Crown asset disposal-Man got 4 hectares, house, barn for $1

"A friend of the head of a powerful federal development agency was given four hectares of federally owned land, complete with house and barn, for $1.

No laws were broken in the deal that saw longtime bureaucrat Larry MacPherson get federal land and cash to build a country inn overlooking the posh Bras d'Or Lakes. Nevertheless, the deal has sparked wonder and resentment on an island that already has 368 hotels, motels, cabins and inns, many of which are struggling to survive.

Consider:

MacPherson was the only bidder when a federal agency run by his friend requested proposals to develop four hectares of land near a popular ski hill."
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(Wouldn't everybody like to be able to buy 4 acres for a buck, or even 1 acre for a buck? Seems like the Sponsorship wasn't the only thing in PWGS that the Auditor- General should be looking at.How many of these similar deals were done around the country?

The only time one would get such a deal were if the property were a real lemon, or the Feds transferred it to another government entity, usually in return for something, or if the property had contaminants that might have to be removed usually at a cost.-i.e. cost of land $1- cost to remove contaminants $200,000- so the land would be obtained for really $200,001 not $1. On the surface , this property didn't fall into these categories. In other words it looks like someone got a very good deal while the government of Canada didn't do enough to recoup money for the government.Some might call it a sweatheart deal unless there were extenuating circumstances.)

Salim Mansur on the democratic deficit

"We might remind ourselves here of Lord Acton's famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Paul Martin was perhaps mindful of this quote when he spoke about the "democratic deficit" during his campaign for the Liberal leadership. In other words, he was acknowledging how centralization of power in the PMO had hollowed Parliament's role.

Lord Acton, in the same letter containing his quip on power, also wrote, "There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."

Martin, like his predecessor, has allowed himself to be corrupted by the absolute power of his office. We have seen the effect this week in his party's disregard for Parliament's expressed opinion that the government lacks the democratic mandate to remain in power. "

Coren on the demonization sound bite tactics

"But a Conservative government would not be radically different from a Liberal administration. Less corruption, more original thought, less deadwood on the back benches and more listening to the people. Apart from that, no radical changes....."

"Yes, it's frightening. Also frightening that people don't think, frightening that they speak in sound bites, frightening that they have lost the ability to question the status quo, to be offended by the abuse of their own money, to move out of their tired little political comfort zones."

"It's frightening that they are so complacent, frightening that they still believe Canada is respected, frightening that they assume the Americans even care about this country. Frightening that they watch reality television while the reality of Canada increasingly resembles a downmarket soap opera.

Frightening. Publicly frightening. Public education, public health, public child care, public radio, public lunacy. What is actually frightening is how this great nation became this way. "

At the Gomery Commission......

"A former aide to Heritage Minister Liza Frulla acknowledged Friday he organized two Liberal fundraisers while on the payroll of the ad firm at the centre of the sponsorship scandal.

But John Welch categorically denied working full time for the Liberals while earning a total of $97,000 from Groupaction Marketing in 1999 and 2000. The longtime party organizer did admit he got the Groupaction job after handing in his resume to a top Liberal official, adding he put together two party events after he was hired.

"I helped organize a dinner for Don Boudria," he told the inquiry, though he didn't say whether he did it on company time.

"Also during that year, I organized a dinner for the federal Liberal party (in) Brome-Missisquoi."

Welch is one of about two dozen Liberals who Groupaction president Jean Brault said he hired or paid off to satisfy persistent requests by top party officials.

But Welch's testimony failed to shed light on Brault's assertion that Welch worked the phones for the party from Groupaction's office.

Both men agreed on one point - that Welch did nearly no work for Groupaction during his year on the payroll."

Question Period- Hansard May 13/05

Sponsorship Program

Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, people no longer have any confidence in this tainted government that no longer has a shred of credibility. Every day, the Gomery inquiry reveals more about the involvement of the entire Liberal Party in the schemes of the sponsorship scandal.

How is that last year, before the Gomery inquiry began, the Prime Minister was able to justify holding an election by saying Canadians knew enough about the sponsorship scandal, but now that we know the extent of the corruption in the Liberal Party, he is claiming Canadians do not yet know enough?

[English]

Hon. Joe Fontana (Minister of Labour and Housing, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister had the courage and conviction to put the Gomery commission in place to get to the truth.

We have been witnessing today and in the past number of days that people have been coming forward. Judge Gomery is doing a very, very good job on behalf of Canadians to get to the truth.

We are not afraid of the truth. You might be afraid of the truth, but we definitely are not afraid of the truth.

The Speaker: I remind hon. members to address their remarks to the Chair rather than to each other.

[Translation]

Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has financed three elections with dirty money. This was confirmed by Marc-Yvan Côté, former chief organizer in eastern Quebec. In the meantime, the testimony by Daniel Dezainde, former director general of the Liberal Party has revealed that Jacques Corriveau had set up a kickback system on the contracts to benefit the Liberal Party and instead of taking action, Dezainde put a lid on the whole thing.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that he is desperately hanging on and refusing to hold a confidence vote on Monday because he now feels that the public knows enough?

Á (1145)

[English]

Hon. Joe Fontana (Minister of Labour and Housing, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the people do not know enough now. Judge Gomery has been given a broad mandate to hear all the evidence and to hear from all the parties to ensure the people have all the information they need. People have already said that they want to wait for Judge Gomery's report until such time as they have an election. Let Judge Gomery do his work.

* * *

[Translation]

More on the child porn case.........

Excellent co-operation and diligence by the Toronto Police and other law enforcement agencies!..........


"The real story here is that because of their determination and ingenuity, Toronto police were able to shine an international spotlight on the viciousness of the world of Internet child porn and what they're up against in fighting it.

There are believed to be as many as 50,000 victims of Internet child porn around the world. Police have been able to identify about 500. The main reason is that, as shocking as it may seem, there is no international computer database that police forces can use to share information and pictures of the victims.

Microsoft, working with the Toronto police, has developed such a database known as the Child Exploitation Tracking System. We can't think of one reason why it shouldn't be adopted by every police force in North America (if not the world), nor one reason why any politician should oppose funding it. "