The men who risked Canada

A former cabinet member, MP, and ambassador, Alphonse Gagliano is quoted as saying that Paul Martin is "risking Canada" by having the nerve to have justice Gomery investigate the hijinks of Martin's predecessors in government, the Chretien cabinet.

National Post

Frankly, this accusation takes some nerve.

Brief background: Chretien nearly lost Canada in a 1995 referendum in which Quebec narrowly avoided separating from Canada. Chretien, frightened by the near-cataclysm, introduced a program to spend money on advertising Canada in the province of Quebec, to boost the Federal government's profile. An investigation called the Gomery inquiry is looking into charges that all this money was spent on friends, hacks, and Liberal party sponsors.

If Gagliano and other members of government had more scrupulously overseen the public's own money as it was being spent, the separatists wouldn't even have an issue to trumpet. By making Canada look like a corrupt banana Republic instead of an open, transparent society, the previous government has given the separatists all the ammunition they'd ever need. The current government would not have to hide anything (presumably what Gagliano wants them to do ??), if the Chretien government had not had something to hide in the first place!