[BLOG-LIKE POSTING] On "Lyin' Brian"
Jun. 5th, 2009 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe reputation of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney took a spectacular hit in the past couple of weeks, when his testimony before a parliamentary committee in the Airbus affair confirmed that he accepted three envelopes of cash containing $75 000 each from Karlheinz Schreiber, a German-Canadian businessman whose unorthodox transfers of money to German chancellor Helmut Kohl brought down that man down while he was still in office.
I'm sure that he's being entirely honest. Why, I myself have $C 10 000 secreted in my closet, and a few thousand Euros buried, wrapped in plastic bags, in a nearby park--
Right.
Mulroney had earlier issued a straightforward denial that any illegal exchange of money occurred between him and Schreiber, and yet.
Things haven't improved since then, with the former Canadian ambassador to China denying that Mulroney raised the issue of selling vehicles to the Chinese government, and the RCMP denying that they escorted Mulroney to once of his cash-exchange meetings with Schreiber. Things have reached the point where even commenters at the conservative National Post has compared Mulroney to a drug dealer. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already been desperately trying to distance the Conservative Party from Mulroney, much to the displeasure of the remaining Mulroney loyalists.
This may--may--mark the end of the man who was an enormously controversial politician. He did lead the Commonwealth in the fight against apartheid, won two majority governments, and created the US-Canada free trade agreement. He's also a man whose mishandling of national affairs led to the growth of separatism and the 1995 referendum, coincided with one of the worst economic crises in economic history, came to be seen as personally slimy and part of a greedy government, and ensured that his Progressive Conservative Party would be annihilated come the 1993 election. Entire books of hostile jokes were published featuring Mulroney as a butt of humour. My favourite Mulroney joke is below.
Mulroney aside, this whole incident says disturbing things about Canadian governance. If it took this long to uncover this, and followed a previous inquiry which ended in the federal government giving him millions of dollars by way of compensation, how effectively is the Canadian government dealing with corruption. More, what other kinds of corruption are going on right now in the upper echelons of Canadian politics? I worry.
Brian Mulroney told a federal inquiry Friday there was nothing "sinister" about accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from Karlheinz Schreiber at three hotels in the 16 months after he stepped down as prime minister in the summer of 1993.
The former PM also told the inquiry that contrary to Schreiber's assertions, there was "zero" talk about the two of them working together in the future when they met two days before Mulroney resigned from office.
Mulroney was responding to questions from Richard Wolson, lead counsel for the inquiry, who was pressing the former Conservative prime minister to describe, in painstaking detail, how he felt about accepting cash payments of $75,000 three times, beginning on August 27 at a hotel at Montreal's Mirabel airport.
The line of questioning appeared to wear on Mulroney, who looked increasingly uncomfortable responding to direct question such as: Why didn't you open a bank account; and why didn't you start your open paper trail?
Mulroney confirmed anew he tucked the money away in safety deposit boxes in his Montreal home, and at a New York bank.
Although he saw the cash payments as unconventional, Mulroney said, he did not consider the need for transparency, especially as a former prime minister.
"I simply was not thinking that way at the time," he said.
I'm sure that he's being entirely honest. Why, I myself have $C 10 000 secreted in my closet, and a few thousand Euros buried, wrapped in plastic bags, in a nearby park--
Right.
Mulroney had earlier issued a straightforward denial that any illegal exchange of money occurred between him and Schreiber, and yet.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologized publicly on Thursday for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a German arms dealer, but he bluntly rejected suggestions he had taken kickbacks.
Mulroney, a mentor to current Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had for years declined to answer why exactly he took the money from Karlheinz Schreiber after leaving office in 1993. Schreiber says he handed over a total of C$300,000 ($295,000), while Mulroney said he received C$225,000.
The affair is one of the great mysteries of Canadian politics and efforts to uncover what happened have revealed allegations of skullduggery and influence-peddling that involve senior officials and politicians.
Schreiber, awaiting extradition to Germany to face charges of fraud, bribery and tax evasion, says he paid Mulroney to help German firm Thyssen AG build a plant in Canada to assemble light-armored vehicles.
Mulroney told legislators on Thursday that the money was in fact a retainer to promote use of the vehicles abroad in peacekeeping operations.
He said that while the deal had been legal, and while he had accepted no money while in office, he recognized he had made a serious error in judgment by agreeing to take cash.
Things haven't improved since then, with the former Canadian ambassador to China denying that Mulroney raised the issue of selling vehicles to the Chinese government, and the RCMP denying that they escorted Mulroney to once of his cash-exchange meetings with Schreiber. Things have reached the point where even commenters at the conservative National Post has compared Mulroney to a drug dealer. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already been desperately trying to distance the Conservative Party from Mulroney, much to the displeasure of the remaining Mulroney loyalists.
This may--may--mark the end of the man who was an enormously controversial politician. He did lead the Commonwealth in the fight against apartheid, won two majority governments, and created the US-Canada free trade agreement. He's also a man whose mishandling of national affairs led to the growth of separatism and the 1995 referendum, coincided with one of the worst economic crises in economic history, came to be seen as personally slimy and part of a greedy government, and ensured that his Progressive Conservative Party would be annihilated come the 1993 election. Entire books of hostile jokes were published featuring Mulroney as a butt of humour. My favourite Mulroney joke is below.
One day, Brian Mulroney came to his mother and asked for an increase in his allowance. She said "No," but then told him that he should pray to the Virgin Mary for strength.
Young Brian went into his room, and began to kneel to pray before the statue. Then, he got an idea.
Carefully, he took the statue off of the mantle, put it into a shoebox, and placed the shoebox under his bed. He then took a piece of paper and a pencil, and began to write.
"Dear Jesus," he began, "if you ever want to see your mother alive again ..."
Mulroney aside, this whole incident says disturbing things about Canadian governance. If it took this long to uncover this, and followed a previous inquiry which ended in the federal government giving him millions of dollars by way of compensation, how effectively is the Canadian government dealing with corruption. More, what other kinds of corruption are going on right now in the upper echelons of Canadian politics? I worry.
