by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
2/15/05
There are problems that are inherent in being an enlightened society. When the government gives rights to the lowest common denominator such as Canada’s first family of terrorism, the Khadrs, the next thing you know, former prime ministers think they should be entitled to their rights. and then everybody gets upset.
Jean Chrétien was severely criticized for having his lawyers attempt to remove the Commissioner presiding over the Gomery inquiry. Chrétien’s argument was that there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Justice Gomery because he had remarked that Chrétien was "small town cheap" in ordering the production of golf balls with his name on them, using sponsorship funds that are the subject matter of the inquiry. What was surprising was not the fact that Chrétien brought the motion for the judge to disqualify himself, but the fact that when Justice Gomery refused to step down, Chrétien didn’t take the matter further and request that the Federal Court order Gomery’s removal. It is obvious now that Gomery’s removal was not Chrétien’s prime objective. The former prime minister played Gomery like a fiddle, setting him up for his show and tell at the inquiry that consisted of golf balls from other "small town cheap" leaders such as Bill Clinton, the man from Hope. The former prime minister was then able to achieve his goal of centering all the attention on a few lousy golf balls and away from his role in the $100 million that was diverted to Liberal-friendly advertising agencies.
Had Gomery made his "small town cheap" statement during the course of hearing testimony about the golf balls, that would have been one thing. But he made those comments to the media when he stood before them thinking that he was Robin Williams. Chrétien had a right to be mad and any consequences that flowed from the Martin-appointed commissioner’s camera-hugging are his fault, not the fault of the former prime minister.
For those who managed to look past the golf ball stunt to the rest of Chrétien’s testimony, there was outrage. There were charges that he stonewalled, joked, evaded and otherwise failed to tell the truth. In other words Jean Chrétien was criticized for being Jean Chrétien. He acted no differently before the Gomery Commission than he did during the 10 years that he held the top job. His comments that he was not a micro-manager and therefore didn’t know where the money went were no different than his previous statements concerning the Business Development Bank when he claimed he had nothing to do with the rules being broken to help his friends, comments that were ultimately proved to be untrue. He employed the same humour during his golf ball routine that he did in 1997 when his comments regarding the RCMP’s pepper-spraying of protesters at an aPEC meeting were that pepper was something that he puts on his plate. He didn’t care then; and he doesn’t care now.
Some of Chrétien’s harshest critics now are the same people that enabled him to win three successive majority governments and would have undoubtedly given him a fourth majority if he had decided to stay on. Those who excused Chrétien’s lies about the Business Development Bank and getting rid of the GST are now the ones who are shocked that he didn’t take the stand and confess his role in the sponsorship fiasco.
Some of those people who are now criticizing the former PM are those that fail to say a word against the current prime minister. Even though Paul Martin was criticized for supporting gay-friendly justices to the Supreme Court of Canada ahead of the same sex marriage legislation, no one ever mentions that Martin was the one that appointed John Gomery to head the inquiry. Gomery was of course instrumental in helping Chrétien to deflect attention away from the real issues of the inquiry and onto a few golf balls. It smells of a set up. No wonder Martin and his caucus cheered the former PM’s appearance at the inquiry.
The one good thing about Chrétien’s performance on the stand was that it worked. Now the National Citizens Coalition (NCC) have announced that they will sell golf balls emblazoned with the words "This ball NOT paid for by taxpayers". The group purports to be against Chrétien but this little stunt will go a long way in achieving the former PM’s goal of making the golf balls the central issue in the adscam scandal. Who’s running the NCC; Warren Kinsella?
Jean Chrétien may not be the prime minister any more. But he’s still Da Boss.