Thursday, March 6, 2008

Stephen Harper: fish or cut bait



Stephen, the time has now come for you to “fish or cut bait”, as you are so fond of saying and admonishing of others.

Just what exactly what is the interpretation that Canadians should take from the following, if not that you had knowledge, and possible direct involvement, in your party’s attempt to bribe Independent MP Chuck Cadman?

"The insurance policy for a million dollars, do you know anything about that?" Zytaruk asks.

"I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions," Harper replies on the tape. "This is not for publication?"

"This will be for the book, not for the newspaper," answers Zytaruk, who works for a Surrey newspaper.

Harper goes on to explain on the tape that the offer to Cadman was "only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election." He adds that the offer was carried out by people who were "legitimately representing the party."

He also tells Zytaruk that he knew there was little chance Cadman would agree.

"They wanted to do it, but I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind," Harper said.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fish or cut bait?

What's the matter Steve?

Lip caught on a hook?

The Editor said...

I thought that the Cadman affair deserved a Shakespearean treatment. The results can be seen at http://adriftintime.blogspot.com/

Comments appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget the alternate plan of Steve Harpler to 'Lie, Conceal, Fabricate'... 'Deny, Obfuscate, Suppress'

Mark-Alan Whittle said...

Seems the she said, he said scandal surrounding Chuck Cadman has become the red herring of the century.
If the thought of some insurance underwriter giving a life insurance policy to a man with terminal cancer sounds ridiculous it probably is.
And all the statements attributed in the book, which I have read, are third party hearsay statements that would never stand up in court, or anywhere else for that matter.
Even the author in an interview couldn’t even corroborate the allegations other than to say that is what Mrs. Cadman told him and she wasn’t in the room either. No doubt the conservatives would offer to help Cadman with an election since his riding association was broke and unable to finance a campaign.
All other political party’s including the Liberals bolster riding associations this way. And according to the author, nobody except his legislative assistant Dan Wallace was in the room with Cadman and the representatives from the conservatives so any information flowing from that is mere speculation, or a fabrication since Wallace refuses to say what was said.
According to the author he deferred to Dona as to what was said. If anyone knows a first-hand account, instead of the heresy of others, it would be Dan Wallace and no other since Mr. Cadman is deceased.
As to Mrs. Cadman running for the conservatives, good luck with that.
Seems this whole scandal is designed to pump up book sales for the author and increase the dividend paid to the Cadman family for their unsubstantiated statements in the book.
What I find most amusing is how the media ran with the story before getting all the facts. Now that down-right irresponsible journalism. Shameful.

Anonymous said...

maw:

That is quite a pathetic treatise of yours that fails to answer the question of what exactly did Harper mean when he said:

The insurance policy for a million dollars, do you know anything about that?" Zytaruk asks.

"I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions," Harper replies on the tape. "This is not for publication?"

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU

I am one of the many hundreds of thousands of Canadians who
were financially damaged by Flaherty's Folly re: the changes to
the Trust Tax.

On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for keeping up the pressure
on the government to "prove their case" re: "trust tax leakage".

Please keep it up and up again and again.

Anonymous said...

If anyone has any doubts about the Cadman Bribery allegations, please feel free to read on...

Feb 29, 2008
Richard Brennan & Scott Reid

The Toronto Star (Edit)

OTTAWA–The Conservative party, and its predecessors, have faced previous charges of offering to pay off people to achieve goals.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied yesterday it [the Cadman offer] ever happened, but history shows he has denied similar charges that later proved to be true.

It wouldn't take Columbo to pull apart the threads fraying at the edges of this story. In mounting a defence, Harper's track record on such matters will lend him little credibility.

After all, the Prime Minister denied that his party offered Alan Riddell $50,000 to step aside as a candidate in Ottawa South. But a judge ruled that's exactly what happened.

Just over a year ago, the judge ordered the Conservatives to pay $50,000 to the former candidate who stepped aside in last January's election in favour of a big-name recruit.

Alan Riddell, nominated in 2005 to be a candidate in Ottawa South in the Jan. 23, 2006 election, was offered $50,000 to make way for Allan Cutler. When the promised compensation wasn't paid, Riddell launched a lawsuit.

Harper, then Conservative leader, denied an agreement existed.

Riddell's lawyer, Tom Conway, said the party entered a binding agreement if he would make way for Cutler, who eventually lost the election to Liberal David McGuinty.

...

A year ago, records were produced indicating Stockwell Day, now public safety minister, spent or intended to spend public and party funds to pay former MP Jim Hart to quit in 2000.

In 2000, when Day was the newly elected leader of the Canadian Alliance, Hart stepped aside to allow Day to run in a by-election in the B.C. riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla, which he won that fall.

Hart will neither confirm nor deny he received $50,000.

Anonymous said...

Maw

If you believe Stephen Harper with absolute unwavering certainty , I can almost bet you still believe in the tooth fairy too , maybe even Santy Claus.

I am sick & tired of the same old crap you guys are spouting--this guy has his fingers in more pies than Tom Thumb.

Give me a break.

Mike.

Anonymous said...

Attention Maw:

The Conservative spin on the Chuck Cadman scandal is crap—so why are we buying in?

Matt McGeachy
Published on March 06 2008

The recent developments surrounding the Chuck Cadman controversy serve to confirm my worst fears: Canadians are losing their bullshit detectors.