Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Schreiber: Not Leaving Without A Bang
It's interesting to view the controversy surrounding the dealings that Brian Mulroney may or not have had with Karlheinz Schreiber. In the latest story from CTV, we learn that now Mulroney himself is calling for a public inquiry. Considering the mountain of material that Mr. Schreiber claims to have available, it appears that Mr. Schreiber came to a decision over a decade ago that if his dealings ever raised suspicion in Germany, he wouldn't go back there without a fight. We don't know all the facts yet, but we are privy to some of the opening arguments: Mr. Mulroney accepted payment for professional services after he left office.
This alone begs the question: Do the public hate Brian Mulroney so much that they would attach what happened in 1994 to the government of today, and moreso to a current Prime Minister who left politics when Brian Mulroney was still in office? It's definately a great magic trick when an alleged criminal can bring down a democratically elected government because he knows how to con the voter as well as his fellow Germans claim that he conned them. It's a great side show, but it doesn't belong in the House of Commons, it belongs in the justice system.
Let's hope that government lawyers don't spend as much of our money getting to the truth of this as they spent investigating the Somalia affair or Peppergate. It would be a travesty of justice if this is the only thing that could get an elected Liberal member of Parlaiment out of his seat to actually vote on something.
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5 comments:
"It would be a travesty of justice if this is the only thing that could get an elected Liberal member of Parlaiment out of his seat to actually vote on something."
Travesty or not, it should be taken into consideration that Harper may be using this issue to get the liberals to do just that, get off their hands just long enough to force an election, then do just as you have suggested and hand the matter over to the RCMP or rag the puck long enough for Mr Scrieber to be extradited.
"Do the public hate Brian Mulroney so much that they would attach what happened in 1994 to the government of today, and moreso to a current Prime Minister who left politics when Brian Mulroney was still in office?"
You are assuming the public knows anything about the facts or history - by and large they are blind sheep waiting for the latest 30 second blurb from the press to tell them what to think. The Liberals will use whatever lies and inuendo they can from 15 years ago to trash the current PM; that is who they are, what they are and how they operate. Policy and platforms are for show - lies, manipulation and a lazy press are the main factors in Canadian politics today.
I'm always fascinated with how conservatives seem to think that Schreiber's alleged criminality makes things better for Mulroney. I mean, Mulroney is claiming to have taken $300,000 in cash in secret hotel room meetings for entirely legitimate purposes, and the defence to any suggestion from Shreiber that the money was NOT for legitimate purposes seems to be "You can't believe Schreiber, he's a criminal". Well, yes, he is. He's a criminal in the sense that he stands accused of giving large amounts of money to public officials for illegitimate purposes! How does that make things better for Mulroney? Schreiber isn't accused of murder, or drug dealing, he's accused of BRIBING PUBLIC OFFICIALS.
If I were a supporter of Mulroney, I'd stop trying to undermine Mr. Schreiber's claims by reminding people that Schreiber is a criminal waiting to be extradited to Germany. Because everytime I'm reminded that Schreiber's a criminal I'm reminded that Mulroney didn't just take $300,000 in cash in secret hotel meetings from some guy, he took $300,000 in cash in secret hotel meetings from a criminal famous for bribing public officials! To me, Mr. Mulroney's claims that the money was for totally legitimate purposes become LESS credible when I'm constantly reminded that the payor is an internationally famous bribe-giver awaiting extradition and prison for illegitimate financial dealings with high-ranking politicans.
I'm glad that you're fascinated so easily. The point I was trying to make is that we shouldn't allow our MPs to take over the roll of the RCMP. What's next on the Liberal agenda? A tax-payer funded public inquiry into 70 year old politicians for making parking tickets disappear? Trying to make Mulroney's dealings - legal or not - stick to this current government is nothing more than a sideshow because the Liberals don't have the brainpower to attack this government legitimately.
Well, no, I agree that we shouldn't allow MPs to take over the role of the RCMP.
Of course, the RCMP dropped the case back when the government settled it's lawsuit after Mulroney claimed (falsely) to have never received any money from Schreiber.
I think the RCMP investigation SHOULD be re-opened. Much better than a public inquiry.
I also agree that efforts to make this stick to the current government are a sideshow. I want Mulroney held accountable for his own actions, nothing more, nothing less.
My point was simply on references to Schreiber as a criminal or alleged criminal. Conservatives are always trotting that out as though all it does is create doubts about Schreiber's credibility, when what it says to me is that Mulroney received $300,000 from an alleged criminal (and not just any alleged criminality mind you... the man is accused of basically bribing public officials!!!).
I also question your analogy to a politician "making parking tickets disappear". Receiving $300,000 in cash payments from a man world renowned for bribing high-level public officials is not the same as fixing parking tickets. Unless of course one fixed a quarter of a million dollars in parking tickets for an international arms dealer accused of bribing high-level international politicians. In which case, yeah, I think that should be investigated too!
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