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Liberal support sinks after sponsorship report CTV.ca News Staff The Gomery Report has pushed the sponsorship scandal back into the spotlight, and the Liberals' popularity among Canadians slid 10 points the past month, according to a new poll conducted for CTV and The Globe and Mail. In the days since Tuesday's release of the Gomery report, support for the Liberals has dipped and the two parties are essentially running neck-and-neck. The Conservatives have the support of 31 per cent of Canadians while the Liberals have the support of 28 per cent. (That's a statistical tie given a 3-point margin of...

Prime Minister Paul Martin made a strong case last night for delaying a federal election, even if he doesn't succeed in fending one off. Canadians are angry, and rightly so, over the dramatic allegations about the sponsorship scandal that are emerging from the Gomery inquiry. But we won't know the full picture until Mr. JusticeJohn Gomery submits his final report later this year. At that time, Mr. Martin has promised to go to the people and face their judgment in a general election — an extraordinary pledge for a Canadian prime minister. “Let the facts come out,” he said. “And...

OTTAWA - In a rare address over the nation's airwaves Thursday, Prime Minister Paul Martin promised to hold an election within 30 days of an inquiry report into the sponsorship scandal. In a seven-minute speech delivered in English, nine minutes in French, Martin pleaded with Canadians to reserve judgment on his government until all the facts are known about the scandal. "I commit to you tonight that I will call a general election within 30 days of the publication of the commission's final report and recommendations," Martin said. The report, to be written by Justice John Gomery, the head of...

Opposition questions PM's birthday letter to ad man Last Updated Mon, 18 Apr 2005 18:25:05 EDT CBC News OTTAWA - Opposition MPs continued their assault Monday on Prime Minister Paul Martin over the nature of his relationship with the former president of one of the Quebec advertising firms at the centre of the sponsorship scandal. INDEPTH: Sponsorship Scandal In question period, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper pointed to a personal letter written by Martin to Claude Boulay, head of the Liberal-friendly ad firm Groupe Everest, on his 50th birthday. In the letter, Martin jokes about Boulay's golf game and comments about...

Canada's Watergate Don Martin National Post (front page!) Friday, April 08, 2005 He glanced at reporters salivating to escape his news quarantine, looked at the bank of television cameras carrying his inquiry live for the first time in a week and issued the order: Unleash hell. When Justice John Gomery lifted his own publication ban Thursday on jaw-dropping testimony by Groupaction president Jean Brault, a nightmare of allegations against the federal Liberal party gushed forth into the public domain in a firestorm of ferocity. National television networks went live, government antagonists went wild in Question Period, urgent alerts pinged across...

Liberals full of repugnant excuses: Only cure for massive self-delusion over Adscam is long period in opposition The Edmonton Journal Fri 08 Apr 2005, Page: A18 Section: Opinion Byline: Lorne Gunter To hear turncoat MP and Liberal Public Works Minister Scott Brison tell it, the Conservatives and the other opposition parties are going after the Adscam affair so vigorously because they are out to destroy the nation. On Tuesday, Brison insisted the furor over the testimony of ad agency executive Jean Brault -- then under a publication ban -- and the threat of an early election were "difficult to understand,"...

Top federal Liberal officials forced an ad executive to secretly divert more than $1 million to the party's Quebec wing in exchange for sponsorship contracts, the executive told the Gomery inquiry in politically explosive testimony that had been kept under wraps by a publication ban that was finally lifted Thursday. The allegations of a longstanding corruption could give the opposition

Judge lifts publication ban on some of key testimony at sponsorship inquiry 1 hour, 38 minutes ago BRIAN DALY MONTREAL (CP) - Top federal Liberal officials forced an ad executive to secretly divert more than $1 million to the party's Quebec wing in exchange for sponsorship contracts, the executive told the Gomery inquiry. Jean Brault's politically explosive testimony, which had been kept under wraps by a publication ban, was finally lifted Thursday, with his allegations of longstanding corruption possibly giving the opposition ammunition to move to bring down the government. The advertising executive's testimony alleges some top Liberal party executives...

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,...