Ever since the controversial election of President George W. Bush in 2000, Canadians have made a national sport of ridiculing American politics with moral indignation. Indeed, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin endeared himself to his compatriots by promising to distance his government from the provincial policies that many Canadians deem to be turning their overweening neighbors into a “banana republic”.
It is more than ironic, therefore, that these self-righteous Canadians now find themselves mired in provincial politics (in terms of policy and geography) that have turned their hallowed House of Commons into a House of Scandal. And, moreover, that their beloved PM Martin has become so distrusted and scorned that today Canadians must find George Bush a much more endearing politician. (Imagine that!)
Alas, Canadians are suffering profound disillusionment and collective shame over revelations that graft was the order of business in their government to such extent that it would offend the conscience of politicians in the worst of Third World kleptocracies. And, just a few weeks ago, they were dismayed to learn just how much of a banana republic Canada had become when it was reported that – because all government ministers were so anxious to avoid public contempt – none of them could be found to greet the President of Mali on his first state visit to Canada. And, as if that spectacle were not embarrassing enough, Queen Elizabeth II is now on a state visit that is being overshadowed by a looming constitutional crisis that, today, could plunge Canada into untenable chaos. (God save the Queen!)
For more than a year, Canada’s Liberal government has been beset by allegations of extraordinary corruption. And even though their credibility-challenged leader PM Martin has admitted wrongdoing by some misguided members of his Party, he has allowed other charges to hang like a damoclean sword over his government.
Meanwhile, the two main opposition Parties (the Conservative and regional Bloc Quebecois) have done all they can – short of mounting a coup d’etat – to bring down the government. And, with today’s vote on the federal budget they have their best chance yet to accomplish the dubious feat.
Civilized Canadian MPs showing those barbarians in the U.S. Congress how to conduct themselves…
The opposition Parties began their assault on the Liberal’s ruling authority right after Canada’s Auditor-General Sheila Fraser issued a scathing report against the government in February 2004. Ms Fraser reported that in the late 1990s, a government fund established to promote national unity was instead misappropriated by the Liberals for use as a Party slush fund. Specifically, she charged that they siphoned-off more than C$100m from the C$250m fund in kickbacks to advertising agencies that had close ties to the Liberal Party but did little or no work for their fees.
The Liberals concealed their misdeeds under the provincial cover that, because these agencies were based in the French-speaking province of Quebec, they were ideally suited to execute the real purpose of the fund – which was to manipulate public opinion against any further attempts by this province to secede from Canada. But Ms Fraser concluded that the national unity fund (or “Adscam” as disgusted Canadians now call it) was a “shocking waste of Canadian taxpayers’ money”. And, confirming her conclusion, polls indicate that most Quebecers are now more determined than ever to secede.
As it happens, however, the Auditor-General’s report is the least of the Liberal government’s problems; because the misdeeds alleged in Adscam pale in comparison to the financial skullduggery that has been alleged against the Prime Minister himself.
After all, Canada’s Federal Ethics Committee recently disclosed documents showing that in the late 1990s PM Martin received more than a million dollars from Saddam Hussein through a shell company called Cordex Petroleum Inc. And, even more damning, they revealed that the man who facilitated the Cordex transactions is PM Martin’s mentor and notorious Canadian businessman Maurice Strong whose name has surfaced in bold letters in the growing UN oil-for-food scandal (where politicians allegedly took bribes in the millions from Saddam to oppose the war).
PM Martin addressing international investors and saying essentially: “In Canada, unlike America, we will protect your investments from meddlesome regulators and we don’t care what your business is or who your partners are…as long as you kickback our share, eh?”
Clearly, these disclosures cast a rather mercurial shadow over the Canadian government’s dithering about the war against Iraq; and, they surely undermine the moral contempt many Canadians had for Americans who supported it.
But the opposition Parties have treated the troubles of PM Martin and his Liberal government like a pack of wolves would a wounded deer. And, after doing all they can to disable the ruling Party, they are poised this week for the kill: Indeed, the Conservative leader Stephen Harper cut PM Martin to the bone by calling him a “national joke” who has forfeited authority to govern Canada. And, his partner of convenience, the Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, took a chunk out of him by declaring that:
“The Liberal Party produced a system of kickbacks using taxpayers’ money. They should be ashamed of themselves…Refund the money. That’s what the citizens want.”
Of course, what the opposition Parties really want is to force general elections as soon as possible. But until today, PM Martin had effectively deployed every Parliamentary device to deny their wishes. Yet he knew well that he was only postponing the inevitable. Because, Canadian governments must resign if they are defeated in the House of Commons in a formal vote of no-confidence, or over important legislative matters, such as the federal budget.
And, whereas PM Martin has deftly precluded no-confidence motions from coming to the floor, he is mandated by law to present a timely budget. Therefore, he acknowledges that if he loses today’s vote on his budget proposal, his government will fall and a general election will have to be called.
Nevertheless, despite polls predicting his imminent demise, PM Martin should not be counted out. After all, even though he seems to have the criminal proclivities of Richard Nixon, PM Martin has displayed the political survival skills of that cat of nine lives, Bill Clinton. And, just as President Clinton overcame his scandals by surviving an impeachment trial in the U.S. Congress, so too will PM Martin overcome his troubles by surviving today’s vote of no-confidence in the Canadian House of Commons.
Stay tuned!
UPDATE: As I predicted back in May, PM Paul Martin not only survived the no-confidence challenge to his leadership, but also just yesterday, 1 November 2005, he was cleared of all wrongdoing by a government enquiry into the whole Adscam money scandal that has plagued Canadian politics for the past 2 years. But Martin’s predecessor, Jean Chretien, was blamed for the lion’s share of this skullduggery.
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