...This is the former prime minister of Canada we are talking about — not some juvenile delinquent in youth court. Even Bill Clinton did not go that far. Cornered, under oath, he at least had the decency to lie: the tribute that vice pays to getting caught. Whereas Mr. Chrétien, whose responsibilities as prime minister included upholding the law and protecting the taxpayers’ interest, chose this moment to advertise his contempt for both. Which is more or less what the inquiry was called to investigate, isn’t it?
...The Gomery inquiry is our last chance to get at the moral rot that has taken hold of Ottawa over the past three decades. Indeed, as the inquiry wears on, that is more and more becoming the issue: not so much the misappropriation of public funds, as serious as it was, but the apparent inability of our system of government to hold anyone to account.
...the Gomery inquiry is all we’ve got. Do you see what the stakes are? You can see why Mr. Chrétien and his henchmen are so desperate to discredit the commission: not just their legacies, but their futures are potentially at risk if the inquiry is permitted to follow the money trail to its inevitable terminus. But for the public, the stakes are even higher. Indeed, how this matter is resolved will test whether we can reasonably be called a democracy. Can a regime accused of corruption endlessly suppress evidence of its misdeeds; can it muzzle or intimidate those few institutions it does not already control; can it muddle through election after election after election without ever being held to account: that is what is at issue here. We can’t afford to let this opportunity go by.
Rex Murphy's commentary on the National last night was along similar lines. Too bad they post his commentaries a week behind.
