Who will stick to the honey pot?

The spin controllers in the PMO better get a grip on their briefing notes. Yesterday during debate in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Paul Martin pointed his finger across the house and advised the Conservatives to blame Brian. Martin suggesting that the “Unity Fund” was a creation of the Brian Mulroney years, carried over through the Chretien era, now disbanded with the arrival of our brave new era of accountability.

Two days ago as Finance Minister Ralph Goodale was telling us the previously unknown secret fund was to be no more, Liberal advisors were pointing in the direction of Jean Chretien as the master of the Fund, dishing out funding on personal whim, keeping the sordid details secret from his own finance minister, the now sitting Prime Minister. Somewhere in all the noise is the truth, though truthfulness is apparently a fluid process in the Nations capital these days.

It is to make your head swim the constant stream of shocking revelations these days, running around the money pit we call Parliament. Like the B & E types who keep coming back to your house, we pick up a paper, turn on a radio or watch television and just shake our head in amazement, they’re at it again.

The Bloc Quebecois sit licking their lips, wondering how much mileage they can gain from the vision of secret monies being used to sway the population to the federalist cause, conveniently overlooking their own secret and not so secret funds used to do the same for their benefit.

The whole concept of bribing Quebecers to stay in Confederation seems a bit unsavory. Surely if the federation was not worth living in on its own terms, trying to keep it together with bribes, secret slush funds and millions of dollars spent on questionable ventures wasn’t the best approach. The latest revelations, give us the appearance of a win at all costs strategy by the Chretienites. Apparently not secure in the actual notion of a Canada working for the good of all, there would be the need for a little “juice” to win the day. The nation apparently not strong enough to stand on its own merit. The perception of a civil war fought by cheque book is probably going to be the lasting legacy of the Unity Fund. Leaving us with the vision of Jean Chretien acting the part of an Abraham Lincoln, sending battalions of pen wielding bureaucrats off to battle to save the federation.

Interesting how the vehicle designed to save the country, in the end may do more to shake our belief in how it is run. The further the Prime Minister goes into the culture of rot in Ottawa, the harder it will be to spin a positive light. Every new revelation of “secret funds”, illegal activity and questionable ethics is going to confirm for a weary and cynical public that something is terribly wrong with our government.

That won’t be much of a foundation to launch a re-election campaign on. Even worse it puts the unity of the nation at risk. If the only way to keep a country together was to embark on illegal and unethical activities at what point did it cease to be a democracy. The Prime Minister has continually spoken about a need to address the democratic deficit, judging by the events in Ottawa there’s a morality and ethical deficit, one which will be much harder to clean up.

Martin may not have opened up that Honey Pot or even known about it, but he’s going to find some of it spills over becoming a gooey hard to reach mess, his predecessors brought it home, but he’s the guy that has to get out the scrub brush and get to work.

***UPDATE***Former Chretien Chief of Staff Eddie Goldenberg waded into the debate late Thursday, advising that the "Unity Fund" was not so secret and that the current Prime Minister was fully aware of it. The sound you now hear is the PMO backpedalling, pulling in their horns and redirecting those fingers. Stumbling through this whole mess, they present a gift wrapped target for Friday morning's Question Period***

The above item appeared in my Boondoggle blogsite, for more postings and links on government items check it out.