The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, is a federal Canadian commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involves allegations of corruption within the Canadian government. The word federal in a general sense refers to the nature of an agreement between or among two or more states, nations, or other groups to merge into a union in which control of common affairs is held by a central authority created by and with the consent of the... Justice John Gomery Justice John Howard Gomery, BCL , BA , QC (born August 9, 1932 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian jurist. ... The sponsorship scandal, AdScam, or Sponsorgate, is an ongoing scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government sponsorship program (sometimes capitalized) in the province of Quebec, originally rationalized as an effort to raise Canadian patriotic sentiments to counter Quebec separatism. ... System of government Canada is a constitutional monarchy as a Commonwealth Realm (see Monarchy in Canada) with a federal system of parliamentary government, and strong democratic traditions. ...

The Commission was called by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in February 2004 soon after the Auditor General of Canada's report found unexplainable irregularities in the Sponsorship Program. The Commission was part of Martin's active campaign to be seen as working to solve the problem. Justice Gomery released his first phase report on the scandal on November 1, 2005. Paul Martin is the current Prime Minister of Canada. ... The Right Honourable Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC, MP, BA, LLB (born August 28, 1938, in Windsor, Ontario), took office on December 12, 2003 as the twenty-first Prime Minister of Canada. ... Look up February in Wiktionary, the free dictionary February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The role of the Auditor General of Canada is to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of federal government operations. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Some, including Jean Chrétien, Warren Kinsella, and Sheila Copps, have criticized the commission as being little more than an extension of Liberal party infighting. [1] Gomery has been seen to be hostile toward Chrétien, although his lawyers failed to have him removed as biased, and friendly to Paul Martin. The two men have long represented a power struggle within the party. Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien has decided to take an action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis. [2] The Right Honourable Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, PC, QC, BA, LL.L, LL.D (born January 11, 1934) was the twentieth Prime Minister of Canada, serving from November 4, 1993, to December 12, 2003. ... Warren Kinsella in his basement Warren Kinsella should not be confused with Canadian author W. P. Kinsella. ... Hon. ... The Liberal Party of Canada (French: Parti libéral du Canada), colloquially known as the Grits (originally Clear Grits), is a Canadian federal political party positioned around the centre of the political spectrum, combining a generally progressive social policy with moderate economics. ...

Mandate

The Commission had a broader mandate, more power and greater resources than the Auditor General, and most importantly could look beyond government to the advertising agencies that had received the Sponsorship dollars. The terms of reference allowed the commissioner to question witnesses, hire experts and adopt any procedures or methods that he considers expedient for the proper conduct of the inquiry. The purpose given was to "investigate and report on questions raised, directly or indirectly" by the Auditor Generals report. However, he was specifically directed not to make any conclusions or recommendations on criminal charges or civil liability.

Proceedings and testimonies

The Commission began in Ottawa, meeting in the Old City Hall. The hearing opened in September 2004. The first to testify was auditor Sheila Fraser who reported the findings of her earlier investigations. The first part of its investigation was of the political direction of the project. Most of the top officials involved were called to testify. Template:Hide = Motto: Template:Unhide = Advance Ottawa/Ottawa en avant City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Ville dOttawa, Ontario, Canadas Location. ... The International Style 1958 portion of the Old City Hall on Sussex Drive The Safdie addition to the south of the building, the controversial tower can be seen on the right The building today commonly referred to as the Old City Hall was the building that served as Ottawas... September 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: September 2004 in sports Events Deaths in September • 27 Tsai Wan-lin • 24 Françoise Sagan • 20 Brian Clough • 18 Russ Meyer • 15 Johnny Ramone • 12 Fred Ebb • 11 Peter VII of Alexandria • 8... Categories: Canadian people stubs | 1950 births ...

In an unprecedented event the inquiry saw the testimony of two Prime Ministers in February 2005: Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien. The testimony of Chrétien was much anticipated. In December 2004 Chrétien's lawyers had moved to expel Justice Gomery due to comments he had made to a National Post reporter that the lawyers argued showed that Gomery was biased against Chrétien. These included Gomery commenting that golf balls marked with Chrétien's name, which had been paid for by the sponsorship program, were "small town cheap." Gomery rejected the calls to recuse himself setting up a confrontation between him and Chrétien. At the end of his day of testimony Chrétien closed his statement by pulling out a series of golf balls bearing the name of American presidents and asking whether each of them was "small town cheap." The stunt was the focus of all the media reports. 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Ongoing events • Iraqi legislative election • Bill C-38 (Canada gay marriage) • Tsunami relief Upcoming events • March 11: Red Nose Day 2005 in the UK. Deaths in February • 26 – Jef Raskin • 25 – Hugh Nibley • 25 – Peter Benenson • 21... ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... The National Post is a large Canadian English language national newspaper based in Toronto. ...

