Paul Martin: Can't say "No"
Now how hard is it to say, "No, I didn't do it"?
For Paul Martin, apparently he'll pull a muscle than answer with a simple "No".
Remember this from the Finance Department?
Pat Breton, a spokesman for Mr. Goodale, said yesterday that Finance officials met on the night of Nov. 22 for two or three hours and came up with the plan that became the next day's announcement on income trusts. He also said that the Prime Minister's Office was told after that Nov. 22 meeting — either later that night, or the next day — about the decision. The policy development was “entirely an internal Finance” effort, he added.
Remember how I said it was a load of crap, that Paul Martin and his office knew of the decision days, not hours, before the announcement on November 23?
Now who would you believe?
If you said you'd believe me, your confidence in me has been rewarded:
Paul Martin said he and some other people in the Prime Minister's Office had advance knowledge of a government decision on income trusts before it was made public, something he says isn't out of the ordinary.
Martin, who spoke following a campaign stop at a Montreal-area mosque, said he was one of a number of people in the PMO who were informed of the decision before it was made public.
"I knew and I'm one of them. The fact is, that the people who would be on a need-to-know basis would have that information," said Martin.
Now Paul Martin hasn't said how long before the announcement he knew, but the implication is clearly that he and his office knew well before, not just a few hours.
I await a reporter's question that will attempt to pin him down on the timeframe.
In the meantime, we get to hear the Prime Minister's answer to the question of whether the PMO leaked the information:
"The fact is we are dealing with opposition allegations. And that's all we are dealing with. Opposition allegations during an election campaign," said Martin. "The RCMP obviously have a responsibility to follow up on matters such as this. That's their job."
What the...?
Does the Prime Minister believe that someone in the PMO leaked the information? "Yes" or "No"?
One problem is that Paul Martin can't give a simple answer to a simple question. It's not in his nature, and when he's speaking off the cuff, you can see that.
This is also a lame attempt to shift the discussion to opposition motives. It won't work. Everyone knows that the opposition is motivated by a desire to win an election. It's called democracy. We're all fine with that.
We're not fine with insider trading, especially insider trading committed by the government.
But there is one more dynamic at play. As a politician, Paul Martin is extremely sensitive to being caught in a bald-faced lie. Every answer has layers and conditionals that allow you to re-spin the answer over and over again as the facts become known.
There is no way the Prime Minister can say "No" to the question "Did the leak come from the PMO?" unless he is absolutely certain. And he isn't certain because of one of three reasons:
- He knows someone leaked.
- He suspects someone leaked.
- He knows his people well enough not to be fooled into thinking they weren't capable of committing a crime.
None of these are great options.
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Comments
Lets try this one
1) He knows there was a leak...many people know there was a leak, it is hard to deny
2) From his time at finance he knows it did NOT come from the professionals in finance
3) He suspects it came from one of his people, he may know, he may not....he will leave his options open till he is TOLD who did it, then under the bus they go.
PM PM has no interest in seeing this thing resolved immeadiately, unless one of his guys steps forward and says he did it, i.e. throw themselves under the bus. Final possiblity it was leaked as a general strategy and that makes PMPM culpable. He wont go to jail, just look like a bonehead in front of the nation.
Posted by: Stephen at December 30, 2005 08:51 PM
Steve, you *own* this story. Exactly like the last few stories; I'm beginning to detect a trend.
Cheers!
Posted by: DSM at December 30, 2005 09:20 PM
Follow the money. The individuals that profited from the leak have very specific attachments to the Liberal government. For instance, the connection to Medisys is directly between PMPM and his doctor. Let PMPM explain that away.
Posted by: Marc at December 30, 2005 09:27 PM
Follow the money indeed.
Will we (taxpayers) ever see a list of exactly WHOM profited in this last minute bonanza?
Posted by: Zilla at December 30, 2005 09:55 PM
Angry, there is a fourth scenario: Paul has no idea what is going on. Occam's Razor.
Posted by: john at December 30, 2005 10:27 PM
Changing tax rules isn't be done lightly. A number of researchers and tax law experts needed to be involved and/or consulted.
Once the ramifications of possible policy changes were used to reduce the options, the PMO and Finance Minister made the decision.
PMPM planned to spend as much time possible (before his minority fell) making "good news" announcements aka buying votes. This policy was only one of numerous planned. PMPM acknowledged as much when the opposition complained of the rush of announcements just before the vote which toppled the government.
PMPM and party strategists knew their time was limited so they were prioritizing which announcements would have the most impact.
Logic would say therefore PMPM and literally dozens of his cohorts knew about this policy announcement well in advance.
It is possible, through forensic accounting, to trace who bought what, when and where... but finding the person-in-the-know who tipped them off will be all but impossible... and proving it will be impossible. All of the parties involved are Fiberals and we know how honest and forthcoming they are, right?
Posted by: Mac at December 30, 2005 11:34 PM
Say what you will, Paul Martin is an honest man. Which is why he couldn't, in all good conscience, say no to the question. After all, he can't be certain that his calls that afternoon to the party's Laurier Club didn't, you know, perhaps, possibly reveal details that, maybe, perhaps, shouldn't have been revealed.
Besides, they had to save Canada from Canadians!
Posted by: Patrick at December 31, 2005 02:31 AM
Marc,
You have hit the nail on the head. I would like to know, if the leak didn't come from the PMO, why the personal doctor of PMPM and his provate health care corporation benefitted from this little tidbit.
Cheers
Gerry
Posted by: Gerryinmontreal at December 31, 2005 02:52 AM
John,
I truly like your take on this. The most obvious explanation is that PMPM has absolutely no idea as to what is going on in his office (much less his government), so the obvious answer is that that the most logical conclusion is correct. (Can we expect another national television broadcast of apology and begging???)
As for Pere Noel (Santa Claus); that would be Ralph Goodale; I think that he is honest but also the perfect example of the Peter Principle. He reached his level of his incompetence long ago.
Cheers
Gerry
Posted by: gerryinmontreal at December 31, 2005 03:15 AM
I read in Warren Kinsella's site this morning that the liberal campaign isn't headed for the reef.......they hit it and are abondoning ship as we speak.
The rats are the first to jump....lets see who goes to the media first.
Posted by: gimbol at December 31, 2005 07:45 AM
Come on now people...why would PMPM have any knowledge of leaks by his staffers at the PMO...this is the guy that was Finance Minister for 10 years when millions of tax dollars disappeared and he saw and heard nothing. What we are now witnessing is PMPM building another case where"plausible deniability" will become the mantra, and of course the MSM will sugar coat this, just as they have with other cases of Liberal scandal.
Posted by: MFGB/Nova Scotiaa at December 31, 2005 07:59 AM
Reminds me of Fonzie on Happy Days trying to say, "I was wwww-rrrrr-oooo-nnn-g". Just can't get the words out.
Posted by: Shane O. at December 31, 2005 01:59 PM
Could the Medisys windfall profits gained by the help of the PMO be part of a plan to have Medisys Clincis coast to coast? Not the the libs have hidden agendas.
Posted by: Jeanette at January 1, 2006 11:04 PM
 
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