Air Force Voices

ADSCAM Update

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin went on Canadian television to plea with Canadian citizens to allow him to stay in power for eight more months as new allegations of corruption swirl around him and the Liberal Party.

The Globe and Mail has the story.  Here is an excerpt (HT: Captain's Quarters)

Prime Minister Paul Martin offered to call an election within 30 days of the final report from the Gomery commission, in an extraordinary prime-time address to Canadians Thursday night.

He made the speech in an effort to stem the damage the sponsorship scandal has caused the Liberal party and to appeal directly to Canadians.

"I commit to you tonight that I will call a general election within 30 days of the publication of the commission's final report and recommendations. Let [Mr. Justice John] Gomery do his work. Let the facts come out. And then the people of Canada will have their say," Mr. Martin said from the desk in his office, in a taped televised address in both French and English.

Mr. Martin said he takes responsibility for the actions of his party and is prepared to let Canadians judge his response to this test of his leadership.

Here is what Captain Ed has to say (hyperlinks added):

I predict that this plea will do more damage than good for the Liberals, especially in light of their parliamentary actions this week. Martin and his party appear to be grasping at every last straw to remain in power, regardless of how it looks or what effect it has on democratic processes. Asking for the justice system to work before having voters make their decisions on the day that they find out the Liberals gave away judgeships for political favors is somewhat akin to murdering your parents and asking for mercy as a poor orphan. It not only looks terribly cynical, but it insults the intelligence of the audience.

Air Force Voices agrees.  This is simply an attempt to buy enough time for some other scandal or national emergency to take the place of the current scandal.  Americans saw this tactic during the Clinton-Lewinsky saga.  What remains to be seen is if the Canadian citizens will buy it.

Note: Air Force Voices is following this story as part of a research project on weblogs and their power to shape public opinion.  While the paper was turned in earlier this week, there is a strong possibilitiy of writing an update prior to publication (assuming the paper is worthy of an "A"). 

There are many strategic implications here in terms of effects-based operations and information operations.  If not for blogs, particularly Captain's Quarters, where would this story be today? 

ADCSAM Update

More Problems for the Liberals in Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin is a busy man these days.  Fending off corruption charges is not an easy task.  I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  It is especially hard when there is evidence, not to mention corruption charges in two separate cases.

Captain Ed is keeping up with the changes in the story and brings us the latest developments in the Gomery Commission and now another breaking scandal.  Captain Ed writes (emphasis added):

"...on another front, Martin's involvement in steering government contracts to Earnscliffe Strategy Group became clearer when his former aide, Warren Kinsella, testified that Martin took a personal interest in the contracts. The partner of his chief of staff ran Earnscliffe and Kinsella told the Commons that Martin knew their contracts did not adhere to legal policy...

...Martin has been personally unaffected by the Gomery inquiry up to now, and the Liberals have had the ability to argue that the corruption only occurred under previous PM Jean Chrétien. Martin, one of Chrétien's close aides, somehow has sold that approach despite his ties to the former PM's government as Finance Minister. But the two inquiries now have started to air testimony that demonstrates Martin may well have participated in the same schemes as his former boss as well as parallel corruption supporting his chief of staff's boyfriend.

It's these developments that pushed the Liberals into the desperate move of blocking Harper from controlling Parliamentary business on Opposition Days as scheduled yesterday in order to gain time to recover (see below). However, as these inquiries continue, it only appears more and more likely that the news will not improve for Martin and the Liberals and likely will get exponentially worse."

This story attracted the attention of Air Force Voices since it was Captain Ed, an American blogger who broke the story due to a dubious publication ban in Canada.  This story has many implications for public affairs professionals so we'll keep paying attention to this story.

ADSCAM: Measured Effects

The effects of last week's revelations in the growing Canadian Government scandal are showing their first measurable effects.  Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail has an article today that clearly shows how the story gained traction this week.   

The story's impact grew exponentially after Captain's Quarters (an American blog) began publishing bombshell testimony in the Gomery Commission previously unavailable to Canadian citizens...sort of reminds me of Woodward and Bernstein...read the last line regarding Captain Ed at the bottom of this post.

Here is an excerpt from Globe and Mail (HT: Captain's Quarters):

"The Ipsos-Reid poll interviews began Tuesday, as rumours of explosive testimony under publication ban at the Gomery Commission were reported in the media and on the internet. A quarter of the interviews were conducted Thursday night, after the ban was lifted and the details of advertising executive Jean Brault's damning testimony hit television airwaves."

"The problem might be that this is the top of the hill," said Ipsos-Reid President Darrell Bricker. "What this shows is the first significant movement in voter opinion since the end of the last election campaign."

"It does seem to be happening on the basis of what was coming out of Gomery. There was no other factor that would suggest it."

[Addendum (1220 hrs CDT):  Not that polls are trustworthy...see The Cassandra Page for details]

However, the Liberal Party is clearly spooked.  The article goes on to say:

Yesterday, Prime Minister Paul Martin's advisers increased efforts to stop a spring election, asking the opposition not to trigger one until after Justice John Gomery delivers his report on the sponsorship scandal.

Or is the Liberal Party simply buying time to counter-spin a story that has already hit its mark?  Captain Ed offers a hint of things to come:

"If the news gets bad enough out of the Gomery Inquiry, perhaps a new election won't be necessary. Enough MPs might decide to switch parties to avoid the inevitable voter backlash to change governments. If the upcoming testimony provides as many new and scandalous revelations as Brault did, that unlikely scenario might soon appear more and more plausible."

