[VioletlightHeron]

Paul Martin was Minister of Finance. How is it possible that he had no knowledge of what was going on??? Isn't the Finance Minister usually responsible for money going in and out of gov't??? Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not that interested in politics but this seems strange to me.

Chretien didn't trust Martin and his Meech-like ideas about Quebec, so he kept him out of the loop, sometimes forcibly. The money for the program came from a contingency fund. Martin and Chretien simply okay'd the money going out, they didn't know what happened to it after it left Ottawa.

Gomery found that Chretien's former cheif of staff and his political friends then created a kick back scheme, which it says right on the first page of Gomery's summary; Martin and Chretien knew nothing about. The accused even testified that he told everyone involved that "JC was not to know."

Martin was entirely exonerated by the judge, Chretien was found indirectly responsible because the buck has to stop somewhere, and as he said: "I take responsibility for all the goods and bad that happened during my administration."

Pardon me for being cynical, but the idea of Chretien's chief of staff telling all the players involved that JC was not to know strikes me as highly implausible and appears to be the actions of a loyal servant falling on his sword. The whole affair was run out of the PMO's office and all the players were in Chretien's inner circle, so how does Chretien not have a hint that federal money was being kicked back to the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party? What strikes me as dangerous is the willingness of the Liberal leadership to work against the possibility of separatism by directing money and programs at one particular province, sometimes to the detriment of the other provinces, and promoting the idea that only the Liberal Party can reach out to Quebec and convince them to stay in the Confederation when the ideals of Canada are so much more than just the Liberal Party.