Angry in the Great White North
The "Mystery Caller" was campaign worker George Laliberte: affidavit
Friday, January 20, 2006 at 11:46 AM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
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From the Conservative campaign office:

Paul Martin and Liberal candidate Chris Axworthy have a lot of explaining to do. Two days ago a person from Mr. Axworthy’s campaign office called a local television program and falsely accused Conservative Member of Parliament Maurice Vellacott of having been charged with sexual assault.

In perhaps the most incredible claim of the campaign, Chris Axworthy admitted the call was placed from his office, but said someone not connected to his campaign sneaked in and made the call (CP Wire, January 19, 2006).

Today, the Conservative Party released an affidavit (attached) from Tom Hengen, past leadership candidate for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, swearing the “mystery caller” is one George Laliberte – a well-known associate of Mr. Axworthy.

“The Liberal campaign was caught making false accusations, and now appears to be caught in a cover-up,” stated Conservative Party Campaign Chair John Reynolds. “Mr. Axworthy had a chance to come clean and instead chose to deny any involvement. Paul Martin should take immediate action to remove his party’s support from Mr. Axworthy.”

As the Liberals become more desperate, they will say anything to hang onto power.

The notion that the vile phone call was made by someone who snuck into the office has been roundly ridiculed.

But now things take a serious turn. This affidavit means that Liberal candidate Chris Axworthy has to face the music. He can deny that George Laliberte made the call, and face the possibility of even more people coming forward to put a name to the voice.

Unfortunately for Axworthy, he might not have the option of simply dismissing Laliberte. That sort of thing has to be done quickly. Now if Axworthy admits that Laliberte was the caller, he will have to face questions as to why he did not recognize the voice of his close associate. Those questions won't go away by merely firing Laliberte, but will remain, suggesting that Axworthy was attempting a cover-up.

That problem moves up to the national level. Unless the Liberal Party at the national level moves quickly to cut Axworthy from the main body of the Liberal Party, as they did with David Oliver, the question of a cover-up will be asked there as well.

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