After the prime ministers testified, the hearings moved to Montreal to investigate where the money had gone. The hearings in Ottawa had uncovered little more than what was in the Auditor General's report. The AG did not have the authority to investigate outside of the government, and the look into the advertising companies in Montreal uncovered a great deal of new and explosive allegations. The most important of these were by Groupaction executive Jean Brault who recounted a series of crimes committed to direct government money to Liberal party supporters. These caused a sharp fall in the support for the governing Liberals and has put their government in jeopardy. City motto: Concordia Salus (Latin: Well-being through harmony) Province Quebec Mayor Gérald Tremblay MPs Vivian Barbot, Bernard Bigras, Denis Coderre, Irwin Cotler, Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe, Marlene Jennings, Francine Lalonde, Jean Lapierre, Paul Martin, Réal Ménard, Serge Ménard, Maria Mourani, Massimo Pacetti, Bernard Patry... Groupaction Inc. ... Jean Brault was the president of Groupaction, a Montreal advertising firm implicated in the Canadian sponsorship scandal. ...

First phase report

On November 1, 2005, Gomery released the first part of his report. Gomery criticized Chrétien and his chief of staff Jean Pelletier but cleared them of direct involvement in kickback schemes. While people such as Gagliano, Chuck Guité and Jacques Corriveau took advantage of the programme, Gomery observed that such abuses would not have been possible had Chrétien not set the programme up without safeguards in the first place. Gomery said that Pelletier "failed to take the most elementary precautions against mismanagement – and Mr. Chrétien was responsible for him." November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jean Pelletier (born February 21, 1935 in Chicoutimi, Quebec) is a Canadian political operative and former head of VIA Rail. ... J. Charles (Chuck) Guité is a Canadian civil servant who was in charge of the federal sponsorship program, and is one of the main figures in the sponsorship scandal. ... Jacques Corriveau is a Quebec businessperson and owner of the graphic design firm Pluri Design Canada Inc. ...

Gomery also exonerated prime minister Paul Martin, the former minister of finance during most of the sponsorship programme. Gomery specifically said that Martin "is entitled, like other ministers from the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct", as the Department of Finance's role was not oversight, but setting the "fiscal framework".

Final report

On February 1, 2006, Gomery released his final report consisting mostly of recommendations for changes to the civil service and its relation to government. February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Among some of the recommendations suggested include:

• Moving more responsibility to parliamentary committees
• Stiffer penalties for violation in public spending legislation
• De-politicize civil service and crown corporation appointments
• More transparency with allocation of reserve funds
• ban on document distruction

Criticisms

Many commentators have criticized the report for various reasons: alleged bias on the part of the commission, the terms of reference with which it was set up, and the use of evidence in the report.

Jean Chrétien's lawyers are trying to have the results of the Gomery report declared invalid by a federal court. They claim that Gomery has made many comments which indicate he had a bias going into the investigation such as comments Gomery made calling Chrétien "small town cheap", referring to the management of the sponsorship program as "catastrophically bad," and calling Chuck Guité, a "charming scamp". J. Charles (Chuck) Guité is a Canadian civil servant who was in charge of the federal sponsorship program, and is one of the main figures in the sponsorship scandal. ...

Other allegations of bias concern the commission's chief counsel, Bernard Roy, a former chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. Roy is also a partner in Mulroney's law firm where Gomery's daughter works. Chrétien's lawyers allege that the appointment is a conflict of interest. Roy is a longtime personal friend of the former prime-minister's. [3] Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien have had an adversarial personal relationship in recent years since the Airbus affair. The choice of counsel may account for the failure to call some Chrétien friendly witnesses. The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC) was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 1867 to 2003. ... The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, LL.D (born March 20, 1939), was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993. ... A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust, such as a lawyer, a politician, or an executive or director of a corporation, has competing professional and/or personal interests. ... The Airbus affair refers to allegations of secret commissions paid to members of the Brian Mulroney government in exchange for the purchase by Crown corporation Air Canada of a large order of Airbus jets. ...

Courts denied the Chrétien legal team's request to remove Gomery in the spring of 2005.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper said that the main problem was that the commission's terms of reference did not allow it to investigate Paul Martin's contracting habits as finance minister. He said he was sympathetic to Chrétien's complaints of bias. [4] Other criticisms concern the lack of powers the commission had to investigate criminal matters, which were being investigated by the RCMP.

Chrétien's lawyers have indicated they are concerned about conclusions which are not based on evidence, but mere extrapolation. Jean Chrétien, on the day the report was tabled in the House of Commons, objected to the findings of the Commission, commenting that Gomery believed the wrong witnesses. "Personally, I believe Jean Pelletier, a man who dedicated his life to the service of his city, his province and his country," said the former Prime Minister, dismissing's Chuck Guité's testimony. Chrétien believes that Gomery's conclusion that the programme was run out of the prime minister's office is wrong.

External links

• The Gomery Commission