Gillian Cosgrove has a column in Saturday's (Aug. 9) National Post that tells us that Chretien is demanding a farewell fund-raising dinner. A table for ten at his Confederation Dinner in Toronto on Oct. 30, will set one back a cool $7,000.
The Bay Street boys, who are the prime guest targets are not amused. They wanted Martin, a winner, not Chretien, now a loser, to be the host. Fumes a financial services executive, reflected the view of others: "This guy Chretien has no effing shame. First, he rams through Bill C-124 virtually outlawing corporate donations. Then as his swan song he comes back cap in hand to The Street and asks us to do what will be illegal next year. Talk about cheek!"
It appears that Bay Street will not be filling up those pricey tables. One can only hope that the turn-out will be so poor that the event gets cancelled. The blatant hypocrisy of Chretien commanding this dinner will not be lost on the deep-pocketed crowd.
Another article in the preceding day's paper (Aug. 8 A3) details how a federal bureaucrat, who resigned in disgrace for taking bribes from a Manitoba native treatment center, was then rehired by HRDC and Public Works Canada as a contract worker. The scam basically had Mr. Paul Cochrane steering millions in Health Canada grants to the center in exchange for a $50,000 bribe, along with three SUVs, vacations, and other goodies. The native center folded when the scandal broke, and is, like Cochrane, being investigated by the RCMP. Now, given the enormity of the scandal, one would think alarm bells would have rung in at least one of the two departments, especially, as John Williams, CA MP, and Chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, points out: "It's incredible. Two departments that have scandal written all over them have opened their doors to a man who left another department under a cloud. It shows that the ethical malaise in the federal government is very much alive and well."
And what were Mr. Cochrane's contract duties? Well, it seems his expertise was needed in helping oversee job competions for the massive Public Works department. I wonder if that task did not have a lucrative sideline to it.
Let's review one key bit again:
***"This guy Chretien has no effing shame. First, he rams through Bill C-124 virtually outlawing corporate donations. Then as his swan song he comes back cap in hand to The Street and asks us to do what will be illegal next year. Talk about cheek!"***
And another:
***[A] federal bureaucrat, who resigned in disgrace for taking bribes from a Manitoba native treatment center, was then rehired by HRDC and Public Works Canada as a contract worker. The scam basically had Mr. Paul Cochrane steering millions in Health Canada grants to the center in exchange for a $50,000 bribe, along with three SUVs, vacations, and other goodies. The native center folded when the scandal broke, and is, like Cochrane, being investigated by the RCMP.***
And finally:
***If you're ever going to get politically active, NOW is the time to do it!***
