The Great Game

We have the liberal adscam, but the Tories have managed to be corrupt without even being in power. Makes me think that the conservatives would make Adscam look like a church bake sale in the fifties.

Jax

PS I lean towards the Greens. Might get my act together an actually joins soon.

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA -- Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal continued to come under fire yesterday for asking constituents to post bonds of up to $100,000 for his help in obtaining visitor visas.
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe, who has asked the federal Ethics Commissioner to investigate, accused Mr. Grewal of "a practice that is borderline legal."
Mr. Grewal said at a meeting of the standing committee on citizenship and immigration last month that he has been asking for bonds to ensure that visitors he helps will leave the country when they should.
The British Columbia MP has put forward a private member's bill that would make bonds standard practice when someone who has been turned down for a visitor's visa wants to reapply.

He said he has been offered pledges of up to $1-million to write a letter to the Immigration Minister in support of an applicant but has set the level at $100,000.
"It's clearly unacceptable," Mr. Volpe said.
"The Immigration Department and the immigration program was not designed to be a cash cow for members of Parliament or for political organizations. I'm absolutely disgusted by it," Mr. Volpe said.
"This is obviously not something that we tolerate. . . . It's something that I would find not only unacceptable but abhorrent."
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper defended Mr. Grewal, however, saying the MP from the B.C. riding of Newton-North Delta has been wrongly accused.
"I have spoken to Mr. Grewal, and my understanding from those conversations is that this story is simply not correct. All Mr. Grewal has done is attempt to build support for his private member's bill, which obviously advocates a bonding process," Mr. Harper said.
"Mr. Grewal assures me that the suggestion that he has obtained money or sought money from anybody is completely false. And I would say to the Immigration Minister and anyone else, with the kind of cloud they're under, they should be very careful about making any kinds of accusations because we will not hesitate to have them in court as fast as you can say Gomery, if they are not correct in those kinds of accusations."
Mr. Grewal's office said he would comment on the controversy in the future. A transcript of the committee meeting, where he defended the private member's bill, shows that Mr. Grewal said constituents were posting bonds.
"People have come to my office and signed papers for up to $100,000 bond. I'm not advocating that it should be $100,000, but on the other hand, I said if there is a percentage of income or savings or something like that, it would be proportionally the same for everyone. For some people, $25,000 or $50,000 is too much, and it is too little for other people," Mr. Grewal said.
"It's very fascinating, Mr. Grewal," said Lui Temelkovski, a Liberal member of the committee. "You just said that in your office you've had people come in and sign up to $100,000? For what? Who is taking the money?" (Link)