The Elephant in the Room

Corriveau denies funnelling money

Brian Daly Canadian Press

Friday, April 15, 2005 MONTREAL -- Jacques Corriveau, accused of funnelling at least $1.1 million in sponsorship money to the federal Liberals, denied any role in the alleged conspiracy Friday and shifted the heat back to his accuser, ad man Jean Brault.
"No,'' Corriveau replied when he was asked by Bernard Roy, counsel for the sponsorship inquiry. "Never.''
The retiree suggested Roy direct his questions to former Liberal fundraiser Alain Renaud, who Brault says was a party operative planted at Brault's Groupaction firm to steer cash to the party.
"The one who was closest to Mr. Brault was Mr. Renaud,'' said Corriveau. "I had no such relations with Mr Brault.''
Brault has implicated Corriveau and promoter Luc Lemay in the wide-ranging scheme that allegedly used Groupaction to secretly funnel the money to the party's debt-ridden Quebec wing.
Brault has testified he paid Corriveau, a friend of former prime minister Jean Chretien, $494,000 under one bogus contract, and alleged Corriveau sent the cash to the party.
But Corriveau denied under cross-examination from Liberal party lawyer Doug Mitchell that he sent any of his income to the Liberals.
He added Brault approved every one of the payments under the contract. Corriveau added the payments were compensation for wresting major sponsorship deals from a competitor, Groupe Everest.
"The formula of the bills was given to me by Mr. Brault, as well as the amounts that appear on the bills.''

Read the whole thing [here].

The elephant in the room is the unspoken understanding in Canada that french Quebec politics is a cesspool of corruption and backroom dealings the likes of which the United States hasn't seen since Prohibition era Chicago. Try to fathom how this would have played out in the US if this had been Bush and Texas and millions going to "friends of the government" in Texas.

The absolute worst part is that due to the altar of multiculturalism and (even worse) multilingualism, we cannot stand up and say a word about this without being shouted down as bigots, anti-french and right wing fools. I'm not against french people, I'm against theft and treason.