Angry in the Great White North
OSC Investigation: It's worse than we imagined
Friday, January 06, 2006 at 11:19 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

Now that I'm back online (I do have a life beyond blogging), I can give the OSC statement some proper attention.

A complainant, still unnamed, asked the OSC to investigate two issues:

  1. insider trader allegations
  2. a report that Ralph Goodale's staff tried to silence a CARP member who said the group got advance notice

Thanks to CTV, we know that CARP member was assistant director William Gleberzon. We also know that Gleberzon retracted his comments, much to the confusion of CTV such that the network stood by the original story.

CARP was so adamant that no such communication took place that they made the error of calling Warren Kinsella a liar. Bad move. Within a few days, CARP backed off that allegation.

One shudders at the thought of what Kinsella had to say to them.

But clearly someone got to CARP, and that is even more interesting, and potentially far more damaging, than allegations of insider trading.

If true, someone from within Ralph Goodale's office (or the PMO) threatened Gleberzon in particular, or CARP in general. Threatened with what? A lifetime of audits? Suspension of this license or that?

Even if the threats were bluffs, even if there was no way some functionary within Ralph Goodale's office (or the PMO) could actually follow through on the threat, the utterance of a threat, even a hollow one, is a crime.

Moreover, the allegation suggests that one or more people within Ralph Goodale's office (or the PMO) felt it was appropriate to use the power of the government to protect and preserve the fortunes of the Liberal Party.

This is worse than Adscam. The Sponsorship Program generally involved willing participants in both government and in the private sector engaged in a scheme to steal taxpayers' money. Though some witnesses claimed that they felt pressured to engage in these activities, the threats were of the nature that if they did not play ball, they could no longer expect government largesse.

Unseemly, to be sure. But the crime was the theft of the money, not of behaving boorishly.

But here, the tone of the report suggests that one or more people within Ralph Goodale's office (or the PMO) behaved like soldiers in an organized crime syndicate. Using the threat of violence (in this case, probably financial violence) to compel someone to lie.

This is no longer about Liberal Party bungling and waste. This is no longer about Liberal Party theft. This is about a Liberal Party that, when entrusted with the vast power of the government, sees no problem in using that power to intimidate and punish its enemies.

From the OSC:

"The commission takes allegations of trading on insider information and allegations of potential interference with an investigation very seriously. Your concern has been forwarded to the Enforcement branch of the OSC for further review.''

Has the Liberal Party stopped being merely an incompetent and greedy organization? Is the Liberal Party now a dangerous one?

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