|
|||
|
Adscam: The Sponsorship Scandal |
|
||
|
Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities |
|||
|
MONTREAL - Benoit Corbeil, a former high-ranking member of the Quebec Liberal party who was implicated in the sponsorship scandal faces charges including fraud, exercise of influence and conspiracy to defraud, according to the RCMP. (CanWest) MORE: RCMP to charge Corbeil Adscam 'banned for life' member back in Liberal party Politician makes more by quitting than by staying Access to information system in crisis
OTTAWA - The growing concentration of power in the Prime Minister's Office must be challenged because it is threatening the very democracy that Canadians enjoy, retired Justice John Gomery says. (Toronto Star) MORE: Cut number of political aides in PMO: Gomery Canada on road to 'one-man government'
Bid to quash Gomery report uses e-mails OTTAWA - The e-mails, obtained by CanWest News Service, were recently filed in Mr. Chrétien's ongoing effort to have Judge Gomery's report quashed by the Federal Court of Canada on grounds of alleged bias. (CanWest)
Gomery mulled misconduct letter OTTAWA - Justice John Gomery’s letter of warning to Jean Chretien in May, 2005 said an allegation of misconduct against the former prime minister was being considered in Gomery’s final report which would tie Chretien to untendered 1995 pre-referendum contracts including one with Lafleur Communications for an outdoor advertising campaign in Quebec, a transcript of a private meeting reveals. (Ottawa Citizen) Chretien's legal team files more documents
AG accuses civil servant of major abuses OTTAWA - Federal policing and security agencies are ethically challenged from top to bottom, while the government continues to come up short when awarding contracts and managing its expenditures, according to the government spending watchdog. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: Fast and loose on the public dime RCMP asked to investigate over bilked funds Security agency employees lack confidence in whistle-blowing programs: AG Highlights from the report Treaties come at a price Relocation contract competition stacked: AG Health Canada regulation falling short: AG
MONTREAL - Five people connected to the sponsorship scandal are likely to face criminal charges, says the lawyer who was chief counsel for the Gomery commission. Bernard Roy, who questioned witnesses at Justice John Gomery’s probe into the federal sponsorship program, said Tuesday that plenty of evidence came out at the inquiry to justify the charges. (CP) PREVIOUS: More sponsorship scandal charges possible
Court overturns former dismissal MONTREAL - The Federal Court has overturned a Liberal cabinet decree firing former Business Development Bank of Canada president Michel Vennat, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon. (CanWest)
Sponsorship lawsuit grows to $63M OTTAWA - The federal government will spend about $665,000 in lawyers fees alone - plus court costs - in order to recoup the $63 million it says was lost in improperly awarded contracts related to the federal sponsorship scandal. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: Tories to sue Liberals over adscam: report Tories refuse to pay AdScam bills Tories, NDP aghast at payment to Pelletier
OTTAWA - The Paul Martin government, bracing last fall for Justice John Gomery's scathing sponsorship scandal report and a possible snap election, played down opposition questions suggesting the emergence of another potentially explosive federal ethics controversy. (CanWest) MORE: Federal agency's contracts suspicious Consulting and Audit Canada Audit hints Grits dodged bidding
Former Liberal minister sues Ottawa OTTAWA - Claiming he was fired by former Prime Minister Paul Martin's administration and asked to make it look like a resignation, former Canada Post president Andre Ouellet is suing the federal government for $3.2 million. (CanWest) |
MONTREAL - A Superior Court judge has slapped a publication ban on any news about efforts by a key player in the sponsorship scandal to reach an out-of-court settlement with the federal government. . (Montreal Gazette) MORE: Gag order wanted
MONTREAL - However imprudent presiding Justice John Gomery might have been in some comments he made during the inquiry, nothing should - or can - deflect attention from the serious breach of government ethics and the stunning failure of financial stewardship which happened while Jean Chrétien was prime minister. (Montreal Gazette) PREVIOUS: Gomery overruled Max Teitelbaum Chrétien wins legal challenge
Gomery didn't control media spin MONTREAL - Judge John Gomery was under no obligation to protect the reputations of those called before him during an inquiry into the sponsorship scandal, a federal government lawyer said Wednesday as he debated what evidence should be allowed in an application for a judicial review of Gomery's final report. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: Gomery focused on facts, lawyer argues Showdown brewing over Gomery report Chrétien & company at work to rewrite history Gomery in court to fight Chretien's challenge
MONTREAL - Ad man Jean Lafleur, who is facing 35 fraud charges related to the sponsorship scandal, will remain incarcerated until at least next Thursday. Lafleur's bail hearing was put off today and the next court proceedings will take place. (Toronto Star)
Witnesses changed their story at sponsorship inquiry OTTAWA - MPs went behind closed doors to decide whether to pursue perjury charges against half a dozen politicians and bureaucrats who said one thing at the Gomery inquiry and another when they testified before the Commons public accounts committee. (CanWest) Key sponsorship figures tell MPs they didn't lie
Gomery accepts PM's 'right' of rejection OTTAWA - Mr. Justice John Gomery raised no objection Thursday as some of the key proposals in his report into the sponsorship scandal were shelved by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “It is his right. I can only make recommendations,” Judge Gomery said in an interview. PREVIOUS: Harper pledges accountability act won't dilute government 2006 Bill C-2 The Whistleblowers Bill and FAIR Second crack at Gomery reports coming
Ad exec Brault gets parole after five months in prison MONTREAL - Jean Brault, the disgraced advertising executive snared in the $250-million federal sponsorship scandal, has been granted parole after serving only five months of his 30-month sentence. (Gazette)
