Jean Chretien’s argued that the scamming, federally-chosen ad agencies in Quebec were not exclusively picked because of their Liberal ties but because they were federalist agencies –in what they would have us believe was otherwise a sea of separatists. Groupaction, in that reading, was painted as a strong federalist operation.
Well, may be not. The TO Sun breaks the news that Groupaction also did lucrative business with and for the separatist Parti Quebecois. Following the now well-known scamming pattern, the PQ also got kick backs from the agency through employee donations to the party. This has got to be the best news that poor Jean Charest, the Liberal Quebec premier, has had in months.
Another former Groupaction executive, Alain Renaud, said that while the firm was getting millions of dollars in federal sponsorship money, it was secretly cutting cheques to the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Renaud said that in one transaction, a total of about $90,000 was given to the PQ as part of Groupaction’s getting a $4.5-million advertising contract for the Quebec liquor board, called the SAQ
It seems that the Groupaction folks were cornering the market in the washing of public money funneled out of state coffers and destined to return to political parties. It was a kind of niche market in the public relations business. Quite a handy multiservice for crooked politicians in Quebec: a one-stop event and image promotion, and money laundromat at the same time. I wonder if they had globalised their expertise and also have clients from Coahuila or from Medellin.
There is hope, perhaps, that the federal Liberals and the PQ members implicated will actually get a chance to bridge their political differences from their mutual jail cells (I know, I know! A man can dream for a few seconds) so that all the efforts of the federal Liberals are not entirely wasted.
This report also opens a question as to the eagerness of the Bloc Quebecois to go to the polls now that their little cousins are found infected with the same disease as the Liberals. It would seem that the federalist pigs do not have the monopoly on it. The source must be something else. It seems to me that the BQ message of Liberal scamming will be less effective –perhaps a greater reason for them to want to go now, before more on that front is unearthed. This kind of news can only improve the chances of the Conservatives in Quebec.
Hat tip: Spector
Update: Gomery will decide about whether to lift the publication ban tomorrow morning.
