Posted on 04/06/2005 9:10:18 AM PDT by Heartofsong83
PQ got kickbacks, too
EXEC: AD FIRM ALSO PAID GRITS
By GREG WESTON, NATIONAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST
A MONTREAL advertising firm that received more than $40 million in AdScam sponsorship contracts paid huge kickbacks to both the federal Liberal party and the Quebec separatists, senior executives of the company have told Sun Media. "I remember seeing the cheques," one former Groupaction executive said of payments to the federal Liberal party in Quebec.
The man spoke on condition that he not be identified until he testifies at the Gomery inquiry sometime over the coming weeks.
The exec said the president of Groupaction, Jean Brault, made no secret around the company about where the kickback cash was going and for what.
"He spoke to me about it ... having to pay money back to the Liberal Party" in return for contracts.
ANTI-SEPARATISM CASH
The $250 million in sponsorships that the previous Liberal government pumped into Quebec was supposed to help fight the separatists after the near-miss referendum in 1995.
But another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction's getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ.
Groupaction apparently won the contract in a competition when a bagman for the Parti Quebecois had a meeting with the firm's top executives.
One of those executives told Sun Media: "The bagman came by and said: 'Well, you won the bid, and all that's needed now is a signature, and the documents are on the minister's desk to be signed, and it's going to cost you fifty grand.' "
Renaud recalled about $45,000 a year in donations were to be paid to the PQ for two years.
The money was funnelled through individual Groupaction employees to circumvent Quebec law, which prohibits corporate political contributions.
Renaud said Groupaction president Brault was personally involved in the tollgating deal. "I was there when he (Brault) was negotiating with the people of the PQ," he said.
Brault's testimony at the Gomery inquiry over the past week is under a publication ban and cannot be reported.
How come this testimony is allowed to be reported?
It was leaked from an American blog site, Captains Quarters
No this is from the Toronto Sun,even if he got his info from the blog,how come it can be published?
Socialists are corrupt. Would have guessed?
If the USA was true to it's word we would liberate those poor devils and give them the right to determine their own destiny without the fear of reprisal from a dictatorial regime.
Oh, wait, sorry, they are talking about Canada.
The media (at least some of it, like the Sun) has picked up the stories from the original leaks given out...I doubt the CBC wants us to hear it though (that is who I think the publication ban was made to protect)
Winds of Change has a great post on the scandal. Be sure to read it. Don't forget Small Dead Animals, which has a lot of background on Adscam.
| NASTY EMAIL RESPONSE from US Publication Ban Breaker [ 1, 2 ] |
Sounds like a lot of people have been wanting this to come out for a long time. That place is going to be leaking like a sieve the next couple of weeks.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
The only other real option in Quebec is the right-wing ADQ (Action Democratique du Quebec) and they only have 5 seats and stand FAR to the right of the Quebec mainstream.
A Canuck on another board I'm on, made the observation that if we were half as "evil" as the Lefties say, we'd have liberated Canada some time ago.
He's at the point where he would welcome a liberation.
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