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-- Lieberals paid $59,000 for "neckties"
AdScam: Lieberals paid $59,000 for "neckties", etc.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/National/
Ottawa paid $59,000 for neckties
As Chr�tien prepares to testify, more lavish spending is revealed
By DANIEL LEBLANC
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
POSTED AT 2:22 AM EST Tuesday, Feb 8, 2005
Ottawa � The Prime Minister's Office of Jean Chr�tien ordered $46,000 worth of neckties with a Canadian flag on them in 1998 through two Liberal-friendly firms that netted $13,000 on top of that in fees on the purchase.
The 480 ties, which cost taxpayers about $120 each, were handed out by Canadian delegations in foreign countries.
"I thought that Canada deserved a necktie that held its own," Jean Pelletier, the long-time PMO chief of staff, testified yesterday.
Mr. Pelletier said he was outraged when he recently learned the extent of the fees and commissions that outside firms charged on the deal.
"I was scandalized. All those costs, it didn't make any sense," he told Mr. Justice John Gomery.
The Gomery inquiry has heard before about strange purchases under the sponsorship program, including $10,000 for corkscrews with a Canadian logo on them and $1,200 for golf balls emblazoned with Mr. Chr�tien's signature.
Mr. Chr�tien will be asked about the golf balls today when he testifies about his direct role in the creation of the program in 1996, and the responsibilities of the PMO in the program's management.
Mr. Pelletier said he asked his director of operations, Jean Carle, to oversee the neckie deal, which was handled through bureaucrats in the sponsorship program.
Documents released at the Gomery inquiry show that both Pluridesign Canada Inc. and Lafleur Communication & Marketing worked on the purchase.
Pluridesign is owned by Jacques Corriveau, a long-time organizer for Mr. Chr�tien. The design firm charged $4,500 for the project, including fees for "strategic research" and other creative services.
It was revealed at the inquiry last week that Mr. Corriveau's firm reaped "many millions" of dollars in subcontracts on other projects that received sponsorship funds between 1996 and 2002.
After the mid-1990s, Lafleur Communication developed close connections with a number of senior Liberal officials. Mr. Carle and Mr. Pelletier, among other witnesses, have testified before Judge Gomery that they started socializing with the president of the firm, Jean Lafleur, after the Liberals came to office in 1993.
In addition, Lafleur Communication was a generous donor to the Liberal Party of Canada at the time.
For its services, the firm added a commission of 17.65-per cent, worth $8,200, to purchase the 480 neckties.
Among other things, the firm showed necktie samples to Mr. Pelletier for his approval.
Earlier in his testimony, Mr. Pelletier revealed that Mr. Lafleur approached him in 1998 to complain that his volume of sponsorship contracts was sharply dropping.
Mr. Pelletier said he told Mr. Lafleur to send the numbers to the PMO, where a fax arrived a few days later showing that Lafleur Communication had received $2.5-million in contracts that year, down from $8.3-million in the previous year.
Mr. Pelletier said he received Mr. Lafleur's fax, but did nothing with it.
Over all, Mr. Pelletier told the inquiry that he had nothing to do with the advertising firms that reaped $100-million in fees and commissions from the program. In particular, Mr. Pelletier said he was unaware of their donations to the Liberal Party.
"We have never selected an agency in the Prime Minister's Office for what you call the sponsorship program," Mr. Pelletier said.
Mr. Pelletier acknowledged that he had input in the management of the program to ensure that it reinforced the presence of Canadian symbols in postreferendum Quebec. Mr. Pelletier said that he and Mr. Carle brought a deep understanding of Quebec to the program and that they made sure that money went to events in the more separatist regions of Quebec.
"I would have been more favourable to funding an event in Alma [in the Lac-St-Jean region] than in Westmount," he said.
Mr. Pelletier said that while he had an impact on the decision-making process, the bureaucrats always had the final word.
"We made recommendations, and we made some strong recommendations, but the decision was not ours," he said.
Mr. Pelletier rejected the testimony of retired bureaucrat Chuck Guit� that Liberal officials called almost all of the shots in the sponsorship program.
Another example of Lieberal waste.
