If nobody spends time in jail as a result of the abuses linked to the Liberal government's $250-million ads and sponsorship program, the multi-pronged process launched to get to the bottom of the scandal will have failed, says the chair of the House Public Accounts Committee probing ministerial accountability.
"If nobody goes to jail over this issue, then I feel that the process has failed. And therefore this is a very serious issue. I compare it to Watergate in the United States," said Mr. Williams (St. Albert, Alta.).
In addition to Mr. Williams' Parliamentary inquiry, a parallel judicial inquiry led by Quebec Superior Court Judge John Gomery is also investigating the scandal.
The federal government has also launched two other major probes, one led by special counsel André Gauthier to pursue all possible avenues including civil litigation to recover lost funds, and another to determine how Crown corporations became involved in the scandal.
[. . . .] Last week, the House Public Accounts Committee heard compelling testimony that confirmed many of the problems happened under the watch of two men long-suspected of being at the heart of the scandal. Huguette Tremblay, the office manager of the now defunct sponsorship program, testified that former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano was in almost weekly contact with the senior bureaucrat in charge of the program from 1997 to 1999, Charles "Chuck" Guité.
This came after Mr. Gagliano told the committee two weeks ago that he had contact with Mr. Guité only three of four times a year.
[. . . .] Both Mr. Guité and Mr. Tremblay have been invited to testify, but while Mr. Tremblay is on leave from his job and reportedly too sick to appear before the committee, Mr. Guité is out of the country in Arizona and can't be forced to appear.
[. . . .] The committee is aiming to produce an interim report by the end of April, though it is expected to focus more on how the program went awry then on who is responsible for the wrongdoing.
If anybody does end up in jail, it will be as a result of an RCMP investigation and evidence presented in the courts.
The committee is focused on the question of "ministerial competence." It is supposed to investigate the actions of ministers, both former and current, and hear from the public servants about their actions. The committee could then be in a position to figure out if ministerial interference with the public service took place.
Watch question period in the House of Commons to see Liberals frustrating efforts to obtain information. It appeared to me that Paul Martin and a few others were stonewalling, using circular reasoning, or presenting responses to a question not asked -- obfuscating. Of course, that is just one individual's opinion. NJC
The RCMP is reportedly expected to charge a handful of people connected to the scandal this week, according to a report by the Globe and Mail. The RCMP has completed a two-year investigation into contracts awarded by Public Works triggered by the Auditor General's first report in 2002.
This will be the second round of charges made by the RCMP. Last September, it charged Paul Coffin, president of Montreal-based Communications Coffin, with 18 counts of fraud against the federal government over $2-million in allegedly fake invoices submitted to Public Works.
