PM Dropped Cadman Suit Ahead Of Key Hearing
Stephen Harper dropped his lawsuit against the Liberals in the Cadman affair just weeks before a hearing on whether his emails, notes and agenda could be called into evidence.
A court date was to be scheduled this month over the failure of the Prime Minister’s legal team to provide documents and answers to questions that had been requested during a series of cross-examinations last summer.
The lawyer for the Liberal party was set to ask the court to rule whether Mr. Harper would have to provide emails and notes for meetings his staff held related to Chuck Cadman.
The matter involves allegations that the Conservatives offered a financial inducement to Mr. Cadman, an Independent MP, while trying to defeat the minority Liberal government in 2005. The Tories deny the charge.
The Prime Minister dropped his $3.5-million defamation lawsuit on Friday after reaching a deal with the Liberals.
Initially my thoughts were that it was Liberal begging and promises to help pass the budget that was the price tag for dropping the law suit – now I wonder…. could it be fear of scandal?
What is it that Harper does not want made public?
Always thought it most curious that he was suing the Liberal Party but not the author of the Cadman book, Mr. Zytaruk, where the financial inducement claim was first made.
Still doesn’t explain why the Liberals consented to being gagged in perpetuity.
Given their overall financial situation, an upcoming leadership convention, and a long list of complaints but few actual policies, I can see them being more than willing to stay shut up.
It’s a dysfunctional relationship they seem to be developing, but it seems to work for them.
Whooee! Back when this whole lawsuit started up, I think it was little Kady O’Malley who sed the Cons’d be sorry on accounta a civil suit like this would lead to a “discovery” situation where the Cons would need to reveal all sortsa emails and confidential memos. Looks like that’s just what happened.
I also find it strange that despite the suit being dropped, the Grits agreed to a no-crow clause. Them bein’ broke could be it, like SL sez. Seems like there must be more to it, though. We sure didn’t get to the bottom of it, yet.
The Grits accused Harper of prior knowledge of a highly illegal bribery scheme. They published the accusations. Harper backed off a lawsuit that contested veracity of LPC’s accusations. Is he implicitly admitting he did know? If so, what’s next? How does the public get to know if our PM was privy to an attempted bribe by his top henchmen?
Something stinks.
JB
The Liberals having in effect formed a coalition with the Tories it is hardly conducive to their relationship that the Tories continue the lawsuit. On the other hand the Liberals will continue yapping about the deficiencies of the Tories so if they can be shut up in one area so much the better think the Tories.
stageleft: I think your original thought about “Liberal begging and promises to help pass the budget that was the price tag for dropping the law suit” is probably closer to the truth.
northsunm: “The Liberals having in effect formed a coalition with the Tories it is hardly conducive to their relationship that the Tories continue the lawsuit. On the other hand the Liberals will continue yapping about the deficiencies of the Tories so if they can be shut up in one area so much the better think the Tories.” Agreed.
stageleft: “It’s a dysfunctional relationship they seem to be developing, but it seems to work for them.” If the governing of the country is done properly out of dysfunction then so be it. Now that Iggy is in charge we conservatives are very close to the Liberals in policy anyway.
How can any good come from co-dependency and enabling?
It usually can’t. Possibly the good would come by accident, maybe. A really sad state of affairs. What are the alternatives at this point?
@Wayne – Ah, yes. Good governance by ‘accident’. That’s your best hope? May as well have literally 308 monkeys sitting in the HOC. They would be just as likely to come up with a fortunate ‘accident’.
Do you think we can afford, at this time, to wait for some good to happen by ‘accident’?
On second thought, maybe 308 monkeys would actually do a better job.
No SL you don’t understand. Glorious Leader did it to save us! Had he continued with that suit, it would have been revealed by those emails of his ultimate love and bodaceousness for the Canadian people. voter’s and non voter’s alike would have been so swept up in the moment that they would have demanded he become king for life IMMEDIATELY, thus wreaking havoc with the poor Liberals, destroying them so completely that it would have caused a delay in giving money away to the Canadian people.
He could not let that happen, so, for the greater good f Canada, its people and the Liberal Party itself, not to mention democracy, he had to drop the suit. The Liberals don’t know how lucky they are.
Or something like that.
I’m sure that is what the Blogging Tories would have written if they had the stones to even mention it.
Hi Frank.
“Good governance by ‘accident’. That’s your best hope?” No, my best hope is the fact that people who are on the “left” can actually make sense. I do not mean that as an insult. There are blogs out there left and right, that are well…. out there.
This blog gives me hope that not all people are morons; the comments for the most part have been really great.
“Do you think we can afford, at this time, to wait for some good to happen by ‘accident’?” No.
But, the Liberals and Conservatives working together for each report card will probably do a mediocre job, not a great job.