Thursday, November 29, 2007

Parliamentary ethics committee gong show

On Mike Duffy Live today, lawyer William Kaplan, author of a book on the Mulroney/Schreiber affair, had this to say about Schreiber’s questioning and testimony before the ethics committee hearings:

I don’t think there was any damage in testimony today to anyone. The only thing that was damaged was the reputation of the House of Commons and the special committee on ethics. They behaved badly as predicted. It was a gong show as predicted. They were undisciplined. They were uninformed. They didn’t put a good face of government out to the people of Canada.
Kaplan described how American legislative committee hearings are run and, comparatively, the Canadian version comes off as an amateur show.

Duffy criticized committee chairman Paul Szabo for coaching Schreiber on how to avoid answering questions.

Video here.
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5 comments:

  1. hunterNovember 29, 2007 at 7:27:00 PM PST

    It was a gong show. The opposition were played like a fiddle today.

    My question is why isn't Robert Thibault (Liberal, West Nova) kicked off the ethics committee? Not only did he visit Schreiber 2 times in the summer, but he is also being sued by Mulroney for libel. Should he be able to question Mulroney? Don't think so. Liberals being what they are don't see this as wrong. The Liberal chairman will not kick him off the committee, why am I not shocked?

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  2. AnonymousNovember 29, 2007 at 9:06:00 PM PST

    Cutting through all this BS, what the heck is the "crime" that the committee is focusing upon? There ISN'T one!

    http://burpnrun.blogspot.com/2007/11/schreiber-farce-whats-crime.html

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  3. Joanne (True Blue)November 30, 2007 at 4:33:00 AM PST

    This whole thing is a farce. Amateurs for sure.

    This committee is an embarrassment to Canada.

    MSM loves it though. $$$$$

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  4. Calgary JunkieNovember 30, 2007 at 6:34:00 AM PST

    I'll be watching Question Period to see how much the BLOC and NDP carry the Liberal torch on this. On Thursday, Dion and Ignatieff started off with five KHS/Mulroney questions, then the BLOC asked four about Quebec manufacturing, then Layton asked two about what Harper should tell the Russian Prime Minister.

    There may be co-operation between the Libs, KHS and some of the media. But Duceppe and Layton are savvy enough to know when there is little political advantage for them. On any issue, its a mistake to be seen "beating a dead horse". I don't think Dion understands that concept very well.

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  5. JRNovember 30, 2007 at 6:01:00 PM PST

    Comments appreciated, especially considering that, like many others
    , you've probably had more than enough of Schreiber.

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