Even if done at a reasonable cost, a real country need not "sell" itself like this.
The Lieberals created the separatist problem in the first place.
WHEN THE !@#$ WILL WE GET RID OF THEM?!?!?!??
There is absolutely no need to spend more than $50 on a tie. Anyone who does, only does it cause they've got $$$$$ to waste. I guess this was the case.
I hope you realize that it wasn't a contract for goods, but rather an excuse or cover to funnel money to friends of the Lieberals, who then in turn would keep some money and give some to the Lieberal Party itself.
My investigation has revealed that Lafleur Communications has given more than $50,000 to the Lieberal Party.
http://www.elections.ca/scripts/web...entity=4&lang=e
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| Originally posted by Floorwhore There is absolutely no need to spend more than $50 on a tie. Anyone who does, only does it cause they've got $$$$$ to waste. I guess this was the case. |
Whata about all this bullshit about where we buy little canadian flag pins? Apparently MPs give them out at their offices.
The big deal is they are made in China and not Canada. My question is, why has nobody stopped and asked why we even buy 10s of thousands of them in the first place? You tell me that you have to raise my taxes because health care is broke and yet i hear about crap like this?
This is Canada, the country where people have a fit if they get overcharged a quarter yet they continualy say and do nothing about all the waste in government that costs us millions and even billions in tax money. (OUR MONEY)
I dont get it.
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| Originally posted by Jayx1 This is Canada, the country where people have a fit if they get overcharged a quarter yet they continualy say and do nothing about all the waste in government that costs us millions and even billions in tax money. (OUR MONEY) I dont get it. |
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| Originally posted by infinity HiGH Canadians are delusional. Stuck living in a fantasy land where the government is honest and cares about us, our well-being, and especially our money. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by ShadoWolf Another example of Lieberal waste. |
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| Originally posted by Brindor Did you just reply to your own post? |
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...s_name=&no_ads=
Ex-Chretien aide admits hiding sponsorship deal
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Sat. Feb. 5 2005 5:54 PM ET
Jean Carle, a senior aide to Jean Chretien during his tenure as prime minister, gave explosive testimony Friday, telling the sponsorship inquiry he helped create a phony paper trail for a deal.
Carle, described as almost a son to the former PM, admitted he approved a $125,000 payment to a film producer as a favour so it wouldn't appear on the books of the sponsorship program.
Justice Judge Gomery seemed shocked.
"If this were a drug deal, it would be called money-laundering,'' Gomery said.
Carle agreed. "You're not wrong,'' he said.
Gomery's comments drew the ire of Carle's lawyer, Pierre Latraverse, who said they were "inappropriate use of words by the judge."
Carle's startling admission came after former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano wrapped up his testimony at the inquiry Friday by complaining that the scandal had unfairly ruined his life.
"It affected my family, it affected my career," Gagliano said.
But it was Carle's testimony that grabbed headlines Friday night.
Carle, who became the senior vice-president at the Business Development Bank of Canada after he left the Prime Minister's Office, testified Friday that the bank agreed to act as a conduit.
He said the BDC agreed to transfer $125,000 to Robert Scully, who was producing a TV series called Le Canada Millennaire. The bank had already given $250,000 of its own money to support the series.
The additional money had originated with the Public Works Department, but Pierre Tremblay, who was in charge of the sponsorship program, didn't want the transaction on his books, Carle testified.
"He told me that they owed (Scully) $125,000,'' said Carle. But Tremblay added that Public Works had already "given too much'' that year to the producer.
Carle said Tremblay offered to later use the money to provide the bank with additional advertising spots on the series, in exchange for channeling it through the BDC.
At the time, Tremblay was chief of staff to then public works minister Alfonso Gagliano. There was no explanation Friday as to why Tremblay might want to conceal the money.
"I did not do this in bad faith. We were kind of a transmission belt," Carle said.
Life ruined, says Gagliano
In interviews outside the inquiry Friday, Gagliano said that he can't find a job, his family has suffered, and the news media have to share the blame.
"Definitely you guys (in the media) had fun with this for a few years."
Gagliano was shuffled out of federal cabinet three years ago and fired as ambassador to Denmark last year.
