The Liberal Party of Canada, after tangling with Stephen Harper's running-on-all-cylinders Conservatives.
Posted on 06/10/2006 9:25:23 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
As a party eager to shake off its recent history of governance and ethical scandals, the Liberals had a bad week. A major fraud conviction served to remind Canadians of the sponsorship scandal that helped dislodge them from power last January. Their parliamentary caucus expelled a senator from its ranks after he was found to have abused his tax-funded expense account. Toronto MP Joe Volpe remained adamant that he had done nothing wrong while raising money for his leadership bid and would not quit the race despite mounting pressure on him to withdraw. And the Canadian Press news agency uncovered evidence that at least eight of the 11 Liberal leadership contenders had used their parliamentary offices to do partisan organizing and fundraising, a violation of the Canada Elections Act.
It would seem the Liberals have changed little, despite reassurances to the contrary.
Chuck Guite, the former federal civil servant convicted on five counts of fraud in the Adscam case last week, was not a Liberal, of course. Still, Mr. Guite maintained throughout his trial that he had merely been acting on behalf of senior Liberal operatives when he awarded lucrative contracts for little or no work to Montreal ad agencies with ties to the Liberals.
Next, the Liberals were forced to show Senator Raymond Lavigne the door after an internal Senate report apparently concluded he had misused nearly $24,000 of expense account money and may have used his parliamentary staff for personal tasks, such as cutting down trees on the property next to his home along a river in Gatineau. The senator has agreed to pay back the funds in question, but refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
But it is Mr. Volpe's case that likely most reminds Canadians of Liberal insensitivity to dubious practices. Last month, it was revealed that Mr. Volpe had raised nearly $150,000 in donations from the executives of one company and their families, including $27,000 from five of their children, some as young as 11. Mr. Volpe has returned the money taken from children, but pressure is still mounting within the party for him to quit the leadership race. His refusal hangs over the race like a storm cloud.
In an interview with the Edmonton Journal just last week, Mr. Volpe insisted the five children had each given him $5,400 -- the maximum individual donation allowed under law -- because they were inspired by his charisma and policy ideas: "These kids just connected with me; they loved what I did. When they heard I was running for the leadership, they said, 'What can we do?'" Then, apparently, they ran home and emptied their piggy banks.
The other leadership contenders have problems of their own. At least eight of the 11 candidates have been caught using government e-mail accounts to solicit donations and recruit supporters, government printers to produce invitations to leadership rallies and tax-paid staff to organize their efforts. On top of that, in their first financial reports to Elections Canada, filed two weeks ago, the candidates together had to reveal they had borrowed five times more from supporters than they had raised -- in part, likely, because while there are strict limits on how much any Canadian can donate, there are no limits on how much he or she can lend.
Internal reports on how the Liberal party can rehabilitate itself are not due until September. But why would the party wait? It is apparent to everyone, except perhaps the Liberals themselves, that much of the rot that took over their party during its 12 years in government remains. Until the old ways are expunged, the Liberals will deserve to remain in opposition.
© National Post 2006
** Cana-Pings**
(I know we've already figured all this out already, but it's still nice to see it officially confirmed in print!)
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About 70 percent of the funds raised by Volpe by the time the issue arose came from twenty donations of the maximum allowed personal amount from current and formeer executives of a generic drug manufacturer and their spouses and children. Five of the donors in this group were minor children and two of them were twins just shy of their 12th birthday.
When the issue came to light, Volpe's campaign organization returned the donations that were ostensibly from the children but kept the other 15 donations. He still insists that all twenty donations are legal.
The personal donation limit is $5.400.00 and the corporate limit is $1,00.00.
See this posting:
Volpe returns controversial donations (Liberal campaign contribution scandal)
Canada ping!
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(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Well what do you know. Liberals are the culture of corruption no matter what country they come from.
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