Boondoggle bog down

As the Commons committee into the Advertising scandal continues it's never ending quest for truth, order and good government, partisanship has reared its ugly head brining things to a standstill.

This has not been the committees' greatest week, as witness after witness has been left to cool their heels while the politicians argue over minute issues and score political points over procedural motions, most of which the average citizen could care less about.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser sat around waiting for a turn to testify that would never come, Norman Steinberg a top public bureaucrat sat in wonderment for three hours before being told he wouldn't be heard at the moment. The Commissioner of the RCMP, Giuliano Zaccardelli apparently being given a heads up on the confused nature of the work at hand, chose to not even attend.

If last week saw shocking headlines, featuring innuendo and fact mixed in the witness testimonies. This week gave us six hours spent debating whether some testimony should be made public or not. And just what the schedule should look like.

At the heart of the bog down is some in camera testimony provided by Chuck Guite two years ago, at that time he gave testimony about the sponsorship program that he ran from 1997 to 1999. The Conservatives were fighting against the release of that testimony, fearing that the Liberals would then take Mr. Guite, off the witness list of those to testify at this committee. They feel the Liberals may be trying to use his two year old statements to scapegoat him, hasten the end of the inquiry and sweep the rest of the issue under the rug.

The Liberals won a partial victory, the testimony of two years ago will be allowed, and all that everyone is waiting for now is the translation of it, before it will be released in public. It's expected that Mr. Guite will then appear before the committee by the 22nd and 23rd of April. Providing all the committee members are playing nicely together in the sandbox by that time.

The fear of the Conservatives is that the Prime Minister will call an election before that date, should an election be called this committee would be disbanded. Should Guite's original testimony come out before then, it could be the last thing the public remembers of the scandal before an election. The issue unresolved, left to the judicial inquiry that has yet to get mobilized.

In the meantime we're treated to watching our elected officials descend into a state of paralysis, the outrage and hubris of a few months ago giving way to the culture of self preservation. Somehow the vision of transparency on this issue is getting a little clouded.

We were promised answers as to how this scandal happened, and we were promised steps would be put in place to ensure it never happened again. To hammer home the new political world we're entering there is a tv commercial featuring the Prime Minister, making the rounds sharing the word of change. The Liberals focusing on that very issue of accountability, perhaps the committee should ask for a copy!

Rather than entering that brave new era, it would appear the committee is falling back on a more familiar trait, one of serving their own best interests first. Which is what got us all into the mess in the first place. The more they try to change, the more they stay the same.

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