Skimaire High Tech

There seems to be lots of money for political advertising and graft. It would be nice if some of this money could be spent on meaningful technology. SHT Comments
Skimaire High Tech

Winnipeg Sun Editorial: Obscene beyond belief:

Kickbacks. Payoffs. Cabinet ministers-turned-lobbyists. Multi-million-dollar salaries. There has to be a movie in the drama playing out as the federal sponsorship inquiry unfolds in front of Justice John Gomery.
The only trouble is, it would be difficult for the filmmakers to produce anything as outrageous as the reality of a government program run amok.
The story has grown obscene beyond belief as the inquiry moved its base of operations to Montreal this week to hear from some of the ad agency executives whose firms did so well from the sponsorship program.
For the past two days the spotlight has been on Jean Lafleur, whose company hauled down more than $12 million in salaries and bonuses during a six-year span for its role in helping Quebecers feel at home in Canada.
Documents tabled at the inquiry show Lafleur himself earned more than $9.3 million between 1994 and 2000 while he ran Jean Lafleur Communication Marketing Inc., and his wife Dyane, daughter Julie and son Eric took in another $2.8 million during the same period. Not since the late 1970s have we heard the words 'Lafleur scores' this often out of Montreal.
In 2001, Lafleur sold his firm to Jean Brault, another Montreal ad executive cited in the scandal. Brault faces fraud charges in connection with the fiasco.
During the period in which his company was billing the government so heavily, Lafleur also became a major contributor to the federal Liberal party, a fact that should come as a surprise to nobody. Liberal party documents show Lafleur's firm donated nearly $100,000 to the party between 1996 and 2001.
He told the AdScam inquiry yesterday that he stayed out of politics and didn't attend fundraisers until former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano's bagman and a Liberal"