The letter said Bernard Lamarre, the chairman of board, and Pierre Emond, a former CEO, signed off on a request to Alfonso Gagliano for a sponsorship grant to fund a giant screen and the Canadian innovation program.

Gagliano, recently recalled as ambassador to Denmark, was the minister in charge of Public Works when the grants were made.

Andre Ouellet, president of Canada Post, did not name names in a letter to the committee but asked to appear before it.

In a damning report on the scandal last week, Fraser identified some of employees of Crown corporations by title, but not by name.

Fraser's report unleashed a storm of controversy over $100 million paid to Liberal-friendly firms in Quebec for little or no work.

Prime Minister Paul Martin, who has referred to the loss of money as theft, has called a public inquiry into the matter.

All of the people that should have known, and would have known, about the millions recently found to have been "lost" and squandered are saying nothing.

"Public Safety Minister" and Deputy Minister McLellan stated [within the safety of parliament] that "nobody on this side of the house has anything to hide".  A rather bold statement, given no in depth investigation has even begun into the 500 million dollar scandal.

Anne McLellan is, however, a former "justice" minister, and it will be many of her former and current friends <wink wink> who are in charge of the investigation.

 It will be interesting to see how one goes about an "investigation" of who knew what, when it has already been disclosed that "invoices don't exist" for most of the money spent.

How has the Federal Government changed the way it spends money as of just a few weeks after this scandal broke?

They responded by increasing the spending [to record levels], and will spend that money in the same areas the money was "lost" in the scandal.

Naturally, the Canadian Sheeple thought they would reward these bandits with another term in government. [We get the government we deserve, when this is our reaction to massive government thievery.]

Chretien played key role in sponsorship effort, inquiry told!
Jim Brown - Canadian Press Monday, September 20, 2004

OTTAWA -- Jean Chretien's office played a hands-on role in federal public relations efforts even before the ill-fated sponsorship program was officially launched, a public inquiry was told Monday.

In a memo written in June 1996, senior bureaucrat Ran Quail noted that the Public Works Department was then considering $450,000 in funding for a TV series dealing with world trade issues.

But it would be up to Chretien to make the final call, Quail told Diane Marleau, then the public works minister.

''We will advise you as soon as a decision to participate in this project is given by the Prime Minister's Office,'' wrote Quail, who served at the time as Marleau's deputy minister.

At issue was financing for a 20-part series, called Tradewinds, that was to air on the CBC English and French networks.

It was also to be shown on TV5, an international French-language network, and on the PBS network in the United States.

The timing of the 1996 memo shows Chretien's office was deeply involved in parcelling out federal funds more than a year before the sponsorship program came into formal existence.

Ottawa eventually spent $250 million between 1997 and 2002 supporting films, magazines, TV series, sports and cultural events - all of it ostensibly aimed at raising the federal profile and fighting Quebec separatism.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser has estimated about $100 million of the total went to Liberal-friendly middlemen, with no guarantee the government got value for its money.

Justice John Gomery is heading the inquiry to find out what went wrong.

There was no explanation Monday of why Chretien or his officials were calling the funding shots for the specific initiative involving Tradewinds.

Previous evidence, however, has shown that on many other occasions Public Works served as a conduit for money drawn from a special national unity reserve fund.

That reserve was ultimately controlled by the prime minister and required his authorization for any disbursement.

David Marshall, the current deputy minister at Public Works, was at a loss to say what criteria the department used in deciding to fund Tradewinds.

But Neil Finkelstein, co-counsel for the Gomery inquiry, was quick to draw his own conclusion.

''The only criterion . . . would be whether or not the Prime Minister's Office approved the expenditure,'' said Finkelstein.

The exchange was the latest effort by the inquiry to trace the role played by Chretien in the tangled lines of authority over sponsorship spending.

Those lines were still in dispute more than a year after the Tradewinds affair - by which time Alfonso Gagliano had taken over from Marleau as public works minister.

