We can't handle the truth?

With the Gomery commission uncovering skullduggery at every turn of a page, one of the original participants has weighed in with a warning that all this uncovering is bad for the country.

Alfonso Gagliano has issued a warning to the nation stating that Prime Minister Paul Martin is leading us to ruin. In Gagliano's opinion the Gomery commission's findings is only going to result in the separation of the province of Quebec from Canada.

Gagliano made his comments on Monday to an Ottawa radio station. The former public works minister and ambassador to the folks of Denmark (may they forgive us) says that the Prime Minister is leading the Liberal party and the country down the road to ruin. Claiming that the path to sovereignty for Quebec will be unavoidable, once the Liberals are removed from power and the Conservatives form a government. Somehow in Gagliano's world the Liberal party is the only thing that keeps this country together, a rather large does of arrogance from someone who has not exactly been a shining light of transparency.

There may be many who can find fault with the Prime Minister over the last year, but surely even the most bitter rival or critic would give him points for setting up an inquiry to explore just went on under the banner of national unity. And while of late the Prime Minister has looked rather desperate in his bid to hold onto power, he surely needs no lessons in ethics from the former Public Works Minister. His tenure as Prime Minister may be shortened in the near future, but he has at least taken the high road on this problem, unlike those who spent their time shoving brown envelopes across tables and covering up paper trails over the last few years.

If the people of Quebec were to decide to leave Canada based on a corruption scandal based in their province, then so be it. If the truth is so fragile that our democratic base is at stake, then perhaps we've been holding together a rather flimsy house of cards for far too long. If the people there are truly as disgusted as they are reported to be as to what has been done in their name, then they'll be able to sort through the bombast of the Bloc and the cynical machinations of the Parti Quebecois.

Corruption is not limited to the Federal Liberals (though at the moment in Quebec they seem to have it down to a science). From provincial governance down to the municipalities there are no doubt people in office across Canada, who are only interested in their own well being. Root them out and send them packing would be the advice offered up from this corner.

If the despicable money laundering of the sponsorship scandal is all that holds this country together; then perhaps we need to rethink the whole grand project known as Canada.

I don't quite share Mr. Gagliano's dire warnings, the Gomery findings surely will impact his former friends in the Liberal party of that there is no doubt and justifiably so. But are the people of Quebec so shortsighted as to their own best interests to walk away? I think a thorough investigation by the voters of Quebec will show that Canada is not the enemy, the enemy was within their own citizenry all along. There's a chance here to change the culture of Canadian politics, to toss away the dealings of the Chretien era as administered by Mr. Gagliano, there's no reason that the people of Quebec can't share in that change without leaving the table.

Perhaps now the days of blackmail and fear mongering have come to an end, if so somebody share the news with Mr. Gagliano. This country will either stand united for a more transparent and representative system of governance or it shall implode upon the greed of the few.

138 years of collective history says we'll survive those that don't necessarily have our best interests in their hearts. The mark of a truly great nation is its ability to overcome the incompetence of it's political leaders. It would seem we are ready for another test.

As for Mr. Gagliano the time has come to exit the stage for good, his credibility is certainly shot and his contributions to the public debate beyond worth. In other words it's time to shut up and take your medicine.