T1B

Otis wrote:Oh and Hap...

Gomery's report is going to exonerate PM Martin...

Liberal lobbyists got satellite 'success fees'

By CAMPBELL CLARK

Thursday, October 20, 2005 Posted at 5:15 AM EDT

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Ottawa — Two well-connected Liberal lobbyists were paid "success fees" that depended on saving Canadian Satellite Radio Inc.'s endangered broadcasting licence, according to registrations they filed with the federal government. Cabinet upheld the licence in September.

John Duffy, a long-time supporter of Prime Minister Paul Martin and member of his inner circle of informal advisers called "the Board," and David MacNaughton who until June was the top aide to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, declared that payment for their lobbying work would depend on whether they succeeded.

Such fees are legal in Canada and do not violate government guidelines unless companies pay them to help bid on government contracts or obtain government grants.

But opposition politicians said yesterday such fees are inappropriate and some argued they should be outlawed in Canada as they are in many U.S. jurisdictions.

"It's totally inappropriate," New Democrat MP Ed Broadbent said. "It should not be permitted under the law. There should be no percentage advantage, one way or another, whether you're successful getting a change in policy one way or another."

In many American states the fees have been outlawed because of concerns that fees paid only for favourable decisions increase the risk of kickbacks, or encourage lobbyists to make campaign contributions in exchange for a favourable vote or decision.

Bloc Québécois MP Maka Kotto said such fees become disturbing when they are charged by those with connections to people in government.

"When the individuals are so close to power, that's where it becomes questionable," Mr. Kotto said. "That's where you have to ask if this government is free to make its own decisions."

Mr. Duffy defended success fees as a type of "risk-sharing" arrangement where little is paid up front, but more is paid if lobbying succeeds.

"There's nothing wrong with them. They're perfectly normal," he said.

The federal cabinet upheld Canadian Satellite Radio's licence, even though the lead minister, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, had written a memo to cabinet proposing the licence be returned to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for review.

Quebec MPs called for the licence to be killed at a three-day Liberal caucus meeting in Regina in August because the lineup of channels proposed by Canadian Satellite Radio and another licensee, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., included relatively few Canadian and French-language stations.

About the same time, Canadian Satellite Radio brought in a half-dozen former Liberal politicians, political staffers and organizers. Among them: Mr. Duffy and Mr. MacNaughton; lawyer Cyrus Reporter, secretary-treasurer of the Liberal Party and aide to Allan Rock when he was in the Chrétien cabinet; Serge Paquette, a former Liberal organizer; and Richard Mahoney, a lawyer who was executive assistant to Mr. Martin when the latter was finance minister.

Mr. Mahoney's activities as a lobbyist for CSR were not registered until The Globe and Mail called to confirm his role on Oct. 4. He said that after delays caused by the need to obtain a new account with the registry, his assistant believed she had registered by Internet on Sept. 21, and discovered only when The Globe called that the registration had not been received.

CSR representatives showed up at the Liberal caucus meeting in Regina to bend the ear of ministers and other MPs. Among the CSR representatives was David Peterson, the former Ontario premier and brother of International Trade Minister Jim Peterson.

Mr. Peterson also did not register as a lobbyist for CSR. He said he is not a lobbyist, noting that the law defines them as people who are paid to deal with government officials, and that he has known the head of CSR, John Bitove Jr., for some time.

MPs said CSR representatives also discussed issues around the licence with them during the Regina caucus meeting at a cocktail party for members of the Laurier Club. Members of the club donate more than $1,000 to the Liberal Party.

Asked in the Commons yesterday whether such lobbying occurred at another Laurier Club party at the Prime Minister's 24 Sussex Dr. residence in early September, Liberal House Leader Tony Valeri would not say.

Mr. Valeri later told reporters he did not know whether Liberal ministers were lobbied at Laurier Club parties, but he was not; Public Works Minister Scott Brison said he could not recall.

Mr. Broadbent said allowing such lobbying to occur at a party for donors goes against the notion that all citizens are equal.

"You shouldn't, in a democracy, have preferred access because you can put up money to an elected representative."

Such fees are legal in Canada and do not violate government guidelines

But opposition politicians said yesterday such fees are inappropriate and some argued they should be outlawed in Canada as they are in many U.S. jurisdictions.

Otis wrote:

Such fees are legal in Canada and do not violate government guidelines

Well there you have it. Completely legal.

Hapday wrote:

Otis wrote: Apparently the amendments they were offering still weren't acceptable or else one or more of the other parties would have voted differently.

Is that what you are telling yourself?

In other news, it sure does pay to be a thief if you are a gLiberal

Independent audit proves the Conservatards wrong... yet again

Dingwall says he's 'completely exonerated' by audit


OTTAWA (CP) - Former mint president David Dingwall says he's been cleared by an independent audit of his expenses and he may sue MPs who portrayed his spending habits as an outrageous abuse of taxpayer dollars.

