I haven’t read the whole report. The Globe and Mail has perhaps the most thorough early article on the findings of Justice Gomery. In short: Martin is off the hook; Chretien must shoulder much blame for not properly managing his exempt staff and by omission their criminal and unethical behaviour. I was a Chretien supporter in the Liberal Party in the late eighties and early nineties, yet I tend to agree with Gomery’s findings. At this stage he appears to have tabled a fair analysis of what we all saw from the testimony before the inquiry.

Chretien was the Prime Minister and this occurred on his watch. Yes, he called in the Auditor General and, yes, he called in the RCMP. If he had his finger on the pulse of his staff in the first place he never should have had to do either.

Let us all hope that the second report will include very good recommendations that might prevent anything like this from ever happening again.