his CSL have after all, instead our money was doled out to Liberal friends.

Either Paul Martin was complicit in an illegal act, in which case he should be removed from office, and face criminal charges, and possible jail time; or Martin really knew nothing, in which case he is completely incompetent and should be removed from elected office immediately.

The time has come after 11 years to seriously consider thinking of voting the Liberal Party of Canada out of office.

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