Nice to see independent MP Bill Casey get the last question in QP today. Here it is:
>> The speaker: Order. The honourable member for Cumberland-Colchester Valley. Order.
>> (Bill Casey) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On September 23th, 2007, the RCMP informed the Conservatives that there was no evidence to back up the accusations of at the time and embezzlement against me by the official agent. Yet two weeks later, other Conservatives -- other Conservatives distributed the same accusations of theft and embezzlement to the media and on the internet. In fact, Mr. Speaker, you can see the accusations against me on the website stephen taylor dot ca. Last week, the Minister of Public Safety said there was only one person involved. But now obviously there's more than one Conservative, and I don't mean Conservatives in this house. But there is more than one Conservative involved. Will they release the names of all of the Conservatives?
>> The speaker: The Honourable Minister of Public Safety. Order. The Honourable Minister of Public Safety.
>> Hon. Peter Van Loan: Mr. Speaker, as I advised this house previously, the RCMP looked into this matter, and made it clear that there were -- was no evidence of any wrongdoing. With regard to the member from Cumberland-Colchester, and I also confirm to the house that the Conservative Party was of the same view.
Not all Conservatives, apparently. What I find interesting here is that it appears Casey is saying the RCMP told the Conservatives there was nothing to these allegations BEFORE someone decided to shop the story around to various media and blog outlets in an attempt to smear Casey during/before the last election.
This would make it a pretty deliberate attempt to smear Casey. And I have a pretty hard time believing it was just one rogue operator involved here. Don’t let this go, Bill. Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers
1 comment:
Several significant questions remain unanswered here:
1. The RCMP report specifically mentions Conservative members, yet we know of only one person. Who were the others?
2. We know that there was more than one Conservative member involved and that they held official positions in the party. What official action has been taken against them?
3. We know that the Conservative Party was aware of the attempted smear before it happened. What did they do to stop their fellow party members from going to the RCMP?
We can also fairly ask some slightly partisan questions. Such as how involved the Conservative Party was in even coming up with the plan to smear Casey during an election. The entire campaign team was created by the PMO after Casey and his riding executive left the party. It is striking to me that the Conservative Party could know about this ahead of time but not be considered to be involved in it.
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