Conservatives try to bribe independent MP?

[Slava]

^ Well the CPC has been preparing for an election for about a year and a half now, so that is really nothing new.

If Harper would just explain away the taped comments about a financial arrangement in this matter things could clear up. I understand that the RCMP couldn't find enough to lay charges. To me that is hardly vindication:

1. Cadmans widow says there was a policy and has no vested interest is saying that.
2. The allegations are backed up by his daughter who also has no vested interest to say that.
3. Harper acknowledges that there were discussions and the conversation is recorded.

Maybe there is not enough to lay charges...doesn't sound squeaky clean either though.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Slava

^ Well the CPC has been preparing for an election for about a year and a half now, so that is really nothing new.

If Harper would just explain away the taped comments about a financial arrangement in this matter things could clear up. I understand that the RCMP couldn't find enough to lay charges. To me that is hardly vindication:

1. Cadmans widow says there was a policy and has no vested interest is saying that.
2. The allegations are backed up by his daughter who also has no vested interest to say that.
3. Harper acknowledges that there were discussions and the conversation is recorded.

Maybe there is not enough to lay charges...doesn't sound squeaky clean either though.

Harper even said it in a interview a couple of years ago that the only financial arrangements that were made were based around re compensation in terms of Cadman's election funding.

I always thought it was fishy that this was focused around an insurance policy on a person with a fatal illness. there's no insurance company in the world that would issue life insurance to someone with fatal cancer.

I call complete BS on the wife and daughter, the story smells bad to me.

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by Slava

^ Well the CPC has been preparing for an election for about a year and a half now, so that is really nothing new.

If Harper would just explain away the taped comments about a financial arrangement in this matter things could clear up. I understand that the RCMP couldn't find enough to lay charges. To me that is hardly vindication:

1. Cadmans widow says there was a policy and has no vested interest is saying that.
2. The allegations are backed up by his daughter who also has no vested interest to say that.
3. Harper acknowledges that there were discussions and the conversation is recorded.

Maybe there is not enough to lay charges...doesn't sound squeaky clean either though.

Harper has already said the only financial arrangements that had been made was an agreement to help pay for any re-election campaign with an interest free loan. Cadman himself said there was no other promises made. All the supposed `damanging` tape shows is Harper confirming those talks took place.

Cadman`s wife admits she was not present during any meetings.

Cadman`s daughter admits she was not present during any meetings.

What else do you want Harper to do - bring back Cadman from the dead to admit yet again that no life insurance policy was ever offered?

This 'scandal' is and always was a non-starter. The Liberals are floundering and are desperately trying to get anything to stick to the Harper PCs, but it isn't working and isn't doing anything to detract from Dion's complete lack of leadership on any issue.

[transplant99]

The Liberals are floundering and are desperately trying to get anything to stick to the Harper PCs, but it isn't working and isn't doing anything to detract from Dion's complete lack of leadership on any issue.

Yup.

The Libs are at the "tried and true" point of their campaign, and that stuff doesn't fly any more with voters.

Time for that party to go in a different direction and completely distance themselves from the old guard. Could be a decade or more before geting elected again if they don't.

[calculoso]

WOW!

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics...69416-sun.html

OTTAWA - Senior Liberals used an edited and doctored tape to implicate Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a criminal act in the Chuck Cadman controversy, charge federal Conservatives.

The party hired two forensic audio experts to analyse the "Zytaruk tape" and concluded it included a fabricated sound bite.

I don't think that the Liberals would stoop to the level of doctoring the tape themselves, but it's obvious that they didn't check the validity of the tape in their haste to make the Conservatives look bad.

No wonder the Libel suit was launched so quickly!

[Slava]

^ That is ridiculous if true. Why didn't Harper come out right away and say that he simplay didn't say that from the beginning though? This whole affair makes less and less sense as it goes along...

[troutman]

Was there ever a thread here about the Bernier affair?

Are the PCs getting treated with kid gloves here?

