Happy Birthday, Dear Brian! From Mikey …
p2pnet news view | Politics:- If you’ve ever wondered what new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is, wonder no more.
He’s a class act.
Who says? Former Canadian prime minister Lyin’ Brian Mulroney (left), father of equally despised Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney.
Mulroney senior, “got a surprise phone call from a major party leader on his 70th birthday Friday,” says CTV, also observing »»»
Ignatieff called to wish Happy Birthday to Mulroney and to talk a little politics.
Ignatieff is making a major push in Quebec and his kindness to Mulroney will do him no harm in a province where the former PM is still popular.
Mulroney is a close adviser to Quebec Premier Jean Charest as well as the province’s powerful business and media elite.
He is chairman of Quebecor, which owns the TVA televison network and the Journal de Montreal, and is best friends with Montreal billionaire Paul Desmarais Sr, who owns La Presse.
What a coincidence, eh?
According to a family spokesperson, “Mulroney was deeply touched …”
Well, Yeh, but didn’t we know that already?
We did. But this time they’re talking about Ignatieff’s phone call which was, according to Lyin’ Brian, “a class act,” says CTV.
‘The inquiry will not find criminal or civil liability’
Not only but also, on the same day Ignatieff was toadying, judge Jeffrey Oliphanton, rejected the latter’s bid to, “delay an inquiry into the former prime minister’s dealings with businessman Karlheinz Schreiber,” says the CBC, adding:
“Mulroney wants the investigation to focus primarily on his time in office, and not on his dealings with Schreiber upon his retirement from politics in 1993.
“David Johnston, an advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, recommended last year the inquiry not rehash the 25-year history of dealings between the two men, but focus on the money Mulroney received from Schreiber, who is facing extradition to face tax, bribery and fraud charges in Germany.”
The inquiry will not find criminal or civil liability.
Yes, it really does say that. It’s in the story!
Paid ‘$225,000 in three instalments’
“In testimony to a federal ethics committee in 2007, Mulroney said he received cash payments from Schreiber after he left office in June 1993,” says the CBC, adding:
“He said he was paid $225,000 in three instalments, and that the money was payment for his efforts as an international lobbyist on behalf of Thyssen, a German armoured vehicle company. He has acknowledged waiting until 1999 to pay tax on the money.
“Schreiber has argued that the total was $300,000, and that the arrangement was reached while Mulroney was serving his last days as prime minister in 1993. Schreiber, who appeared before the ethics committee on four separate occasions, said Mulroney did nothing to earn the money.”
Muldoon is presently sojourning at his winter home in Palm Beach, Florida, “surrounded by his wife, four kids and four grandkids,” says the National Post, quoting him as saying:
“I enjoyed very much being prime minister and I deeply enjoy now that my policies are being recognized as beneficial to the country.”
Yes, he really did say that. It’s in the story!
No need to stay tuned.
CTV – Mulroney gets surprise birthday call from Ignatieff, March 21, 2009
CBC – Judge rejects bid to delay Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry, March 20, 2009
National Post – L. Ian MacDonald: Brian Mulroney at 70 — the interview, March 20, 2009
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March 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 am
“…now that my policies are being recognized as beneficial to the country.”
Classic Bulroney!
(Substitute “corporations” for “country”)