Monday, November 12, 2007

What did he know and when did he know it?

It's a phrase coined during Watergate. But it's truly à propos now.

This one's really troubling. Stephen Harper last Friday finally called a "limited" inquiry into allegations made by Karlheinz Schreiber that Brian Mulroney received a payoff of $300k in his final days as PM. About time ... except for one little thing we learned today: The PMO first learned about this claim seven months ago.

Harper has staked his reputation on the claim he runs a "clean" and "accountable" government. And these are very serious charges, whether they ultimately prove to be true or not. The question I and a lot of other Canadians have is why did Harper wait all this time? He just can't claim the letter got clogged in the mail -- there are dozens of people in the sorting room at the Langevin Block. This is the kind of thing that should have been vetted by the Mounties from the very beginning.

In fact, the so-called "Accountability Act" calls for a special prosecutor in circumstances like this one. So if Harper knew but sat on it, he broke his own law.

It's not the crime that does someone in, it's the cover-up. I have nothing to suggest anything untoward happened but I don't like the way this smells. An independent counsel, if not an outright judicial inquiry, is called for.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your use of the word "limited" struck a chord with me. Can you imagine what Gomery would have come out with if he had not been given "limited" powers by Martin? I say lets open up the sponsorship file as well as the Mulroney file and dig up all the dirt. I'm sure there's enough crap to go around for everyone.

evans said...

According to the privy council the Prime Minister never received the letter you refer to.Nice lie,I mean try.Keep Digging

BlastFurnace said...

The PM can't be expected to keep track of every piece of mail that comes in. That's crazy, of course -- but the buck stops with him and if one of his aides saw the letter then just put it away, that says a lot about the kind of "accountability" he believes in.