Conservatives coaxed Chuck Cadman, claim chronicler and candidate
Unless you were hiding under a rock for the last few days, you’ve no doubt heard the accusations that the Conservative Party offered an independent MP dying of cancer a million-dollar life insurance policy and other trinkets to vote against the federal budget and topple then-Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Liberal government in 2005.
The RCMP is examining the claim from the Liberals that the offer from the Conservatives to the late MP Chuck Cadman violated the Criminal Code's bribery and corruption provisions.
British Columbia MP Chuck Cadman’s vote was the deciding one of the 2005 budget, a budget the Conservative Party was eager to see voted down so they could force an election. Maybe too eager.
Author Tom Zytaruk’s biography of the late MP, Like a Rock: The Chuck Cadman Story, relates a story told to him by Cadman’s widow, Dona Cadman, now a Conservative Party of Canada candidate herself.
Mrs. Cadman said two Conservative Party officials came to their home with a list of enticements two days before the budget vote, one of them a million-dollar life insurance policy. Cadman, who was in the advanced stages of cancer, with a family he knew he would soon be leaving to fend for themselves, must have thought long and hard about that money during the next two days.
But the night of the vote, he did something a lot of people would probably consider unthinkable in that situation. He voted his conscience, passing the budget and watching his chance to support his family after his death disappear like dust in the wind. He died two months later.
Officially, the prime minister’s office is denying the accusations.
But there are tapes. Oh, the tapes.
“He had his say on the situation,” Zytaruk said Thursday.
In a 2005 interview with Zytaruk for the biography, Stephen Harper admitted knowing about the offer to Cadman to get him to change his vote. Here’s a transcription.
Zytaruk: "I mean, there was an insurance policy for a million dollars. Do you know anything about that?
Harper: "I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions, uh, this is not for publication?"
Zytaruk: "This (inaudible) for the book. Not for the newspaper. This is for the book."
Harper: "Um, I don't know the details. I can tell you that I had told the individuals, I mean, they wanted to do it. But I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind, he was going to vote with the Liberals and I knew why and I respected the decision. But they were just, they were convinced there was, there were financial issues. There may or may not have been, but I said that's not, you know, I mean, I, that's not going to change."
Zytaruk: "You said (inaudible) beforehand and stuff? It wasn't even a party guy, or maybe some friends, if it was people actually in the party?"
Harper: "No, no, they were legitimately representing the party. I said don't press him. I mean, you have this theory that it's, you know, financial insecurity and, you know, just, you know, if that's what you're saying, make that case but don't press it.”
So the Prime Minister of Canada admitted knowing members “legitimately representing the party” were going to attempt to bribe a sitting Member of Parliament to influence his vote?
Wow.
And as Liberal leader Stéphane Dion quoted on the floor of the House of Commons Thursday, “standing Order 23(1) states: The offer of any money or other advantage to any Member of this House, for the promoting of any matter whatsoever depending or to be transacted in Parliament, is a high crime and misdemeanour, and tends to the subversion of the Constitution.’
“What was the Prime Minister thinking?" Dion asked.
Well, I’m no expert, but I’d say he was thinking of becoming Prime Minister, by hook or by crook.
But I think Liberal MP Todd Russell from Labrador said it best Thursday.
“Mr. Speaker, allegations that shadowy Conservative operatives offered a bribe to Chuck Cadman in exchange for his vote in 2005 go far beyond the boundaries of acceptable partisan activity. It is outrageous, an insult to the integrity of the political process and shows the depths to which the government is willing to sink to seize power.
“My question is for the Prime Minister. Why does he show such little respect for the people of British Columbia, why did he not stop his operatives from offering a bribe to Chuck Cadman and why has he remained silent for three years, two years as Prime Minister of this country?”
Canada is waiting for the truth, Mr. Prime Minister.
The RCMP is examining the claim from the Liberals that the offer from the Conservatives to the late MP Chuck Cadman violated the Criminal Code's bribery and corruption provisions.
British Columbia MP Chuck Cadman’s vote was the deciding one of the 2005 budget, a budget the Conservative Party was eager to see voted down so they could force an election. Maybe too eager.
Author Tom Zytaruk’s biography of the late MP, Like a Rock: The Chuck Cadman Story, relates a story told to him by Cadman’s widow, Dona Cadman, now a Conservative Party of Canada candidate herself.
Mrs. Cadman said two Conservative Party officials came to their home with a list of enticements two days before the budget vote, one of them a million-dollar life insurance policy. Cadman, who was in the advanced stages of cancer, with a family he knew he would soon be leaving to fend for themselves, must have thought long and hard about that money during the next two days.
But the night of the vote, he did something a lot of people would probably consider unthinkable in that situation. He voted his conscience, passing the budget and watching his chance to support his family after his death disappear like dust in the wind. He died two months later.
Officially, the prime minister’s office is denying the accusations.
But there are tapes. Oh, the tapes.
“He had his say on the situation,” Zytaruk said Thursday.
In a 2005 interview with Zytaruk for the biography, Stephen Harper admitted knowing about the offer to Cadman to get him to change his vote. Here’s a transcription.
Zytaruk: "I mean, there was an insurance policy for a million dollars. Do you know anything about that?
Harper: "I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions, uh, this is not for publication?"
Zytaruk: "This (inaudible) for the book. Not for the newspaper. This is for the book."
Harper: "Um, I don't know the details. I can tell you that I had told the individuals, I mean, they wanted to do it. But I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind, he was going to vote with the Liberals and I knew why and I respected the decision. But they were just, they were convinced there was, there were financial issues. There may or may not have been, but I said that's not, you know, I mean, I, that's not going to change."
Zytaruk: "You said (inaudible) beforehand and stuff? It wasn't even a party guy, or maybe some friends, if it was people actually in the party?"
Harper: "No, no, they were legitimately representing the party. I said don't press him. I mean, you have this theory that it's, you know, financial insecurity and, you know, just, you know, if that's what you're saying, make that case but don't press it.”
So the Prime Minister of Canada admitted knowing members “legitimately representing the party” were going to attempt to bribe a sitting Member of Parliament to influence his vote?
Wow.
And as Liberal leader Stéphane Dion quoted on the floor of the House of Commons Thursday, “standing Order 23(1) states: The offer of any money or other advantage to any Member of this House, for the promoting of any matter whatsoever depending or to be transacted in Parliament, is a high crime and misdemeanour, and tends to the subversion of the Constitution.’
“What was the Prime Minister thinking?" Dion asked.
Well, I’m no expert, but I’d say he was thinking of becoming Prime Minister, by hook or by crook.
But I think Liberal MP Todd Russell from Labrador said it best Thursday.
“Mr. Speaker, allegations that shadowy Conservative operatives offered a bribe to Chuck Cadman in exchange for his vote in 2005 go far beyond the boundaries of acceptable partisan activity. It is outrageous, an insult to the integrity of the political process and shows the depths to which the government is willing to sink to seize power.
“My question is for the Prime Minister. Why does he show such little respect for the people of British Columbia, why did he not stop his operatives from offering a bribe to Chuck Cadman and why has he remained silent for three years, two years as Prime Minister of this country?”
Canada is waiting for the truth, Mr. Prime Minister.
posted by Street Wise Guy | 3:36 AM
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