A memo dated Sept. 8, 1997 noted that other departments had full managerial control of their communications budgets.

Public Works, by contrast, had to rely in part on money that was authorized by Chretien from the unity reserve.

That put Gagliano ''in the position of being accountable for funds he does not control or spend,'' wrote bureaucrat David Elder.

He went on to observe that ''Minister Gagliano would like a role in managing the funds.'' But it wasn't clear if he got his way.

Elder noted, in the memo addressed to Ron Bilodeau, then deputy clerk of the Privy Council, that there was something to be said for continuing the ''segregated approach'' that Gagliano disliked.

The division of authority ensured that no one minister would have ''disproportionate influence over the allocation of these discretionary funds,'' wrote Elder.

SPONSORSHIP INQUIRY
Liberals under fire for handing over documents with deleted material
BY JIM BROWN
Canadian Press, December 2, 2004

OTTAWA - The Liberal government is going back on a promise to do everything it can to get to the bottom of the "shady" sponsorship scandal, says the chief counsel for a public inquiry.

Bernard Roy complained Wednesday that some documents handed over to the inquiry appear to have been edited to delete significant material.

Despite repeated requests to government lawyers, Mr. Roy told Justice John Gomery, he has been unable to resolve the matter.

The impasse is "quite deplorable," said Mr. Roy, who put in a term as chief of staff to Brian Mulroney when he was Conservative prime minister.

Mr. Roy noted the present government has repeatedly stated that "it will do everything to shed light on this shady affair, and that the commission will have access to the documents it asks for and needs to do its work."

At issue are papers provided to the inquiry by the Privy Council Office - among them memos addressed to former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

The papers have been edited, supposedly to delete material not relevant to Justice Gomery's work.

But Mr. Roy said cross-checking with documents obtained through other channels suggests that some of the deleted material is indeed relevant.

He asked Justice Gomery to issue an order demanding that Privy Council hand over the full, unedited papers.

The judge put off a ruling on the matter pending further legal arguments.

But he expressed some irritation, noting that both Mr. Chrétien and his successor, Prime Minister Paul Martin, have said they want the inquiry to have everything it needs.

To that end, cabinet orders were issued earlier this year to release thousands of pages of normally secret papers.

"I had understood that approval had been given at the highest level," said Justice Gomery. "The two prime ministers have given their approval without reservation."

He expressed consternation that lower-level officials had apparently balked.

But Sylvain Lussier, the lawyer representing the government, said it wasn't that simple.

Part of the paperwork in question deals with a special national unity reserve fund that was used to channel money to the sponsorship program.

The fund - which was also used for other purposes - required Mr. Chrétien's personal approval for disbursements.

The inquiry has heard testimony that Mr. Martin, as finance minister at the time, was aware in general terms of the fund's existence but played no role in detailed spending decisions.

Mr. Lussier argued that any information disclosed to Justice Gomery must be pertinent to his work.

"This is not a commission of inquiry into the unity fund, but into the sponsorship and advertising activities of the government,' he said.

Mr. Lussier said he would be willing to discuss whether specific documents ought to be made public, but it would be going too far to order everything disclosed without exception.

We post this one because it shows how secret networks geared to steal your money

can be formed at any level. Not necessarily because the Atlantic was the biggest

supporter of the gun grabbing registry that cost 100 times more than projected, or

that it's some of the same people.

Click here for the BC angle.... Curiously enough, the same thing is happening here too... Why did the government look the other way when they knew what was happening? Is the Lotto Corporation run by a bunch of Freemasons? What the heck is happening? Can we even be sure the draws themselves are fair? Why no more live draws?

Audit reveals security flaws in B.C. lotteries
Enforcement efforts inadequate to protect gamblers, report says
Jeff Rud, Times Colonist and CanWest News Service - November 08, 2007

An independent audit of B.C.'s lottery system has turned up 21 more major prize wins by lottery retailers between 2000 and 2006.