Gomery fights release of sponsorship commission e-mails OTTAWA - Gomery's lawyers recently filed his notice of appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal after Justice Max Teitelbaum ruled in June that any e-mails received by the commission regarding prime minister Jean Chretien, his chief of staff Jean Pelletier, former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano or the Prime Minister's Office between Sept. 7, 2004, and Aug. 25, 2005, should be turned over to the lawyers representing the men. (Ottawa Citizen)
MONTREAL - Advertising executive Paul Coffin was sentenced to an 18-month prison term in a Quebec appeals court on Friday for his role in defrauding the federal government out of $1.5 million in sponsorship funds. (CTV) RELATED: Morselli, sponsorship scandal figure, dies
No place for politics, top justice tells Harper OTTAWA - With Stephen Harper's Conservatives set to name a new Supreme Court judge, Canada's chief justice is warning against tainting the process with politics because the court is not a "mirror" of Parliament. (The Gazette) MORE: Is the Chief Justice afraid of change? McLachlin should stop playing politics Lawyers collected millions in fees for sponsorship probe, documents show |
||
|
MONTREAL - Chuck Guite, one of the central figures in the federal sponsorship scandal, has been granted parole after serving just one sixth of his 42-month sentence for fraud. (CanWest) |
Guité guilty on all fraud charges Judge says question 'not rocket science' Gomery gives tips on political interference Contracts rubber-stamped, Guite trial hears Sponsorship program existed before referendum Ad exec feared he'd be killed if he blew whistle Guite jurors admit bureaucratic overload |
||
|
Why should we ever trust the Liberals again? Government takes action to eliminate the costly and ineffective long-gun registry |
Time for government gouging to stop |
||
|
Brault asks for forgiveness 'from society' Officials withheld info from Gomery, says new book Gomery slams Chrétien in new book Gomery proposals win some praise, some criticism Gomery urges overhaul of federal government |
Ad man's $1.6M payback rejected Ad man Jean Brault pleads guilty to fraud Ad man pleads guilty to pilfering from taxpayers Shift powers to restore trust in government: Gomery HP Canada repays $146M to Ottawa in scandal |
||
|
OTTAWA - A public inquiry into controversial business dealings between Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber will cost taxpayers more than $14M. (CP) |
Government afraid of Airbus inquiry, Schreiber charges Schreiber loses last bid to avoid deportation |
||
|
Dingwall gets $418,000 in settlement OTTAWA - The federal government has paid David Dingwall, the former president of the Royal Canadian Mint, a compensation package for his forced resignation. The arbitrator, George Adams, ruled Dingwall's resignation last fall was involuntary and therefore the government has a legal obligation to pay him. (CTV) |
Harper sends Himelfarb to Italy OTTAWA - Alex Himelfarb, who lost his job as the country's top bureaucrat (clerk of the privy council) with the advent of the new Conservative government, has been named ambassador to Italy. 'Mr. Fix-it' gets plum diplomatic posting |
||
|
Gomery lawsuit lawyers seek to ban testimony |
|||
|
Gomery report fingers Chrétien Whistleblower heroes of Adscam play the price Martin refers Gomery report to Mounties Government - government waste - go hand in hand Gov't says it has started disciplining over sponsorship Liberals do such a professional job Commons committee grills federal ethics czar PM's sons to testify on CSL operations: report |
Justice John Gomery report lays blame with Chrétien, exonerates Martin Gomery to single out top bureaucrats Sponsorship scandal is referendum's legacy Sovereignty not an if, but a when? AdScam tales ever more disgusting Liberals set Commons calendar to avoid election Ethics watchdog stops short of absolving Sgro Grits have stars in their eyes |
||
|
The Liberal Party of Canada is the largest white-collar crime organization in the country. Yves Lavigne, a Toronto-area journalist and the leading civilian authority on the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, agrees. (Calgary Sun) |
Adscam far larger than reported |
||
|
Liberals' ethnic exploitation to be tested Ban partly lifted, sponsorship details revealed Ad firm hid payments to Liberals, Gomery told |
Adscam shows system isn't working |
||
|
Chrétien to deflect sponsorship blame Top Liberals were in sponsorship loop: Guite |
Sponsorship money paid for sporting perks Guite, Brault arrested in sponsorship scandal |
||
|
Blogs: |
|||
|
Grits funnelled money to foundations OTTAWA - Auditor General Sheila Fraser is raising the alarm over billions of taxpayer dollars channelled into arms-length government foundations not subject to public scrutiny. |
|||
|
Alfonso Gagliano
A certified general accountant, Alfonso Gagliano married Ersilia Gidaro in 1965 and the couple had three children. Gagliano got his start in politics in 1977 as a school board trustee in Montreal, becoming chairman of the Jerome-LeRoyer School Board six years later. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1984, serving as Opposition critic for small business, industry and immigration before becoming the Liberal whip in 1991. When Chrétien swept to power in 1993, Gagliano was named chief government whip and later became minister of labour, then minister of public works after getting re-elected for a fourth time in June 1997 |
Gagliano's criminal background check Here for the first time, by way of Access to Information, is the RCMP's first background check (.pdf) done before Jean Chrétien first appointed him to Cabinet. (Western Standard) |
||
|
Gagliano says he's victim of PM double standard Gagliano launches $4.5 million suit against PM Gagliano approved contracts under question Gagliano says he will fight to clear name Gomery lawyer's political links a concern to Gagliano Claim pol's in mob rocks Canada Gagliano denies NY Daily News crime report |
Gagliano loses bid to overturn Gomery findings Gomery findings involving Chrétien struck down Gagliano denies ties to crime family Gagliano says he never read audit The former minister who knew too little |
||
| 2008 Dec. report | |||
|
Leo Knight's Column: Revolution needed in revolting Canada |
CBC Indepth coverage |
||
Prime Time Crime