Secret Gomery testimony threatens Liberals
Last Updated Mon, 04 Apr 2005 21:50:16 EDT
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/04/sponsorship050404.html
CBC News
OTTAWA - The publication ban that has shrouded the Gomery inquiry in secrecy and led to rumours of spectacular scandals, may be lifted as early as Wednesday.
Liberal party lawyer Doug Mitchell in Ottawa, Monday.
The temporary publication ban blocks the media from providing details about testimony before the inquiry until the ban is lifted by Justice John Gomery.
It means that the inquiry into allegations of $100 million in tax dollars being misspent by Liberals in Quebec has effectively gone behind closed doors in order to protect the rights of those facing criminal trials.
But the supposed details of what is being said is being reported on some U.S. websites. And the alleged testimony of former Quebec ad executive Jean Brault has put Ottawa in a scandal tizzy.
Last week Brault even broke down on the stand, though it can't yet be said why.
The allegations were enough to bring a Liberal Party of Canada lawyer to the inquiry, demanding standing, and for some pre-emptive damage control.
"Based on recent evidence, including that of Mr. Brault, my clients have instructed me to seek full standing for the Liberal Party of Canada at this inquiry," said lawyer Doug Mitchell.
Justice Gomery agreed, so that means Liberal lawyers will cross-examine Brault.
Mitchell also said he has "been asked by my clients to contact the RCMP to ask that they investigate the possibility that the party itself may have been the target of fraud or other harmful acts by certain individuals."
In Ottawa, the Conservatives said it was a bold move by the Liberals "to depict the Liberal party as the victim of the sponsorship scandal," said leader Stephen Harper.
In the House of Commons Prime Minister Paul Martin described it as a move to defend the reputation of all Liberals. "Those members of the Liberal party should not have to bear the rumours, or the burden, of the activities of a very small few who may have colluded against the party."
He was eventually shouted down.
Now the question is if the scandal is big enough for the opposition parties to bring the government down. But that's not a question the opposition wants to answer.
"We're going to be ready for any inevitability," said Conservative Peter MacKay.
"Were always in a state of readiness," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.
And Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe says, "everything's possible, we'll see."
The Gomery inquiry is looking into the sponsorship program, a $250-million project intended to promote national unity and to oppose separatism in Quebec.
In her report in February 2004, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said an estimated $100 million in commissions under the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies for little or no work.
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