T1B

Liberal MP Scott Brison dismissed any potential law suit as nothing but partisan politics financed by taxpayers' money.

"I believe this is all part of an ongoing smear campaign by the government against the Liberal party," he told CP.

Would anyone like to hazzard a guess on what the poll results would be if the real public were asked if they think that the Government of Canada has the right to, or should they sue the self_serving Libby Scam_Bag$???

Hummm, anyone?

The Conservative government is set to sign a botched building deal that will cost taxpayers an incredible 20 times its past market value, says an NDP MP.

Ottawa's Paul Dewar said yesterday the public works department is inking a 10-year lease-to-own agreement worth $624 million for a building the last Liberal government could have bought outright for $30 million.

"It really is outrageous. The government will spend over $620 million for this property by the time it finally owns it -- 20 times more than the original purchase price," Dewar fumed in the House of Commons.

The building at 3000 Merivale Rd., which formerly housed JDS Uniphase, will become the new RCMP headquarters.

Public Works Canada had agreed to buy the building for the department of national defence headquarters, but the agreement was nixed and private developer Minto Inc. scooped it for $30 million.

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier said a memorandum of understanding has been signed. He said real estate markets fluctuate and values go up and down.

Public Works Canada had agreed to buy the building for the department of national defence headquarters, but the agreement was nixed and private developer Minto Inc. scooped it for $30 million

Tories smell new scandal over gun registry costs
Gun registry costs may heat up again

Allan Woods, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, May 12, 2006

OTTAWA - The former Liberal government "broke every rule in the book" when it signed a $273-million computer contract for the federal gun registry -- now the subject of a "stop-work" order -- and never reported the costs or terms of the deal to Parliament, a longtime Conservative gun-registry critic alleges.

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, who discovered the existence of the 15-year contract last fall, said that it was never reported to Parliament in government estimates on spending, or disclosed by the Treasury Board, which controls the government purse.

A Tory source referred to the 383-page contract, which was obtained by Breitkreuz under the Access to Information Act and provided to CanWest News Service, as the "smoking gun" in the troubled saga of the Canadian Firearms Centre.

CanWest believes Auditor General Sheila Fraser will report Tuesday that the former Liberal government kept the true costs of the gun registry from Parliament and that the problems identified in her initial 2002 audit of the controversial program continued for at least three years despite fierce criticism and the scrutiny of opposition parties.

"When they gave out that $273-million contract, they broke every rule in the book," Breitkreuz said, echoing the phrase that Fraser made famous in her audit of the $250-million sponsorship program.

Former Liberal public works minister Scott Brison disputed the Tory allegations Thursday. "To the best of my knowledge we were extremely vigorous" in reporting gun registry costs to Parliament, he said.

Nevertheless, the Conservatives believe the findings they expect to see in next Tuesday's audit into the firearms program will give them the ammunition they need to scrap the registry.

"I think it's a huge story and in my mind this is twice as big a scandal as the sponsorship scandal because here you've got contracts over $500 million going out and the work being done just doesn't measure up to that kind of money that we're spending," Breitkreuz said.

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier issued a stop-work order at the end of April to "reassess" parts of a contract that allows a computer consortium known as Team Centra to run the Canadian Firearms Centre's gun registration system until 2020.

"It's not the whole contract. It's just some parts of the contract," said Jean-Luc Benoit, a spokesman for the minister.

IRATE AT LEAK

Auditor General Sheila Fraser is "very upset" by the leak of an audit report, due on Tuesday, dealing with the federal gun registry. She says she has strong suspicions about who gave it to the media.

News reports Thursday suggested the previous Liberal government hid the gun program's cost overruns from Parliament.

"We will be speaking to certain people to try to encourage perhaps more (discretion) in the future, and that leaks like this are really not helpful and are also an affront to Parliament," Fraser told the Commons public accounts committee.

The leak did not come from her office, Fraser insisted.
© The Windsor Star 2006

Ottawa probes gun registry leak
Canadian Press

Ottawa — The federal government has launched an internal investigation to find out who leaked details from an auditor general's report that's due out next week.

But the New Democrats say that's not good enough and they want the Mounties to investigate.

"If there's going to be an investigation into the government, it ought not be the government that investigates the government," NDP critic David Christopherson said.

"We want to bring in the RCMP."

On Thursday, news reports detailed portions of a report dealing with the federal gun registry.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser is to present her report to the House of Commons next Tuesday.

Ms. Fraser, who said she was "very upset" by the leak and had strong suspicions about who let out the details, didn't reveal who she suspected.

But Opposition MPs did not hesitate to point fingers, saying the leak came straight from the Conservative government.

The leaked audit information suggested the previous Liberal government hid the registry program's cost overruns from Parliament.

Conservative MP Jason Kenney says the Tories want to find out if the leak came from the government, and then take any necessary action.

"An internal investigation has been launched to see if this information was leaked from a government source," Mr. Kenney told the Commons.

"We certainly hope that it wasn't, and if it was, anybody responsible will be held accountable because this is a government of accountability."

Later outside the Commons, Mr. Kenney said he did not believe the leak is a criminal matter.

Canadian wrote:ahh bullshit. All this is , is just a political stunt.

You want to talk about wasting money, read this:

The Conservative government is set to sign a botched building deal that will cost taxpayers an incredible 20 times its past market value, says an NDP MP.

Ottawa's Paul Dewar said yesterday the public works department is inking a 10-year lease-to-own agreement worth $624 million for a building the last Liberal government could have bought outright for $30 million.

"It really is outrageous. The government will spend over $620 million for this property by the time it finally owns it -- 20 times more than the original purchase price," Dewar fumed in the House of Commons.

The building at 3000 Merivale Rd., which formerly housed JDS Uniphase, will become the new RCMP headquarters.

Public Works Canada had agreed to buy the building for the department of national defence headquarters, but the agreement was nixed and private developer Minto Inc. scooped it for $30 million.

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier said a memorandum of understanding has been signed. He said real estate markets fluctuate and values go up and down.

Outrageous is an understatement. They will surly bankrupt the country with their wild spending and silly gst cut.

Read the rest here

Hapday wrote:
The petty mentality of the press keeps grinding that axe.

al? wrote:

Hapday wrote:
The petty mentality of the press keeps grinding that axe.

Word.

The public has spoken. Ironically, the mountains of shit the fiberals keep flinging at the wall only splashes right back on them, and the corruption of their term in power only becomes more apparent.