Trust Restored
After a year long investigation it seems the infamous income trust investigation has finally run its course:
Because charges have been laid, it clearly wasn't a witch hunt started for political opportunism (OK...maybe it was started for political opportunism, but there actually was a witch, it appears). At the same time, the Liberals get to save face by being cleared of any wrongdoing. So...start your spinning!
A top official at the department of finance has been charged in connection with the income trust scandal that erupted in late 2005.
According to CTV, Serge Nadeau, the director general of analysis at the tax policy branch of the finance department, is accused of criminal breach of trust.
Because charges have been laid, it clearly wasn't a witch hunt started for political opportunism (OK...maybe it was started for political opportunism, but there actually was a witch, it appears). At the same time, the Liberals get to save face by being cleared of any wrongdoing. So...start your spinning!
The NDP has called for an apology from Goodale and the Liberals for "[insisting] nothing was amiss with income trusts."
"[W]e now know that the RCMP have a different view," NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis said on Thursday.
The RCMP income trust investigation exonerates the Liberal Party of Canada and shows that the Conservative and NDP allegations of a politically-motivated leak were false. The Prime Minister should immediately ask that his party withdraw their French attack ad that smears the reputation of the Honourable Ralph Goodale.
Labels: Income Trusts, Scandals
posted by calgarygrit at
2:45 p.m.
16 Comments:
The only reason someone was caught was because he bought stocks directly, making him easy to investigate. How the hell do you prove a phone call to a brokerage house?
The Libs are not lily white on this. How did this guy find out btw?
By
NorthBayTrapper, at 3:48 p.m.
Oh please. Brison communicated material non-public information to a friend. He would be crucified if he weren't part of the privileged crowd in Ottawa. It would be open and shut for anyone in the securities industry.
By
Dr. Strangelove, at 5:02 p.m.
Personally, I'm sorry to say that the LPC doesn't come out of this looking clean to me. We need competitive parties vying for the top spot, but Brison was obviously doing something I'd be in serious hot water over, and he's obviously being protected. I'm not yet convinced that Goodale was not doing something fishy - innocent til proven guilty, but I'm still feeling wary. I mistrust too many in the party still.
(I don't begrudge Brison's wrongful actions, btw - we all make mistakes. I begrudge the way he is being shielded and not having to pay penalties that so many others would have to. That's the ugly angle here, not the deed so much (in my mind)).
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 5:15 p.m.
The fact of the matter is, the RCMP investigated and didn't lay charges against anyone in the Liberal Party. To me, that means case closed.
The Tories already got more than enough political gains from this saga...I think it'd be silly trying to squeeze anything else from it.
By
calgarygrit, at 5:40 p.m.
The Tories already got more than enough political gains from this saga...
I tend to agree, though I feel Canadians should not (yet) forget what the LPC has done.
However, in time, the CPC will become the same. And at that time, Canadians should punish them just as long as the Liberals will hopefully be.
We should change parties often, because in time they all grow corrupt.
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 6:19 p.m.
We should change parties often, because in time they all grow corrupt.
Or as a friend of mine has said, governments should be changed often, just like diapers, and for much the same reason.
By
Brian in Calgary, at 7:15 p.m.
ch2 and Calgary Grit have it right, I'm sure. It a DG would likely not only have written the policy, it's possible he was in on the meetings where the decision was made.
Unless or until we hear of people whose only having engaged in insider trading based on the info this Nadeau guy apparently had who had to have received info directly from a political-level person i.e. a Cabinet minister or minister's office staff, then the Libs are clean.
By
d. andy jette, at 9:19 p.m.
"Or as a friend of mine has said, governments should be changed often, just like diapers, and for much the same reason." -- Brian from Calgary
You're from Calgary? Alberta? No disrespect intended, but what does that saying have to do with anything to do with Alberta?
Judy W-L is still trying to milk this. Just like how the Cons were witchhunting Arar during the whole affair a handful of years ago, the NdP has a few wild fingerpointers (well, ok all parties do but ours have mainly been pointing at other liberals lately) who would sell out Tommy Douglas' corpse for a few huge headlines.
By
rockfish, at 11:10 p.m.
who would sell out Tommy Douglas' corpse for a few huge headlines.
I bought that from them a couple of years ago, actually. It's a great conversation piece.
By
IslandLiberal, at 11:17 p.m.
The libs are not clean on this issue. How did Brison get this information, and why wasn't he charged with leaking it to his banker friend? Sounds to me like they found only one guilty person.
By
GV, at 11:53 p.m.
Evidence, enough evidence to lay charges was not found on anyone else but Serge.
It is not illegal to be stupid. So Brison has a killed career, but no charges against him.
By
wilson, at 2:07 a.m.
And to Tories - you should be thankful, this likely won you the election.
I am not a Tory, and this is wishful thinking. The Liberals lost that election as much as Harper (as opposed to "the Conservatives") won it.
then the Libs are clean
Er, no - they're not. They just didn't get caught red-handed enough. No federal political party with seats in the House is clean. Sure, the Reform Party was, when it was just Deb. If the Greens ever get in, they'll be new-penny shiny for a while - but it won't last.
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 8:04 a.m.
Ralph Goodale strikes me as a decent sort of guy.
The kind of M.P. we should have more of. Who value public service and who serve honourably.
Its regretable that some continue to say that he is probably guilty, it's justtoo hard to find any evidence to convict him.
That is not a standard many of us would care to be held to.
I don't particularly like those who initiate hysterical smears to get public attention.
Scott Brison should be called to account and held responsible.
But so should those who have smeared Ralph Goodale.
Sadly, in politics, all is fair and there is no code of conduct.
Those elected to serve the public interest often serve some other interest and pursue their own agendas.
The public gets to review their performance at election time.
And perhaps they will be more sceptical of some individuals in the future and will vote strategically.
In a perfect world . . . . . . . . .
You're right. Dream on. It ain't going to happen.
By
Down & Out in L A, at 9:26 a.m.
Hey CG
Check out today`s G&M Editorial (FEB 16) entitled "Behind the gloss of Liberal Kyoto virtue"....PRICELESS!!
...as the editorial says "Mr. Dion has made a grave miscalculation. Both his party amd the country could pay dearly for this mistake."
Looks like the G&M is jumping ship...i wonder if the Red Star will be next!
By
islandconservative, at 12:48 p.m.
renegadejet and down and out in la have it bang on.
brison needs to be held to account, and there is a quid pro quo b/w this for the libs and karlheinz for the cons. the only thing left unmentioned is that it was a chretien-backed move to get martin out of power...hey marty, your shiv wasn't long enough to get in a knife-fight with that bare-knuckle brawler from shawinigan.
By
canuckistanian, at 2:04 p.m.
You're from Calgary? Alberta? No disrespect intended, but what does that saying have to do with anything to do with Alberta?
Well, disrespect received. Just because I live in Alberta, does that mean I'm not entitled to an opinion? And, for your information, I seriously considered voting Liberal in the 2001 provincial election; when that campaign started, my vote was theirs to lose, and they lost it.
With respect to the one person (so far) criminally charged, I suspect this is no more the end of the story than the jailing of the Watergate burglars was the end of that story.
By
Brian in Calgary, at 5:21 p.m.
Post a Comment
<< Home