Former Liberal backroom insider Benoit Corbeil has made some startling new allegations, and Gomery testimony has linked the federal Finance Dept. to a profitable little contract boost for a Montreal ad firm owned by a friend of Martin's.
See this CTV.ca story for details on Corbeil, but here's some excerpts:
- He remembers accepting an envelope stuffed with sponsorship money destined for the party, because the Liberals were broke and he had to pay campaign workers.
- He helped organize the 1995 unity rally, when thousands of Canadians traveled by bus and plane to Montreal just before a referendum on sovereignty. The rally cost a fortune, and Corbeil alleges it wasn't all declared.
- Corbeil says that in 1995 Liberals had a strategy to fast-track 15,000 immigrants to Quebec through citizenship court, so new citizens could boost the federalist vote. Then-Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau hinted at this scenario on referendum night, when he blamed the slim separatist defeat on "money and the ethnic vote."
"Yes, Mr. Parizeau was right to say what he did," Corbeil told Thompson.
One of Corbeil's most stunning allegations is that some Liberal supporters received judicial appointments in exchange for working on election campaigns. That allegation has been vigorously denied in Ottawa.
Actually, the story was broken by two Radio-Canada reporters and The Globe and Mail picked it up Thursday morning.
Martin
Here's an excerpt from the CP story:
Finance Department officials boosted the value of a contract when Paul Martin was finance minister that landed one of his friends $75,000 for doing little work, documents at the sponsorship inquiry show.
Inquiry counsel grilled ad man Claude Boulay about the commission Thursday and also heard his wife recall the couple's close relationship with Martin when they worked on his 1993 election campaign. Memos from January 1996 indicate the Finance Department approved additional funding for a Canada Savings Bond direct mail campaign that was co-managed by Boulay's firm, Groupe Everest.
The revised contract, unrelated to the sponsorship program, saw Everest take a $75,000 commission after funding was boosted to $2.6 million from $1.7 million in early 1996.
Documents show Boulay's ad firm was paid a 17.56 per cent commission for the campaign even though the bulk of the work was done by another agency, Pinnacle Advertising.
It wasn't clear whether Martin knew about the funding increase, or the fact that the expanded deal put money in Boulay's pocket. The information came to light as Martin prepared to address the nation Thursday night about the sponsorship scandal.
Boulay, who continued his testimony at the inquiry on Thursday, had worked on Martin's 1990 leadership bid as well as his 1988 and 1993 election campaigns.
Martin has repeatedly denied allegations he interfered in advertising contracts to Everest's benefit.