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Liberals covered up Dingwall affair until after election potentially altering vote
And in other news, seems the Liberals didnt change their stripes even days before the election. Thank God these clowns are sitting in the backwaters.
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Grit election ploy to hold out on news of Dingwall's whopping severance package, irate Tories charge
OTTAWA -- The Liberal government engaged in a "coverup" that skewed the federal election results when it kept David Dingwall's $417,780-severance secret until after Canadians had cast their ballots, senior Conservatives charged yesterday.
The hefty compensation package for the former Royal Canadian Mint boss was approved Jan. 20 -- three days before the election -- but the ruling from the binding arbitrator wasn't made public until this weekend.
Senior Tories accused the Liberals of sitting on the information instead of being up-front with Canadians during a campaign that focused on government ethics. "It's despicable, especially for someone like Paul Martin, who came into office promising to be more transparent," said Conservative MP Jay Hill.
In the dying days of the last Parliament, senior cabinet ministers insisted that taxpayers would be on the hook only for the bare minimum in severance because Dingwall had resigned of his own volition amid the uproar over his exorbitant expense claims.
But the arbitrator ruled that Dingwall's departure was "involuntary."
"It has all been proven to be a lie by this independent, third-party arbitrator," Hill said. "He was pressured into quitting; otherwise he wouldn't be eligible for any severance."
Hill said the incoming Conservative government will explore if there are options open to challenge the severance and warned that Dingwall -- and even Martin -- could be hauled before the public accounts committee to answer questions why Canadians were misled.
Conservative MP Jason Kenney believes it could have made the difference between a Conservative minority and majority if Liberals had disclosed the information before the vote.
"This was a coverup that affected the result of the election and I think in away subverted democracy," the Alberta MP told CTV's Question Period.
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| quote: | Originally posted by jester
Everything in this country is illegal. |
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