Angry in the Great White North

The RCMP Pension Scandal is expanding:

CTV News has learned that new allegations are about to be made in the RCMP pension and insurance scandal.

Sources tell CTV News that the problems with the insurance plan go back more than 12 years and that the misspending was higher by several million dollars.

The House of Commons public accounts committee will be told that the misuse began in 1995 -- a full six years earlier than the period covered by the Auditor General's report from last fall.

"It surprises me of course that the situation is widening out," said committee member John Williams, an Alberta Conservative MP.

"(It's) getting deeper and wider and more people are becoming involved and that's, for the Canadian public's point of view the last thing they want to hear."

The Right Side is broadcasting an interview with Adscam whistleblower Allan Cutler with more focus on the scope of the RCMP Pension Scandal.

If you recall, I've linked Abotech, the firm once owned by former Liberal MP David Smith, to the RCMP scandal.

That link is now on the radar as the scandal widens, with Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre making explicit mention of it:

The Commons public accounts committee resumes its hearings into the pension fiasco today with former Liberal ministers Anne McLellan, whose department oversaw the RCMP, and then-Treasury Board president Reg Alcock. They will be in the spotlight over what and when they knew about the misuse of pension funds.

They will also face questions about former Liberal MP David Smith and the contracts his company, Abotech, received from the RCMP.

"This entire scandal happened while the Liberals were in power and it is important to understand Liberal ministers, how they could have prevented this from happening and why they didn't do more," said Pierre Poilievre, Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton.

Expect Liberal MPs on the committee to work hard to protect the party, regardless of the abuse of the public purse, or the damage this scandal is doing to the Mounties. David Smith is not just a former Liberal MP, he was a supporter of embattled Liberal leader Stephane Dion during the leadership campaign. Borys Wrzesnewskyj is stepping up to this role:

Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj earlier asked [former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli] if a former RCMP assistant commissioner told him that Deputy Commissioner Gauvin kept records and had said that "if he (Gauvin) goes go down, he'll take you (Zaccardelli) with him."

The committee has also decided to call two senior Mounties, assistant commissioners Bruce Rogerson and Darrell LaFosse, whose e-mails are at the centre of the MPs' concerns about [Deputy Commissioner Barbara George's] testimony that she knew nothing about Staff Sgt. Frizzell's removal. The series of e-mails suggest she had a hand in it, even if she didn't direct the order.

Deputy Commissioner George has lashed out at Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, who tabled the e-mails, for "deliberately or carelessly" taking the e-mails out of context by reading only a portion of them into the record.

But Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said the committee is still no closer to getting to the bottom of the pension fiasco and the alleged coverup because of all the conflicting testimony MPs have heard.

"We're far from getting to the truth here," he said. "We have had three different versions from her on what happened. "She has parliamentary privilege when testifying, so she is compelled to give fulsome answers and not make us pry them out of her."

As the investigation moves away from the actions of the Mounties and towards the role Liberal MPs had in the scandal, expect more fireworks. Today ought to be a particularly interesting show.

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