SCANDAL IN CANADA

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang pointed me to the breaking scandal in the Canadian political system which is being referred to as ADSCAM. Although I've completed a quick read of Joe Katzman's synopsis at Winds Of Change and started looking through the material posted at the Captain's Quarters, I honestly don't have a comfortable understanding of the situation yet. From Captain Ed Morrissey, here's an overview of the scandal.

A political scandal involving the Public Works Ministry, a government effort called the Sponsorship Program, and allegations of corruption in the ruling Liberal Party has Canada abuzz with rumors of payoffs, Mob ties, and snap elections. For the last two years, Canadian politics has been gripped by the so-called "sponsorship scandal" - tens of millions of dollars in government contracts which were funneled into advertizing firms closely connected with the Liberal government for little or no work, but with shadowy rumours that much of the money found its way back into Liberal coffers. Prime Minister Paul Martin, himself a Liberal, appointed the Gomery Commission to investigate these charges and determine whether to bring charges against government officials for corruption and malfeasance.

Of note is the fact that the Canadian government has imposed a news blackout on the media and it apparently also pertains to bloggers. Entities printing or broadcasting any information concerning the scandal are liable to be prosecuted. The restriction obviously doesn't apply to U.S. bloggers.

From what I've seen written in the blogosphere thus far, there seems to be a sense of something akin to a delightful dread, or maybe, a gloomy anxiousness about the scandal. It's like catching something big and dangerous on your fishing line. You eagerly want to reel it in but, at the same time, you're apprehensive of what the hell it is you hooked. I'm fairly certain that any scandal involving tens of millions of dollars, which seems to be the degree of alleged corruption, is going to inflame the Canadian public, particularly those in the national health system and the military.

Needless to say, this story is developing.

[Update - 04/05/05, 0815 EDT] The Toronto Star reports:

In an extraordinary move, a lawyer representing the Liberal party yesterday told the Gomery inquiry examining the sponsorship affair that the party has asked the RCMP to "investigate the possibility that the party itself may have been the target of fraud or other harmful acts by certain individuals."

Calling the cops appears to be an attempt to put the Liberal Party leadership in a position to claim it was a patsy.