From the Canada desk:
Last night, “Gomery” was the #9 search item at Technorati. Who knew there would be so much blogospheric attention on corruption in Canada?
So what’s going on up here? What’s this corruption story that’s dominating our news? Here’s all the latest from The Globe and Mail, our leading newspaper.
In brief:
Mr. Justice John Gomery, our version of a special prosecutor, led a Commission of Inquiry into “a pro-federalism advertising and sponsorship campaign in 1996… to promote the visibility of the federal government in Quebec, where separatist sentiment was still strong”. In short: “[A]n advertising and sponsorship program set up to promote federal unity was little more than a way to funnel funds to Liberal [Party] supporters.” (The Liberal Party is currently in power under Prime Minister Paul Martin. It’s been the governing party since 1993.)
For the specifics of Gomery’s findings, as well as for some additional commentary, see this lengthier post at The Reaction.
See? We’ve got our share of scandal up here, too!