"My lawyers are looking at a variety of different things," Dingwall said Wednesday in an interview with The Canadian Press. One of those MPs is Conservative Brian Pallister, who did not relent Wednesday in his assertion that Dingwall took advantage of a wildly permissible spending environment.

"There are no rules," Pallister said at a news conference. "There is nothing there to restrain David Dingwall's spending."

The Royal Canadian Mint asked PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct the audit.

Pallister said he's not surprised the audit cleared Dingwall because the mint's travel and hospitality guidelines didn't apply to him.

Dingwall, who was briefed on the contents of the audit in advance, said the report "completely exonerates me of any wrongdoing" and proves he's been the victim of a "politically motivated" witch hunt.

The audit reviewed expenses of almost $1.8 million over three years, the vast majority of which went to pay salaries for Dingwall and his staff and for administration of the mint president's office.


"They looked at that and they came back and said, 'Look, 99.64 per cent of all of those costs were legitimate, appropriate and business related.' . . . Any reasonable person I think would conclude that's not a bad number."

The audit found 0.36 per cent of the expenses were not legitimate, and Dingwall said he will "repay these small amounts immediately."

He said the questionable expenses amount to about $2,500 and include charges to courier his schedule to his wife in Nova Scotia and a portion of some travel expenses for trips that included some free personal time.

At the same time, he said, the auditors found he was owed $238 for expenses that he'd claimed but were not approved by the mint.

Dingwall requested the audit when he resigned from the mint last month amid opposition charges that he had claimed lavish personal, travel and meal expenses as president.

He was appointed to that job by his former boss, ex-prime minister Jean Chretien.

Dingwall was not interviewed by the auditors nor given a chance to explain any of his expenses. He said the audit proves opposition parties have wrongly smeared his reputation.

"My cost centre was falsely portrayed as personal expenses. There was no leased car. There was no payment for gum. There was no $5,800 dinner for myself and one staff person. There was no golf membership valued at $15,000 . . . People ran with that without ever bothering to check, without ever bothering to ask for clarification."

Dingwall, who also faces separate allegations that he did not register as a lobbyist before joining the mint, doubted the opposition will drop the matter.

"It's been a very difficult and painful process for myself and my family. I think it's politically motivated and I think it's not good for Parliament and it's not good for the (political) process," he said.

He said he was particularly dismayed by Pallister's attempt to drag his daughter, a junior employee in the federal public service, into the controversy.

Dingwall said he doesn't regret his decision to resign rather than try to hang onto his mint job while awaiting the audit.

"There was no way that I could've continued as president of the mint without dragging the mint into this mess . . . It would have been all-out crisis."

He said his lawyers are still determining the "proper and appropriate" severance to which he may be entitled and refused to rule out suing the government should it balk at paying it.

"We have a lot of options," he said.

Prime Minister Paul Martin and his ministers initially defended Dingwall, whom they praised for restoring the mint to profitability. But they distanced themselves as the controversy over his spending habits mounted.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said the Liberal reaction to the audit is a way of setting the groundwork for a severance package.

Union leaders at the mint defended Dingwall, saying he made the mint profitable and enabled it to put more workers on the payroll.

Revenue Minister John McCallum, who has said the government will pay severance only if legally required, said Wednesday that some MPs rushed to judgment on the expenses.

Ten Packs wrote:I was a card-carrying member of the Progressive Conservatives in the early 80's - went to meetings, pounded signs in the '84 election (think it was '84 - memory is getting weaker these days)

All I can say now is Muck Fulroney!!!

Hapday wrote:Why then was Dingwall fired eeeeerrrrrr left Public Works? Yeah, his hands are clean... :lol:

Otis wrote: How bad does it feel Hap to support a party that loses every single battle?

MPs reject $1 rent bid for city hospital

October 27, 2005
By Nelly Elayoubi

A local Conservative MP's bid to have the Queensway-Carleton Hospital's annual rental fee dropped to $1 failed in the House of Commons last night.

The hospital is on land owned by the NCC, which is mandated to charge reasonable rental rates to any group using its land.

The hospital pays $23,000 annually in rent. Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre presented the $1 bid. It failed in a vote of 165-110.

"(Prime Minister) Paul Martin and the Liberals teamed up with (Bloc Quebecois leader) Gilles Duceppe and the separatists to vote against the hospital," Poilievre said.

A threat to raise the rent to full market value means the hospital could face rent in the millions of dollars, he said.

"That could cripple the hospital's operations and according to the former chair of the hospital could cost as many as 40 nurses," he said.

The Queensway-Carleton is the only hospital in Canada that pays rent to the federal government.

"The Queensway-Carleton Hospital will be the No. 1 issue in the next election for every community west of Bank St.," Poilievre vowed.

Hap Wrote:
The gLiberals let a local golf course pay $1 in rent to the feds, but not a hospital. Nice party you work there Otis, what champions of health care they are.