Alfonso is Gonzo

With a damaging Auditor General's report released in Ottawa today, Prime Minister Paul Martin began the mission of damage control. His first act, recalling ambassador Alfonso Gagliano from his post as ambassador to Denmark.

The brief statement from foreign affairs said; that Mr. Gagliano's appointment had been withdrawn and he has been asked to return to the country. It seems that Mr. Gagliano would not go quietly, he was refusing to voluntarily return home as late as yesterday, leading up to his dismissal today. Expect his departure to end up in the courts.

His appointment was a controversial one from the very beginning, many observers claiming that Jean Chretien was using it to get some distance between himself and Gagliano. At the time of his appointment it was perceived as rewarding someone for wrongdoing.

For their part, the Danes were rather concerned that they were thought of as a mere dumping ground for ex politicians. There apparently have been many, quietly made suggestions over the last year, that it would be beneficial for the two countries, if perhaps someone new might want to come over.

When he gets back, he's going to find that his former activities as Minister of Public Works have been laid out for all to examine. He oversaw the scandal plagued sponsorship program of the Chretien years, which has been investigated by the Auditor General for several years, culminating in today's report.

With the revelations today, the opposition parties will be licking their lips with anticipation. The details in the report confirming their beliefs and endorsing their attacks in the past, on a bureacracy with no sense of accountability. As the old saying goes follow the money. And they'll be tracing links for all, showing the Liberals in a less than flattering light.

The Prime Minister is going to utilize that time honoured Canadian tradition the commission, to take this off of the boil. Martin announced that he has named a Quebec judge to oversee an independent public inquiry. He also has tasked a group of MP's to investigate the situation from within the halls of Parliament. The inquiries will put the sponsorship program under a spotlight, which will probably not shock Canadians with the amount of wastage in our Federal Government. It will most likely only confirm for us that things are totally beyond control in Disneyland on the Rideau.

Martin must be hoping that his moves today, will show him as the one trying to clean up things in Ottawa. Distancing himself from the procedures of his predecessor at 24 Sussex Drive. His problem of course, is that it was during his time as Finance Minister that much of this breach of trust took place. People are going to find it rather hard to believe that the Finance Minister of the day, had no idea that any of this was happening. Perhaps he should have been a bit more vocal at the time, trying to control this when he was in the Chretien circle. It may have been a mess created under the Chretien watch, but it's his to clean up now.

At any rate it will be interesting to see what effect the fallout from all of this will have on his election plans. It was generally believed that the Prime Minister would have us going to the polls in May. That may change now, if stories of millions of dollars being tossed into a trough are front page and lead broadcast items for the foreseeable future. A time consuming commission or two, might take it off the pages for now, giving the government a window for re-election. But most Canadians would not be fooled by that. No amount of political spin is going to counter the vision of hundreds of millions, possibly billions of dollars wasted. Those aren't their dollars after all to spend willy nilly, the money is yours and mine and apparently they didn't take care of it very well.