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Slava

^ That is ridiculous if true. Why didn't Harper come out right away and say that he simplay didn't say that from the beginning though? This whole affair makes less and less sense as it goes along...

You mean like this?

Harper said the allegations, made outside the House of Commons and on the Liberal party's website, are false and misleading. He is asking for an immediate retraction, Fife said.

(from the first post in this thread)

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Slava

^ That is ridiculous if true. Why didn't Harper come out right away and say that he simplay didn't say that from the beginning though? This whole affair makes less and less sense as it goes along...

It probably took time for the tapes to be analysed, and one thing about Harper is he just doesn't shoot from the hip, he'll deny and delay til he has something that he can pull out of the hip pocket and slam on the table to back his claims. Harper is also pretty strategic, he's going to use this to balance out the Bernier bad press.

The Liberal's are in huge trouble now, their floundering just went from inane to semi criminal. They're going to have to settle the libel suite, issue a apology and probably toss some people out of the party. Combine that with Dion's stupidity and the Liberal's are rapidly making their way to a Kim Campbellesque fringe party.

Its going to be fun seeing people duck for cover, on this one, and some of the splash back is going to hit Cadman's widow and his daughter.

Good times, better then a sex scandal.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by troutman

Was there ever a thread here about the Bernier affair?

Don't know.. I'm about to create a thread about the Alberta Conservatives and the latest batch of raises though...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by troutman

Was there ever a thread here about the Bernier affair?

Are the PCs getting treated with kid gloves here?

Frankly, I'm amazed that nobody drafted his ex under the trainwreck category in the hottie draft.

[Slava]

No, what I mean is that if Harper said (on the tape) there was some kind of a financial arrangement and the tape is doctored. Then why would he not just come right out and say "I never made that comment"?

I'm just asking the honest question....something doesn't add up here.

And no trout there was no thread on Bernier. I thought of starting one numerous times but neglected to do so.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by troutman

Was there ever a thread here about the Bernier affair?

Are the PCs getting treated with kid gloves here?

No, there was not a thread about the Bernier affair. I considered starting one myself, but instead I decided to wait and see if someone else would create one. You can be damn sure that if the Bernier affair had been repeated exactly as it was except by a Liberal government, this forum would be seething with people calling for a no-confidence vote, criminal investigations, etc., etc.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Slava

No, what I mean is that if Harper said (on the tape) there was some kind of a financial arrangement and the tape is doctored. Then why would he not just come right out and say "I never made that comment"?

I'm just asking the honest question....something doesn't add up here.

And no trout there was no thread on Bernier. I thought of starting one numerous times but neglected to do so.

He did... he said the comments used to directly implicate him were false and misleading.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

No, there was not a thread about the Bernier affair. I considered starting one myself, but instead I decided to wait and see if someone else would create one. You can be damn sure that if the Bernier affair had been repeated exactly as it was except by a Liberal government, this forum would be seething with people calling for a no-confidence vote, criminal investigations, etc., etc.

I don't think so. Bernier's an idiot. There'll be an investigation and he's been tossed out of Cabinet. It had nothing to do with the CPC.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by peter12

I don't think so. Bernier's an idiot. There'll be an investigation and he's been tossed out of Cabinet. It had nothing to do with the CPC.

Except that he was a cabinet minister in their government.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Slava

Except that he was a cabinet minister in their government.

He underwent and cleared all security checks that every single other cabinet minister was subjected to.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by peter12

I don't think so. Bernier's an idiot. There'll be an investigation and he's been tossed out of Cabinet. It had nothing to do with the CPC.

It's hard to be tossed out of cabinet when he already resigned because of the scandal.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

It's hard to be tossed out of cabinet when he already resigned because of the scandal.

It basically amounts to the same thing. Either Bernier got the call from the PMO or he anticipated it and got ahead of the game.

[Slava]

Peter, I realise that he went through the same security checks as everyone else, unfortunately that doesn't absolve the CPC of everything here. If he were a liberal or an NDPer for that matter there would be an enormous outcry, but because he's a PCer and this is a Calgary board its all basically ignored.