Edition no. 56 July 2009

Oliphant Inquiry reveals serious errors in judgment

                 The Oliphant Inquiry has revealed once again how Canadian taxpayers have been forced to pay $14 million for another inquiry to prove allegations of a scandal against a former prime minister.

                  In this case as in others, the great majority of money will be paid to lawyers, some of whom are sons of colleagues or  friends of the witnesses themselves, who in the end, will resolve nothing more than fattening their own personal bank accounts at the expense of the public trough.

                 Former prime minister Brian Mulroney was keen on details and facts until it came too close for comfort to his legal intuition, then for some reason he could not remember what transpired. How could Mulroney take cash in envelopes, in thousand dollar denominations on several occasions, without realizing he was following-up on a folly?  Moreover, instead of depositing the money in his bank account, Mulroney placed it in his private safe at home.

                 Rather than answer questions directly, Mulroney’s testimony often wandered-off into the irrelevant. On many occasions, rather than answer yes or no to a question, Mulroney simply  “Uh– huh”  his way until he was provoked by counsel to answer the question directly, yes or no. At a certain point one thinks he must be attempting to promote a future book on his side of the story, which most likely would be titled—Scarred for Life: By Brian Mulroney.

                 In general, I am a very sympathetic person, but how pitiful it was to see an elder statesman such as Mulroney, testify to an inquiry, in an attempt to justify actions obvious to most people as being very wrong indeed.

                 One example, when Mulroney was in Russia visiting with then president Boris Yeltsin, according to Mulroney, a translator was assigned to him and Yeltsin, someone provided by the Russian government who could speak three languages, Russian, French and English. When asked by Commissioner Oliphant if he could remember the person’s name, Mulroney said, “ No.”

                 How is this possible? Wasn’t the former prime minister properly introduced to this person? Did he not greet this individual or exchange pleasantries by name after encountering him or her on more than one occasion? In most households, even the family dog is greeted and remembered with respect. This individual’s testimony would have been of value to the inquiry in order to verify if Mulroney’s statements regarding Yeltsin were true.

                 In the June 8^th issue of MacLean’s magazine, the cover shows a picture of Brian Mulroney with the headline “Unbelievable.” Unfortunately, for the most cynic among us, not so unbelievable—but simply sad.

As a former prime minister, how could Brian Mulroney honestly take $2 million in hard-earned taxpayer money from the federal treasury and walk away? Was it not enough  to force the governing Liberals into an embarrassing out-of-court settlement; plus a Liberal announcement by Allan Rock stating the obvious? As a gesture to the country, Mulroney could have donated the money to a well-known Canadian charity in his name, or perhaps built a library as a legacy. But no, once again, Brian Mulroney simply—took the money.

                

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it—it shines clear.
Mohandas Gandhi

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View from the West

  By Thomas Terrio

Afterthoughts

Brian Mulroney: Less than desired

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