Gagliano tried to influence me(witness: Corbeil describes call)

National Post ^ | Tuesday, May 10, 2005 | Graeme Hamilton

[fanfan]

MONTREAL - A former high-ranking Liberal who yesterday offered more evidence of sponsorship cash being diverted to the governing party said Alfonso Gagliano called him three weeks ago and warned him not to come clean with the Gomery inquiry.

Benoit Corbeil, director-general of the federal Liberals' Quebec wing from 1998-2001, testified that Mr. Gagliano, the former public works minister, told him ''people would come out against him'' if he implicated the Liberals in the sponsorship scandal.

Mr. Corbeil said he phoned Mr. Gagliano at his home after receiving a message on his cellphone. He said during the three- or-four-minute conversation, Mr. Gagliano said he had heard Mr. Corbeil was planning to reveal how sponsorship cash helped fund the Liberals' election campaigns. ''He said, 'Listen, I've just learned you are going to reveal things to the commission that are false and that could implicate the [Liberal] electoral commission,' '' Mr. Corbeil recalled.

After acknowledging he planned to link the commission, the Liberals electoral readiness committee over which Mr. Gagliano had presided, to the scandal, the former minister issued a threat, according to Mr. Corbeil: ''Listen Benoit, people are going to come out against you, and you are going to lose your reputation and you are going to lose several friends.''

Yesterday, Mr. Corbeil disregarded the warning and testified that immediately before the 2000 federal election campaign, Mr. Gagliano's chief of staff, Jean-Marc Bard, sent him to Groupaction's Jean Brault, one of the sponsorship program's biggest beneficiaries, to ease a serious cash crunch.

In total, he said, Mr. Brault provided $100,000 in October, 2000, that the party never registered as official donations. Half of it came in cheques written by a Groupaction subsidiary and the other half came in two cash payments.

Mr. Corbeil testified that the Quebec wing was in serious financial difficulty in 2000 and he was facing a mutiny from so-called volunteers -- many of them aides to ministers on leave during the campaign -- who wanted to be paid for their work.

''I would have much preferred an official donation, and we would have paid people by cheque. Then maybe I wouldn't be here today. Unfortunately that's not what happened,'' he said. ''I can tell you, after having done many, an election campaign is very difficult at times. There is a high level of stress and pressure. And when the political aides are coming every day saying they want to be paid, at a certain moment I paid them.''

He testified that the $50,000 in cheques issued through Groupaction affiliate Commando Marketing went to five Liberal organizers. Mr. Brault had told him he had already given enough to the party officially and did not want his name tied to additional donations because of the large volume of federal contracts Groupaction received.

Mr. Corbeil also described receiving $35,000 in $50 bills from Mr. Brault at the Groupaction offices. A week later, Mr. Brault provided another $15,000 cash. The cash, he said, was distributed among nine workers, ''people who had more experience and a lot more know-how in terms of organization and how an election works.'' He admitted the donations contravened election law.

After hesitating briefly, and noting that he lost his job at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal after his name was tied to the sponsorship scandal, Mr. Corbeil named the recipients of the cash.

They included Daniel Dezainde, who replaced Mr. Corbeil as party director-general in 2001 and is now press secretary to Jacques Saada, federal Minister of Economic Development for Quebec. He received $3,000. Mr. Corbeil said Irene Marcheterre, now press secretary to Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, got $5,000, Pierre Lesieur, an aide to Mr. Gagliano at the time, received $6,000 and Claude Lemieux, also from Mr. Gagliano's office and now in the office of Quebec Premier Jean Charest, got $6,000. Another $15,000 went to Bruno Lortie in Quebec City to be distributed among workers there, and the remaining $15,000 was distributed among Luc Desbiens, Richard Mimeau, Michel Joncas and an unnamed worker, he said.

Mr. Corbeil said he informed the co-presidents of the Quebec wing's electoral commission Mr. Gagliano and Claudette Tessier-Couture, that the workers in question had been paid. He said he did not specify where the money came from, but said it would have been clear to them that the money did not come from normal channels. ''People in the electoral commission knew very well that we had financial difficulties,'' he said. Ms. Tessier-Couture has since been named a Superior Court judge.

Last week, Michel Beliveau, Mr. Corbeil's predecessor as director-general, testified that before the 1997 campaign he gave Mr. Corbeil between $75,000 and $100,000 cash to distribute among key ridings. Mr. Corbeil testified yesterday that he only received $9,000, which he divided among two Montreal ridings.

During a break in yesterday's proceedings, Mr. Corbeil received a letter from a lawyer representing Ms. Marcheterre, Mr. Desbiens and Mr. Mimeau denying they ever received cash payments for their work on the 2000 campaign. The letter threatened legal action if Mr. Corbeil does not retract his allegations within 24 hours. Guy Bertrand, Mr. Corbeil's lawyer, called the letter and the earlier phone call from Mr. Gagliano attempts at ''intimidation.''

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[Truth29]

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[Former Proud Canadian]

Is this the final nail in the coffin? Finally?

[fanfan]

You have been added to the list.

Hold on tight! This could be a wild ride. :-)

[fanfan]

Probably not. We are discussing the Liberals after all. Deny, deny, deny.

The confidence vote in the house today may do it though. (5:45pm.est) Keep your fingers crossed.

[America's Resolve]

This is why Libs in canada will never be out of power. They have corrupted Canadian law to the point that not only their liberal constituency pays to elect them, but the conservatives pay to elect them too, unwilingly, but through the use of tax money, they still pay to elect them.

Conservatives should be raising funds to pay for ads attacking this kind of things as far and as fast as they possibly can to make sure that this is in the forefront of every Canadians mind at all times, election season or not.

This is beyond corruption. As long as the Liberals can spend tax money on their campaigns, they can afford to brainwash and propagandize every citizen in the country for as far as the eye can see ensuring their power for the indefinite future.

Canada is no longer a free country.

[backhoe]

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