Gomery Report Resources

"The public trust in the system of government was subverted and betrayed, and Canadians were outraged, not only be cause public funds were wasted and misappropriated, but also because no one was held responsible or punished for his misconduct." [quote from the Phase 1 report of the Gomery Commission into the federal Liberal sponsorship scandal]

Justice Gomery's report into the sponsorship mess was released this morning. Here are resources relating to the commission and its findings.

• CBC News summary of major findings: clear political interference and circumventing of proper contracting rules; gross overcharging by ad firms; fake invoices for fake work never done; deliberate actions to avoid compliance with numerous laws; unrecorded cash gifts and kickbacks to the federal Liberals; putting party workers on ad agency payrolls to work illegally for the Liberals; refusal of top ranking political and bureaucratic officials to accept responsibility for mismanagement
• How the illegal kickback scheme to the federal Liberal Party worked
• Comprehensive Globe and Mail coverage
• Toronto Star coverage
• National Post coverage
• Radio-Canada coverage (in French)
• Gesca coverage (La Presse, Le Soleil, Le Droit - in French)
• The 3-part report by Justice Gomery- here is the summary
• Spring 2005 Gomery hearings transcripts of testimony - quite important: I was living in Toronto during the hearings of the commission and it was apparent that "ROC" (the Rest of Canada outside Quebec) was not paying close attention. In Quebec, the live televised hearings with all their revelations of kickbacks and violations of many provincial and federal laws attracted huge audiences
• Government of Canada’s response to the First Report of the Gomery Commission
• Statement by the Prime Minister
• Reaction of the Conservative Party
• Reaction of the Bloc québécois
• Reaction of the New Democratic Party
• Office of the Auditor General reports: in 2002, a first report mentioning three contracts with Groupaction concluded that senior bureaucrats broke "just about every rule in the book". The Auditor General forwarded the findings to the RCMP and decided to investigate all of Ottawa's advertising, polling and sponsorship programs. Those results were published in a scathing 2004 report that found that "the federal government ran the sponsorship program in a way that showed little regard for Parliament, the Financial Administration Act, contracting rules and regulations, transparency and value for money."
• House of Commons Public Accounts Committee: it issued a report in early 2003, calling for tighter rules for advertising and said civil servants should be held responsible for bungling and questionable deals and be fired if they have "demonstrated a proven pattern of disregard for the government of Canada’s contracting rules and regulations". After the 2004 Auditor General report, the Committee launched a much more in-depth investigation
• Forensic auditing report by Kroll Lindquist Avey: the Gomery commission appointed forensic auditors to look at where the sponsorship money went. The Globe and Mail provides a copy on its website

For some interesting background on the sponsorship scandal and how it has widened the political rift between Quebecers and the rest of Canada, I would recommend the article Showing the Flag - The Origins and Consequences of the Sponsorship Scandal by Antonia Maioni, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. It was published in the June 2005 issue of Policy Options, the journal of the Institute of Research on Public Policy.

According to Maioni, "(M)ost important, the sponsorship scandal is eroding the public’s confidence in Canada’s democratic processes and political leadership and, equally serious, rebuilding the wall between Quebecers, in particular francophone Quebecers, and Canadians outside of Quebec. The first reactions to the whiff of scandal showed the rift: Many Canadians outside of Quebec either saw sponsorship as another indication of pandering to Quebec or as a worthy strategy to keep Quebec in Canada. Most Quebecers, on the other hand, were disgusted with the premise of being 'sold' Canada through sponsorships and flag-waving. Initial public opinion polls confirmed these sentiments, showing that most Canadians figured that political patronage was more prevalent in Quebec; while most Quebecers were outraged at the slander on their democratic values". It is highly doubtful things have changed since the summer.

And for a short yet informative history of the political corruption that has been prevalent throughout Canadian history since the beginning of Confederation, no one can beat historian Desmond Morton.