What stood out for me were 3 things in particular, though not exclusively.First, the visceral reaction of the witnesses who were too smart not to realise that they were being played like a fiddle by the Conservatives. That obviously does not speak well to those candidates and now MP's who either didn't see or didn't care that what the party was doing was unethical.
Second, when Del Mastro bluntly told a witness, Martelli, that he hadn't even earned 10% of the vote when in fact he had won over 15% of it, told me that the Con's are not are prepared for their proceedings in court as they would have you believe. We learned in July that the Con committee members were basically taking their points from testimony and evidence presented by their lawyers to make their case at committee. That was a pretty basic error that took me 30 seconds to refute.
In fairness, Del Mastro apologised for his mistake, but that does not negate that even their basic research is flawed.
Thirdly and most important to me was the fact that Martelli was not only asked to consent to the 'in and out', the resulting refund was not left in the riding association but rather sent to the party coffers.
Now, we've heard for an awfully long time that the Con's are just swimming in money. Martelli made a quick mention that he had phone canvassed 100 people in his riding that supposedly had paid for memberships, thereby making a contribution to the party. His findings were that only 1 of these 100 people had actually done that. He found that odd and he also found it odd that the Con's had so much money. After his experience, he connected the dots.
I don't know if this is a House of Cards about to fall down, but I do hope that people smarter than me will look into exactly where the Conservative Party of Canada has received it's oceans of money.
It was a quiet part of the testimony, but it should not go unrecognised.
7 comments:
This Conservative government came to power relying heavily on its 'clean as the driven snow' accountability plank. Now a mere three years later we are perhaps seeing those same purer than pure Conservatives entangled in a monetary scandal that may have tilted the 2006 election in their favour? This makes ADSCAM look like Romper Room if proven to be true.
Romper Room! My new favourite expression.
You're right though. What happened during AdScam no one condoned, but I think the party was as dumb as they were careless. They weren't implicated though.
If it turns out that the Conservative party was actually guiding this fiasco, well that's quite another kettle of fish.
We have no more pure snow to drive. Perhaps in not realising that is where the flaw in their plan begins.
I think Del Mastro knew what he was doing - he knew he was on TV and so relayed the 10% message - hoping no one had any facts ready to challenge him - it was for TV purposes and so was the apology. He's extremely partisan and will do anything for his idol Harper.
You know, I was sitting thinking - this is our government - these clowns are our government - embarrassing and disgusting.
Doug Finlay is not a parliamentarian, he's not an MP or cabinet minister, therefore, he has absolutely no say in the committee meetings - what nerve to play this stupid game.
He needs to touch up his roots it appears in your photo...the white part is about an inch and then it's washed out reddish. Sloppy man for sure.
Sorry - don't know how to link but this article isn't too long. Hey, the press are actually noticing?
The natural opposition party
Adam Radwanski, today at 12:12 PM EDT
It takes a lot to get me to sympathize with the ethics committee. But Doug Finley may have achieved it.
You can make a strong case that the committee should give it a rest with trying to super-sleuth its way through the in-and-out affair, and what I'm seeing on CPAC so far today isn't doing much to change my mind. As usual, the MPs are busier debating each other than they are actually trying to extract information from witnesses; predictably, we're back to the usual partisan circus.
That being said, parliamentary committees are still a fundamental component of our democratic system. As such, you'd expect leading members of our governing party to have at least a modicum of respect for them - not to make boorish gestures aimed at undermining their credibility. But then, that would assume our governing party wasn't actively committed to undermining as many of our institutions as possible.
Once again, you get the sense the Tories would be considerably happier in opposition. But they're certainly not going to let being in government stop them from ensuring that Parliament is as dysfunctional as possible.
Senior Puppeteer Finley and con artist parrots Goodyear, Tilson, Del Mastro et. al … are committing the most heinous of crimes … that of DELIBERATELY MISLEADING Canadian Taxpayers (Voters) … not once, not twice, not by accident, but continuously & repeatedly.
Their conduct is no different from the conduct of someone who would willingly set out to perpetrate a Fraud, Scam and / or Swindle on Canadians.
The bluster, bravado & subterfuge of Goodyear, Tilson, Del Mastro et al is all an act and pure contrivance as they continue to employ some half-truth at best and what they know to be non-truth comments for the most part, repeating them over & over & over like they’re seriously into performing as all star mind control propagandists.
As an example, one of the non-truths they continue to throw around is that Elections Canada is playing favorites in allowing former Liberal leadership candidates to not repay their “illegal” overdue loans, which the con artists know is not factual, not accurate and not correct. They employ many more non-truths.
And whose behind the curtain … why it’s none other than Head Puppeteer Steve YO Harper, fully aware of and condoning this deplorable, shrill, mean-spirited and dysfunctional behaviour.
Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, here’s your new Conservative government, oozing oodles and oodles of transparency, integrity, credibility and a clear concept of fair play … AKA the Wrecking Crew that’s only just begun.
OT - somewhat, but an interesting article. It seems to have snuck under the radar what with yesterdays antics.
"MPs clash over vetting Supreme Court court candidates":
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080811/national/scoc_new_judge
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