Canadian PM sues Liberals over web post
p2pnet news | Politics:- Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper is suing the opposition Liberals for saying he knew about a bid to bribe dying MP Chuck Cadman in 2005.
On March 12 the Liberals posted on their web site >>>
Prime Minister Stephen Harper must account for the many serious issues plaguing his government, starting with a clear explanation of what exactly he meant by “financial considerations” in a taped interview discussing former MP Chuck Cadman, the Liberal Opposition said today.
“On the tape, the Prime Minister talked about an offer made to Mr. Cadman by emissaries from the [Conservative] Party to deal with a financial insecurity of Mr. Cadman, should there be an election,” said Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. “So: What offer? What emissaries? What ‘financial insecurity’?
“Let’s have the Prime Minister answer these three questions once and for all,” said Mr. Dion.
Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff pointed out that the Conservatives` answers inside the House of Commons, where they are protected by Parliamentary privilege, are not consistent with the answers they provide outside the House.
“After 10 days of this, a pattern of evasion is emerging in the government’s answers on the Cadman Affair,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “Inside the House, Conservative spokesmen deny the allegations. But outside the House, they duck and cover.
“Let me try again with a key question in the affair: Was a financial inducement ever offered by one or more representatives of the Conservative Party to Chuck Cadman, yes or no?”
Following the allegations, Harper has launched a $2.5 million libel suit against the Liberals, “for repeatedly alleging he knew of an attempt by Conservative officials to bribe the late MP Chuck Cadman in 2005,” says the Canwest News Service.
But, “We’ll not apologize – come on,” it has Dion saying. “We want the truth from the prime minister.”
The story continues, “Accusing Harper of playing games, Dion seized on an allegation in the suit that a tape recording the Liberals have been relying on for their allegations is incomplete and edited. In the recording, Harper says Cadman was offered ‘replacement of financial considerations he might lose due to an election’.
“Dion accused Harper of ‘pretending that the tape has been doctored’ and challenged the prime minister to produce a full version of the tape. He also suggested Harper tell the public what part of the conversation is missing and who he is accusing of hiding it.”
The tape was recorded by Cadman biographer Tom Zytaruk, “who denied a previous allegation by B.C. Conservative MP James Moore that the tape was a shorter version of a longer conversation,” says Canwest, going on:
“Liberals have hammered away daily in the House of Commons at the Cadman affair since the leak of a segment of Zytaruk’s biography quoting Cadman’s widow Dona – a Conservative candidate in her husband’s old B.C. riding of Surrey North – saying her dying husband told her of a bribe attempt.
“She quotes her husband telling her that two unidentified Conservative representatives offered him a $1-million life insurance policy if he would vote with the Conservatives in a May 19, 2005 vote of confidence that could have toppled the minority Liberal government. Dona Cadman has publicly confirmed her late husband’s statements; her daughter Jodi and son-in-law Mark have also publicly said he told them separately of the offer.
“In what is believed the first time a prime minister has sued the official opposition, the statement of claim accuses the Liberals of ‘reckless indifference to the truth’ and maliciously repeating false, heinous, excessive, extreme, and totally unreasonable allegations based on a partial tape recording and an unproofed excerpt from an unpublished book.”
Meanwhile, “who is playing partisan politics here?” wonders a Toronto Star OpEd, adding:
“A prime minister who sues the Liberals while his point man on the justice committee prevents them from asking fair questions? How can [Conservative MP Art] Hanger talk about ‘unsubstantiated scandal’ when so many questions remain to be answered?
“What, for example, did Harper mean when he told Cadman’s biographer about ‘financial considerations’ for the dying MP?
“Harper and Hanger should know that their outlandish responses only make it look as if they do, indeed, have something to hide.”
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Also See:
Canwest News Service – Harper sues Liberals over Cadman affair, March 13, 2008
Toronto Star – A scandal swept under the rug?, March 14, 2008
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March 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Wow, just wow. Fascinating stuff, especially for *Canadian* politics!