Improper Spending of federal funds, and improper influence over a democratic vote? Those are the big questions, not the actual theft of cash from the sponsorship program, but we will see the focus on the thefts, Chretien is trying to shift it there and the Gomery inquiry will likely let it happen.
Former PM Jean Chretien testifies "that it was my duty as prime minister to maintain national unity," he said.
But is he guilty of using extraordinary measures to take away the will of the people of Quebec?
"Our approach after the referendum was very clear. We would ensure that the threat of a new referendum would be removed," he said.
To me, and I am a western boy who loves Canada WITH Quebec, it seems a bit heavy-handed to toss $650Million[$250M depending on what you read] at the problem. That looks like the "whatever it takes" approach that we see in the dominating bully nation to our south, and thats going too far.
Was this taxpayer money used to actually pay off Quebecors who could have made the difference in the 49.5% referandum results? Did certain influential Quebecors take "bribes"? Did they pay regular referandum voters money to vote NO to separation who otherwise would have voted YES?
Or was it just that the sponsorship program was used to promote federalism over separatism, with advertisments, and nothing more coersive? I doubt that very much.
If this program thwarted the will of the people by using money paid out secretly , then it is indeed a high crime. We know that that is exactly what happened, it just cannot be proven unless some of the Quebecors who changed their votes due to payoffs come forward... but they won't because they are traitors and greedy and participants in a criminal operation, which would all become public in a big way.
The other crime here is that taxpayer money was spent without due diligence for the concerns of Canadians. This much money cannot simply be spent without proper legistlative controls. It should have gone thru the House of Commons as a bill, as all spending must, by law, right? They "got around it" by using "programs allready in place". None of the Opposition has made this point about legistlative controls on spending govt money.
And of course, a lot of the $650M/$250M didn't go to ads, it was just taken by individuals, spilling out the sides as they tried to force so much money thru the pipeline too fast. So what? That pales in compared to the bigger crimes here. This side of the story can be found at this link, but I see it as controlled media:
:http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/02/08/newsponsorship050208.html
Even if the money had come straight from Chretiens's own pocket, it would still be a case of improper influence over the will of the people. Weather it was guns or money or blackmail used to influence the vote, it goes against democratic principles.
Of course, that doesn't say much about Quebecor's comittment to their separatist cause if they can be bought off. Lots of fishstink on a few levels EH?
Karlin
Former PM Jean Chretien testifies "that it was my duty as prime minister to maintain national unity," he said.
But is he guilty of using extraordinary measures to take away the will of the people of Quebec?
"Our approach after the referendum was very clear. We would ensure that the threat of a new referendum would be removed," he said.
To me, and I am a western boy who loves Canada WITH Quebec, it seems a bit heavy-handed to toss $650Million[$250M depending on what you read] at the problem. That looks like the "whatever it takes" approach that we see in the dominating bully nation to our south, and thats going too far.
Was this taxpayer money used to actually pay off Quebecors who could have made the difference in the 49.5% referandum results? Did certain influential Quebecors take "bribes"? Did they pay regular referandum voters money to vote NO to separation who otherwise would have voted YES?
Or was it just that the sponsorship program was used to promote federalism over separatism, with advertisments, and nothing more coersive? I doubt that very much.
If this program thwarted the will of the people by using money paid out secretly , then it is indeed a high crime. We know that that is exactly what happened, it just cannot be proven unless some of the Quebecors who changed their votes due to payoffs come forward... but they won't because they are traitors and greedy and participants in a criminal operation, which would all become public in a big way.
The other crime here is that taxpayer money was spent without due diligence for the concerns of Canadians. This much money cannot simply be spent without proper legistlative controls. It should have gone thru the House of Commons as a bill, as all spending must, by law, right? They "got around it" by using "programs allready in place". None of the Opposition has made this point about legistlative controls on spending govt money.
And of course, a lot of the $650M/$250M didn't go to ads, it was just taken by individuals, spilling out the sides as they tried to force so much money thru the pipeline too fast. So what? That pales in compared to the bigger crimes here. This side of the story can be found at this link, but I see it as controlled media:
:http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/02/08/newsponsorship050208.html
Even if the money had come straight from Chretiens's own pocket, it would still be a case of improper influence over the will of the people. Weather it was guns or money or blackmail used to influence the vote, it goes against democratic principles.
Of course, that doesn't say much about Quebecor's comittment to their separatist cause if they can be bought off. Lots of fishstink on a few levels EH?
Karlin
