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Sun, March 21, 2004
Memo clearly links Martin to AdScam
By Tom Brodbeck
I don't know how anyone could possibly believe that Prime Minister Paul Martin knew nothing about $100 million in government kickbacks to Liberal-friendly communications agencies in the 1990s after some of the latest evidence that implicates him in the scheme.
A 1994 memo made public earlier this month written by one of Martin's political staff shows a clear link between Martin and some of these unsavory contracts.
The May 30, 1994, memo, released by the Conservative party, shows that Martin and his staff were deciding, without a tender process, which company should develop a communication strategy for a Canada Savings Bond initiative.
And it puts to bed once and for all Martin's assertions that he was not involved whatsoever in any of these contracts.
"The evidence provided demonstrates that Mr. Martin was directly involved in setting the terms of some of the contracts," said Conservative MP Vic Toews (Provencher), one of Manitoba's two members on the public works committee investigating the sponsorship scandal. "That's confirmed in that May 30, 1994 memo from one of his political assistants -- Terrie O'Leary."
The O'Leary memo is written to finance department bureaucrats. What's important about the correspondence is that O'Leary speaks on behalf of the minister.
The memo opens by saying "Just wanted to outline some suggestions from myself and the minister (Paul Martin) regarding the proposal for our Retail Debt Strategy."
It uses the words "we would suggest" throughout the memo, confirming that it's not just O'Leary's directives, it's those of the minister's as well.
O'Leary is not a bureaucrat. She is a political staffer. She works directly for the minister and carries out political functions, not departmental ones.
The memo goes on to recommend that two of the bidders for market research work for a Canada Savings Bond initiative be dropped and replaced by four firms to be considered for the job.
Why is Paul Martin's political staff getting involved in who can and who cannot bid on a market research job?
It gets much worse.
The memo goes on to say that the firm Gingko/Groupe Everest -- the company at the heart of the sponsorship scandal -- should be the company hired to develop the strategy for the program.
No bidding. No competition.
And that's a directive straight from Paul Martin.
The memo states that "We agree that it makes the most sense for the strategy to be developed by Gingko/Groupe Everest in collaboration with the market researchers, rather than another agency."
I don't know what could be more compelling evidence that Martin was personally involved in micro-managing at least one of these contracts.
"Here we have an example of him directly involved in a strategy and who does he recommend develop it? Groupe Everest," said Toews. "The idea that he was too busy as finance minister to get involved in these things is clearly repudiated by this."
The problem Martin now has is that it's virtually impossible for him to argue that he's cleaning up the mess of others when he was directly involved in some aspect of it himself.
He would have to undergo a personal metamorphosis to achieve that. And the last time I checked, he's not a caterpillar and I don't think he'll come out looking like a butterfly on this one.
He's sounding more like a desperate opposition leader these days than a prime minister, as he tries to convince the public that he will fundamentally change how government operates, even though he was one of the most influential people in how it operated over the past 11 years.
"Come hell or high water" he's going to clean up the cronyism that's engulfed his government, he said last week, drudging up an old soundbite Martin used in the mid-1990s when vowing to balance Ottawa's books.
It's a buzzword that rings pretty hollow now.
Memo clearly links Martin to AdScam
By Tom Brodbeck
I don't know how anyone could possibly believe that Prime Minister Paul Martin knew nothing about $100 million in government kickbacks to Liberal-friendly communications agencies in the 1990s after some of the latest evidence that implicates him in the scheme.
A 1994 memo made public earlier this month written by one of Martin's political staff shows a clear link between Martin and some of these unsavory contracts.
The May 30, 1994, memo, released by the Conservative party, shows that Martin and his staff were deciding, without a tender process, which company should develop a communication strategy for a Canada Savings Bond initiative.
And it puts to bed once and for all Martin's assertions that he was not involved whatsoever in any of these contracts.
"The evidence provided demonstrates that Mr. Martin was directly involved in setting the terms of some of the contracts," said Conservative MP Vic Toews (Provencher), one of Manitoba's two members on the public works committee investigating the sponsorship scandal. "That's confirmed in that May 30, 1994 memo from one of his political assistants -- Terrie O'Leary."
The O'Leary memo is written to finance department bureaucrats. What's important about the correspondence is that O'Leary speaks on behalf of the minister.
The memo opens by saying "Just wanted to outline some suggestions from myself and the minister (Paul Martin) regarding the proposal for our Retail Debt Strategy."
It uses the words "we would suggest" throughout the memo, confirming that it's not just O'Leary's directives, it's those of the minister's as well.
O'Leary is not a bureaucrat. She is a political staffer. She works directly for the minister and carries out political functions, not departmental ones.
The memo goes on to recommend that two of the bidders for market research work for a Canada Savings Bond initiative be dropped and replaced by four firms to be considered for the job.
Why is Paul Martin's political staff getting involved in who can and who cannot bid on a market research job?
It gets much worse.
The memo goes on to say that the firm Gingko/Groupe Everest -- the company at the heart of the sponsorship scandal -- should be the company hired to develop the strategy for the program.
No bidding. No competition.
And that's a directive straight from Paul Martin.
The memo states that "We agree that it makes the most sense for the strategy to be developed by Gingko/Groupe Everest in collaboration with the market researchers, rather than another agency."
I don't know what could be more compelling evidence that Martin was personally involved in micro-managing at least one of these contracts.
"Here we have an example of him directly involved in a strategy and who does he recommend develop it? Groupe Everest," said Toews. "The idea that he was too busy as finance minister to get involved in these things is clearly repudiated by this."
The problem Martin now has is that it's virtually impossible for him to argue that he's cleaning up the mess of others when he was directly involved in some aspect of it himself.
He would have to undergo a personal metamorphosis to achieve that. And the last time I checked, he's not a caterpillar and I don't think he'll come out looking like a butterfly on this one.
He's sounding more like a desperate opposition leader these days than a prime minister, as he tries to convince the public that he will fundamentally change how government operates, even though he was one of the most influential people in how it operated over the past 11 years.
"Come hell or high water" he's going to clean up the cronyism that's engulfed his government, he said last week, drudging up an old soundbite Martin used in the mid-1990s when vowing to balance Ottawa's books.
It's a buzzword that rings pretty hollow now.