by Klaus Rohrich
January 13, 2005
The news that lawyers for Jean Chretien are challenging Mr. Justice John Gomery's impartiality and are thus attempting to oust him as head of the inquiry into the Quebec sponsorship scandal is yet one more manifestation of Mr. Chretien's penchant for behaving like a thug. as any human being with a moral compass in tact would, Mr. Justice Gomery expressed his opinions of the scandal and how some of the witnesses came across to him. It was unfortunate that he expressed these opinions to Don Martin of the National Post, but by and large the judge's comments were in keeping with what the rest of the country seems to be thinking about in regards to the scandal.
Yet the legal eagles representing the former Prime Minister and Jean Pelletier, his former chief of staff, are attempting to torpedo the inquiry through legal maneuvers designed to have Judge Gomery removed from the inquiry. If they are successful they will essentially stop the inquiry for good, as all the witnesses who have testified so far will have to be recalled and the entire process will be delayed by years or will be abandoned altogether. It will certainly be after the next federal election that a new commission would or could issue a report.
Just ask yourself, who will benefit the most by derailing the inquiry for an indefinite period? Given the average Canadian's penchant for amnesia, the net benefactors will be the functionaries in the federal Liberal Party, who brought you this scandal in the first place. You may recall my comments on this web site last February where I predicted a Liberal victory in the pending federal election.
Back then I wrote:
"Just in case no one has reminded you recently, you do live in Canada and the Liberals are the natural governing party. So get used to it. This money-laundering scheme, like all previous criminal acts committed by the Liberal Party of Canada will blow over and voter amnesia will kick in as soon as "Hockey Night in Canada" comes on.
"The next election will see the same 25% of the electorate go to the polls and dutifully cast their ballot for- wait for it- THE LIBERaLS! Then they can continue to run us into the ground for yet another decade, while the citizens have temporary onsets of outrage every six months at the latest Billion-Dollar Boondoggle."
While we currently do not have "Hockey Night in Canada", my prediction did come true, albeit, I did not predict a Liberal minority, not knowing then just how weak a politician Paul Martin is. But the truth is if the Liberals' legal barracudas can delay the inquiry long enough, the outcome could well change. Even if it doesn't change the outcome, it won't matter, as we will have passed yet another election cycle and will have lost any opportunity to spank those wily Libs at the polls. This is one reason why the Liberals are so bold in their "crimes and misdemeanours". They seem to instinctively know that in Canada politicians and their parties are never punished for their wrongdoings. Just ask Svend Robinson.
When I think of Jean Chretien, I can't help but think of Robert Mugabe who appears to have a similar set of political values. In any other country actions such as the ones Chretien's lawyers are attempting to undertake would be viewed as a bid to derail democracy. after all, the Gomery report will undoubtedly have grave repercussions for some Liberal politicians, so if they can deep-six Judge Gomery, then no report will be forthcoming. If there was no wrongdoing by Mssrs Chretien and Pelletier why would they want to stop the inquiry?
Here in Canada this is just business as usual and we shouldn't expect to see Jimmy Carter attempt to oversee our election process any time soon.
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