Mulroney Gets His Probe
| 11/14/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Prime Minister Harper has done what he really has been left with little choice to do, he’s called a full public inquiry into Mulroney, the Airbus affair and Schreiber’s dealings with him. It isn’t that Harper had any suggested involvement in the affair that likely led him to initially try to avoid any inquiry at all.
Harper isn’t stupid, he realizes the optics of a public inquiry into a Conservative Prime Minister is not going to strengthen his position as “Mr Clean”. Even though Paul Martin was exonerated by Gomery of any involvement in the Liberal scandals, Harper rode the optics of a ‘corrupt party’ in government to gain himself a minority government.
The optics of a corrupt Conservative Prime Minister, even one from almost 20 years ago, isn’t going to gain him a majority any time soon. Especially when that PM has been one of Harper’s closest mentors. At first blush one could say that Mulroney and Schreiber meeting in a hotel room, two days before he left office, to exchange the first cash payments was just Mulroney setting the stage for his future. Right, and there is two moons in the sky.
Since Mulroney eventually got around to declaring the $300,000 to Revenue Canada, we know he received the money. What we don’t know is the truth about how it came to be agreed upon. The fact that both Mulroney and Schreiber initially denied having any business affairs raises huge red flags. It really doesn’t matter if the money was exchanged two days before or after he left office. The question it raises is what was the true purpose of the money and did it involve Mulroney’s use of political influence to fulfill whatever sordid contract there was?
Where does that leave Harper? Hung on his own petard if he’s not careful.
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