RCMP launch Mulroney-Schreiber review - Nov 13/2007
On Friday, Harper said that he would appoint an independent advisor to look into claims by Schreiber that he paid Mulroney $300,000 in cash after he stepped down as Prime Minister. [full report]

Oh, this one is a topper... The feds are stealing funeral costs from the families of our dead soldiers. Does this put into perspective how the alleged federal government really feels about us? Click HERE to watch clip.

Minister of Finance caught lying about manipulating the value of the Canadian dollar (the value of YOUR MONEY) and of course he's devaluing it, so his rich European and American company bosses can buy our resources CHEAPER than their fair market value..

Note date of above letter, when value of Canadian dollar was low, and compare his action when our dollar was at 94 cents and climbing.... When our dollar was in the tank, he claimed it was "not appropriate for the government of Canada to try to aim for a fixed value".... then does just the opposite before it even reaches parody against a massively weakened American currency...

Finance Minister Halts Canadian Dollar Rally - August 5/09
The Canadian dollar, which was gaining heavily versus several most traded
currencies, finally stopped its rally after the national Finance Minister
affirmed that eventual measures may be taken to damp the rising demand for
the loonie...

Bank of Canada governor warns markets he has tools to curb currency's rise, and he's not shy to use them - Globe and Mail, October 22/09

Kevin Carmichael [our comments in yellow]

Ottawa — Globe and Mail Update Published on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 10:38AM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 2:13PM EDT

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has given his clearest warning yet that he will take steps to arrest the dollar's ascent if international investors continue to push it higher at the current pace.

At a news conference Thursday, Mr. Carney said the dollar's jump to above 95 U.S. cents in the last couple of weeks is impeding the recovery, putting in jeopardy policy makers' efforts to stoke inflation back to their target of an annual rate of about 2 per cent.

All of which is total nonsense... Even at parody, there is no significant handicap to exports. One simply has to compete with a better product and/or lower one's price to that comparable to other competitors, rather than pocketing the extra. Increased "relative value" of the currency is like a pay raise to the exporter and importer alike... one simply has to make adjustments to price, like every other nation does. That is in fact why we use money as a medium of trust in the exchange of goods and services.

The long run of the very low Canadian dollar has simply allowed the raising of prices of Canadian goods to unrealistic prices, compared to other currencies. These numbers are illusory, fluid and easily adjusted. Demand moves exports, not a 90 cent dollar.

The inflation target, which the central bank is mandated to meet under the terms of its operating agreement with the finance department, is next to sacrosanct.

Mr. Carney said he has a range of tools and he can use to dampen the blow of the currency's rise, and signaled that any investor who thinks he's shy to use them is making a mistake.

Well in case you missed it, the governor of YOUR Bank, just made a threat to investors who want to invest in Canada.... and once again, the public does little to nothing.

Would you like to write an email to the governor of your bank and tell him how you feel about him devaluing the money in your pocket and savings? I'm sure he'd like to hear from you..

pubinfo@bankofcanada.ca.[Congratulations folks..... you put pressure on them, and they caved]

OTTAWA — The federal government won't step in to slow the rise of the loonie, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday, adding that the government will focus instead on making Canadian businesses more competitive so they can adjust to a stronger currency.

[....]

Several factors are behind the loonie's rise, including rebounding commodity prices, a strong Canadian recovery and the soundness of Canada's public finances relative to other countries. In a forecast issued Wednesday, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development predicted Canada's economy would grow at an annual rate of 6.2 per cent in the first quarter and 4.5 per cent in the second, faster than any other G7 nation.

Why the Canadian dollar is expected to stay strong for some time yet - Apr. 06, 2010

Canada Growth, G-7’s Fastest, Won’t Be Hurt by Dollar - Bloomberg, April 7/2010
By Greg Quinn -- Canada’s economy, which rebounded from the global slump quicker than the Bank of Canada expected, won’t be hampered by the currency’s appreciation to parity with its U.S. counterpart.
 

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