"It's a year (since) I'm back from Denmark, I couldn't find a job."
During three days of testimony, Gagliano stuck with his story that he only gave input while sponsorship boss Chuck Guite made all the decisions.
There was one apparent contradiction. Gagliano testified that the two men met about a dozen times a year, more often than he admitted before. He explained that the extra meetings were on other issues.
"My story hasn't changed -- I still say I met him three or four times a year on the sponsorship," Gagliano said.
Earlier in the week, the sponsorship inquiry heard how an advertising agency that worked on the 1997 Liberal election campaign later won a $5.6-million sponsorship deal after a personal pitch to Gagliano.
In other testimony Wednesday, Gagliano said he heard rumours in the summer of 2000 that some ad agencies were double-dipping and charging more than one commission for work under the program.
Gagliano didn't name the agencies, and it wasn't clear whether the allegations were ever backed up with solid proof.
But he said he was concerned enough to bring in a departmental rule specifically forbidding double-dipping from then on.
The Gomery inquiry is investigating $250 million in sponsorship spending that was aimed at raising the federal profile in Quebec and fighting separatism.
An estimated $100 million of that money went to Liberal-friendly ad firms and other middlemen who sometimes failed to deliver quality work.
The big show everyone has been waiting for comes next week, when Chretien will face off against the judge his lawyers tried to get rid off.
And when he's done, Prime Minister Paul Martin will follow.
With a report from CTV's Roger Smith, and files from The Canadian Press
How can someone justify voting for the Liberals? Honestly!
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Jayx1 I have gathered that. People here think corruption only happens in "banana countries". What people dont realize is that we are one big frozen banana. We just hide it better for one and secondly even when it is revealed people are in denial. |
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Ottaw...943796-sun.html
Feds paid ad exec $15M: Documents
By MARIA McCLINTOCK, Parliamentary Bureau
ONE OF the key ad executives at the centre of the sponsorship scandal was paid more than $15 million in expenses over four years by the federal government, the Sun has learned. Jean Lafleur and his company, Lafleur Communications, earned the millions between 1998 and 2002, documents obtained under Access to Information that detail additional cash the feds paid out to Lafleur.
The government refused to make public 24 pages of documents that show Lafleur's expenses in 1995 and 1996, citing that the information contained in them are part of an ongoing RCMP investigation into the $250-million federal sponsorship program.
Lafleur is scheduled to be the first witness to appear when the Gomery inquiry resumes in Montreal tomorrow.
The commission has heard in 1996 Lafleur got all $17 million worth of government sponsorship contracts, and often charged 17.9% commissions.
The inquiry has also heard former sponsorship head Chuck Guite, some politicians, and heads of Crown corporations were Lafleur's guests at his luxury box at the Molson Centre in Montreal, and often were treated to outings like salmon fishing expeditions.
The documents also show the bulk of Lafleur's expenses were filed when Pierre Tremblay was running the sponsorship program, after taking over from Guite in 1999, the documents show. Tremblay was the executive assistant to former federal public works minister Alfonso Gagliano. Tremblay died before he could testify at the commission.
The documents show that Lafleur submitted expenses to both Tremblay and Guite, including one for $1 million for "production management co-ordination of sponsorship activities," the documents show.
Lafleur also charged the feds $862,500 for "production services in support of the Serie Maurice Richard campaign"; $620,700 for production management of unspecified sponsorship events; and $219,216 for "partnership and related services to the Great Canadian Historical Legacy Writing Challenge and the seniors travel program" at Health Canada.
Conservative waste watchdog John Williams was shocked at the magnitude of Lafleur's expenses.
"I am truly astounded. This would strongly suggest criminality," Williams said.
"This is why it's important that we get the bank statements and the cancelled cheques."
Williams said he hopes the ad execs testifying at the commission this week are more forthcoming than they were when they appeared before the Commons public accounts committee last year.
"I think Canadians' anger is going to erupt all over again," when details of the money trail are revealed, Williams said. "They're going to demand blood."
NDP MP Pat Martin agreed.
"It looks like our worst fears are realized, that they were wheel- barrelling money to Lafleur," Martin said. "I challenge you to find the value for money."
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