The Honey Pot

The parallels between the past Chretien regime and the days of Richard Nixon, seem to get closer with each passing day. Both left office under a bit of a shadow, one chased from his post by the Watergate Hearings, the other by the Martinite Cheerings. Recently we’ve heard talk of “plumbers” involved in the ad scandal, not to be confused with the Watergate "plumbers" of Tricky Dick days. Now it seems both had amassed secret slush funds during their tenure in office. Mentioned in passing today, during Ralph Goodale’s budget was the scrapping of the Unity Fund. A nice little rainy day fund, which probably would have had Dicky envious.

The secretive pile of cash was created by Jean Chretien in the mid 1990’s, to put out “unity” fires during the last few years. Designed to nurture National Unity, the fund never had an actual fixed rate. Instead its value fluctuated as the Prime Minister deemed it necessary; put into action as required. The value pegged to it today during the budget, was 40 million dollars. Now considering the bulk of our “national unity” requirements seemed to be based in Quebec, one can only assume the vast majority of the money was spent there.

However, we’ll never really know. The top secret stash of money, was apparently known to only a few confidants of the former Prime Minister. Never mentioned in any previous budget documents, it was just unaccounted monies apparently just sitting around waiting to be funneled in some direction or another, all in the name of our elusive National Unity. The way it has been described today, so secret was the fund, that it was never mentioned around Paul Martin or other senior ministers, just those trusted by the PMO to do the right thing. Canada Day parades, Katimivak exchanges and youth travel exchanges the kind of things that benefited from the money, described by one anonymous source as the “Honey Pot”.

Upon its cancellation today, the saving expected to be returned to the federal treasury is estimated to be around 100 million dollars. But given this government’s penchant for under estimating, who really knows how much was earmarked in the name of Unity.

The Martin forces apparently only learned of the fund upon taking office, and as the message was spun around Ottawa, immediately decided to get rid of it. Goodale announced the decision in his budget, as part of the Governments newfound commitment to transparency and accountability.

The Toronto Star had one source with knowledge of the fund claim, that every expenditure was approved by Mr. Chretien. In some instances the PMO would come up with ideas of their own to spend money on. Which actually at least shows that he was a hands on operator, even in the darkest days of the Nixon presidency they used a filter, the committee to re-elect the President, or CREEP. Here in Canada, the creeps did the job themselves.

The above posting appeared in my Boondoggle blogsite, for more government related postings and links check it out.