James Moore today in the HOC:
“Mr. Cadman was going to run again,” responded Conservative MP James Moore, parliamentary secretary of public works and the government's point person on the contentious file.
“The only offer that was put on the table was the offer, as I said, to rejoin the Conservatives, get re-nominated as a Conservative, and that we would offer him any financial support that was necessary and mandated by Elections Canada – allowed by Elections Canada – to seek re-election.”
What Tom Flanagan said in "Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power":
“The last thing [Cadman] wanted right now was an election. I knew then that we would lose the vote, which we did a couple hours later.”
That's another week's worth of scandal right there.
BCL - why do we all suppose there was but one offer made to Chuck Cadman? This happened over a period of weeks and I'd be very surprised if the squeeze wasn't put on Cadman at least a couple of times during that interval. Flanagan might have been involved in one offer, others in earlier or later offers.
ReplyDeleteFrom Aaron Wherry's blog "The Commons" in Macleans:
ReplyDeleteOn Friday, in response to a question from Ralph Goodale, James Moore repeated that Chuck Cadman was being courted in hopes of his returning to the Conservative side. Only this time, Mr. Moore added a personal note.
"Mr. Speaker, Chuck Cadman was always welcome to rejoin the Conservative caucus. As a matter of fact, after that vote there were a number of times when I saw Chuck Cadman around and I would tell him he was welcome back to our party any time."
According to Like A Rock, Chuck and his wife, Dona, flew from Ottawa to Vancouver on May 20, the day after the infamous vote. His health deteriorated quickly after that and he was dead six weeks later. And, as we learn on page 288, "Chuck never did return to Ottawa after the big budget vote."
When, then, did Mr. Moore see Mr. Cadman?
I've e-mailed Mr. Moore twice now—once on Friday night and again today—seeking clarification, but have yet to hear from him.
(Objection! Relevance? Goes to the credibility of the witness.)
Don't want to give rotund Moore -- the Raymond Burr (noir version) -- an easy out (pun intended), but his riding is just a 25 minute drive to Chuck's. Theoretically speaking, he could have done all his shopping at the Dell mall and ate a lot of pork chops at the Round-Up... I seriously doubt it, though. His spinning is getting seriously muddy.
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