So… er… how about those balls of Chrétien’s? 
In all seriousness, what do Canuckistanis around here think of the sponsorship scandal? Hate it, approve of it, don’t care in the slightest?
The amount doesn’t offend me as much as the obvious, sycophantic incestuous relation ship between the Liberal party and the money laundering organizations.
As to JC’s little golf ball exhibit, I’m equally sure that the POTUS calls up his best buddy to whip up a bunch of POTUS golf balls. :rolleyes: Slimy bunch that desperately need to be out of office long enough for new corrupt bureaucrats to come in. :dubious:
I hear you Grey. Someone needs to unite the left in this country to really give them some opposition! When are the NDP and the Marijuana Party gonna stop their bickering and get something done!?!
Heh. Seriously, Chretien rep as a tough/dirty little political fighter is going to be hard to besmirch, more than it has. The local paper is trying to make it look like like he just lobbed a bomb Martin’s way in his latest testimony, looks blown out of proportion on fuller reading.
Don’t laugh I voted Green in the provincial election and wouldn’t have much issue doing so federally if the Tories continue their brilliant strategy of looking dumber than a bag of hair.
I agree, but then again he’s working against the appearance of complete control of the liberal party when he was “running” for JC’s job. Biggest cabinet minister from Quebec, MP in Montreal, owned basically every riding association in the country… They both have baggage and I won’t shed too many tears if either (or both) goes down, though I doubt it will happen that way.
My take on the sponsorship scandal, it was a fuck up by Chretien, who was a bit too rabidly against separation than made sense in the circumstances. Slimy companies took advantage of sloppy a organization, and in the rush to get things moving, due process for bidding on government contracts was ignored.
I don’t think there was much outright criminality high up in the Chretien government, just slobbering incompetence. The twits on the right are trying to play it for all that they can, because without it, they don’t have much to say.
I’d still rather have Chretien than Martin at the top. Despite his faults, I always felt that Chretien cared passionately about Canada. Martin, not so much. I don’t trust that guy.
Chretien was the man that I hated/admired once again. That arrogant way he leaned back with his jacket opened giving terse Oui, non answers as if he was bored was infuriating. The way he used golf balls to give the a parting finger to the commission made me laugh. He always knew how to strong arm his opponents. He has always been his way. This is the same guy that took on Levesque in the 80’s referendum, the guy who helped bust the gang of Seven during the constitutional repartiation conference.
He is a fighter and that is how he survived the several coup attempts by the Martinites. Now he’s pissed off and embarrassed the commission.
That should affect how they handle Martin who is not much of the fighter. His simple denials may not get as far. To be honest I have never thought much of the man as a leader. He’s strength comes from the behind the scenes work by those Martinites. Chretien was never beaten by Martin, just his team.
As for the scandal, It disgusts me! There is no way the PM and the MoF could not have known the money was being used as a slush fund for cronies and friends of the Liberal party. If they trukly didn’t know they don’t deserve to lead due to gross neglect and incompetence.
I hope the Commission sticks it to Martin because if he didn’t know it was only due to the fact that he spent more of his ebergies trying to take over the leadership of the party.
Like him or hate him, Chretien was, and is, a brilliant politician. He knew how to get things done, stay at the top, and brush off small concerns. He makes Paul Martin look like a chump at every single turn. Too bad PM wanted so badly to depose JC and become King never took the time to learn how to actually govern.
Chretien was right about 2 things:
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The inquiry will end up costing more than the “scandal” (I’m still hesitant to use that term over something as small as $60-100M), and any involvement he personally probably had with the allocation of specific funds was probably negligible. You think JC wanted to control every dollar and see every invoice on what what spent while still handling all the jobs required as Prime Minister? Please.
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Money spent in Quebec to promote Canada after the referendum was of course going to go to firms that didnt support secession. The thing is, in Quebec, Federalists were then, and are now Liberals.
If you favour separation, you are PQ/BQ, and are not going to get much in the way of federal dolalrs to support Canada.
If you are federalist in Quebec, you are Liberal. So it stands to reason that yes, the Liberal supporting firms would get money in the province to support federalism. Hardly a scandal.
You must mean that someone needs to unite the right because the Lieberals are the left!
Why the hell can’t there be a conservative party that doesn’t include a bunch of religious whackos? And the thing about the NDP is that they are as nutty, if not nuttier, than the religious types.
Regarding the OP: If laws were broken or governmental ethics <snort!> violated then it should be found out and those guiltly held accountable for it.
The Liberals are NOT left. In fact, compared to where they were when they took power back in 93, they are much further right now. And saying the NDP is nuttier than Harper’s minions doesn’t even deserve a response to something so, so, so not even close to reality.
The NDP platform might not be realistic financially, but at least they care about their fellow man more than the religious right care about them in their platform.
Keep saying it loud enough and it may come true. I guess if you are so far on the left the Liberals are right. Not from where I’m standing, though. The NDP aren’t nutty?
Layton the Nut
It is too bad that the NDP doesn’t seem to think that the common taxpayer is also their fellow man. But one thing for sure under the NDP everyone would be equal - equally poor.
Heaven help us (and I’m an atheist!) if these fools are ever elected
Re-read what I said. The Liberals are much further to the right than when they took power in 1993. That is a shift in their ideology which has nothing to do with how left or right you and I are.
You can quote url’s till the cows come home. I never once said that I wanted the NDP in power. In fact, I believe I stated that their platform is not financially viable at the moment. That being said, I would rather they had more influence than the New Conservatives. At least the almighty dollar is not their bottom line. Not to mention the fact that most of the MPs for the Tories right now are also anti SSM, and fundamental things like compassion and human rights don’t seem to be a focus of their platform. Lastly, Harper has no idea even how to act as leader of the Opposition. A government under him would be a disaster.
Anyway, let’s end our hijack and let the thread get back to the OP shall we?
You must be talking about the NDP in some alternate dimension. Their entire platform is about money. Granted, they want to redistribute it differently than the Tories do (building huge government bureaucracies, as opposed to giving it to rich people) but it’s still all about money.
Technically, nothing is a part of their platform. The Conservative Party doesn’t HAVE a platform. I’m serious.
Indeed. The upcoming policy convention should be interesting, though from what I’ve heard so far it sounds like Harper is intent on keeping the platform pretty much entirely in line with old Alliance policies and not giving any ground to the ex-PC crowd.