One thing is certain...weblogs have entered a new era.

Just as investigative reporting gained momentum following the Watergate scandal...are weblogs starting to achieve similar effects? 

STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS OF ADSCAM...

Finally, in military terms, isn't this what "Effects-Based Operations" is all about?  The answer is obvious...though I wonder if military strategists are paying attention. 

We are in a Fourth Generation of Warfare.  It is well known that kinetic "solutions" are costly and unpredictable.  We spend lots of time in our professional military schools studying Jomini and Clausewitz (and for good reason).  Yet, we spend little time on warfare in this generation. 

The Department of Defense is spending lots of money of effects-based platforms.  In fact, program budget justifications must be written in effects-based language to stand a better chance of getting funded in the President's Budget. 

Soooo...where do you get more "bang" for the buck?

How much does it cost to publish a weblog?  It is extremely affordable...almost free.

Moreover, how accessible are weblogs to the general public?  All you need is access to a computer and a modem.  Public libraries offer such access.

What lessons can be learned?  Governments no longer control information.  It is not enough to hide behind laws and regulations and remain silent.  Silence is extremely damaging and lets others frame the story...just ask the Canadian Government. 

Okay, enough of the soap box...Air Force Voices is convinced.  {BTW:  Read my disclaimer on the left}

Captain Ed...good on you!  This story needs to be chronicled in a book...have you signed a book deal yet?

UPDATE:  Read what Captain's Quarters reader Debbye has to say in Being American in T.O....this post has great detail, lots of hyperlinks and draws a better link (or distinction) to Watergate than I did above.  Debbye...that is a great post.

Also, to get a glimpse of the outrage in this scandal read the comments below Captain Ed's post...

ADSCAM Update

Captain Ed is reporting that the Canadian scandal has now reached the office of the Prime Minister.  Here is what he posts:

Witnesses tied Adscam efforts directly to Chretien's staff, including his brother Gaby, for the first time since the publication ban was lifted earlier this week.

Captain Ed links to the following stories:

First, the Toronto Sun has this to say.  Here is an excerpt:

"STAFFERS OF former PM Jean Chretien received secret payments to fund his victorious 1993 Shawinigan election campaign from a Montreal ad firm lobbying for federal contracts, the Gomery inquiry heard yesterday. Former Groupaction Marketing employee Alain Renaud said two years after the election, Chretien's brother Gabriel personally set up meetings for him with a senior PMO staffer and top Liberal officials in a bid to open the floodgates of federal contracts."

"Renaud, who was hired by Groupaction founder Jean Brault in 1994 to bring in federal contracts, added to his former boss's explosive testimony about secret donations to key Liberals."

Second, Canada's National Post has this to say.  Here is an excerpt:

"(Brault) said he invested a fair sum in the Liberal campaign and he would surely get federal government contracts,'' Renaud said under questioning from chief inquiry counsel Bernard Roy.

"Were these cheques for the campaign of the Liberal party or Mr. Chretien's campaign?" Roy asked.

Renaud replied: "Mr. Chretien's campaign."

Chretien has denied any direct involvement in the sponsorship scandal, which could topple the minority government of his successor, Paul Martin.

More to follow...I am sure. 

NOTE: Air Force Voices is tracking this story as part of a research project on the growing power of weblogs.

Publication Ban Partially Lifted

CTV is reporting the Canadian publication has been lifted (HT: MikeyMike and Captain's Quarters).  Here is an excerpt:

"The publication ban on testimony at the Gomery inquiry has been partially lifted and damaging allegations made by ad executive Jean Brault can now be reported."

"'I'm of the opinion that almost all of Mr. Brault's testimony and the documentation filed as part of his evidence, have little to do with the accusations of fraud that he is facing. It is in the public interest that this evidence, with only a few exceptions, be made available to the public,' Justice John Gomery said."

"Thunderous reaction from the Opposition came minutes after Gomery lifted the ban."

"Conservative Deputy Leader Peter MacKay said in the House of Commons there's now evidence that Liberals are involved in a "criminal conspiracy" on a scale never before seen in Canada."

Here is another twist from The Sudden Sage.  It appears the testimony may never have been available if Judge Gomery had not opted for a temporary ban. 

I am no expert in Canadian Law...however, there is no "pleading the 5th Amendment" in Canada.  The Sudden Sage writes:

"What many bloggers, especially American ones (understandably), often miss here is that these witnesses in this case can't be compelled to testify regarding matters related to their charges as long as it can be argued under law that their constitutional right to a fair trial (s 7 Charter) may be in danger. With a ban in place, these witnesses have to testify as the ban dismisses this constitutional concern. Without a ban, they don't have to testify, and I suspect wouldn't unless the Supreme Court ordered them to. The Supreme Court, however, wouldn't order them to testify without a temporary ban enacted..."

"...In America, these guys would never have testified. They'd just plead the fifth. Here, we're getting the testimony, and can still move forward and try them in criminal court.

So here's the irony: In this case, the temporary ban is what got us the testimony."

Another irony (catch-22)...without a removal of the ban...Canadians would not have been able to learn of the story and eventually hold their government accountable (before a snap election).  If not for the quick actions of Captain Ed...who knows if the story would ever become front-page material.

In any case, Judge Gomery is "of the opinion that almost all of Mr. Brault's testimony and documentation filed have little to do with the accusations of fraud and conspiracy that he is facing'' so a partial removal of the ban makes sense.  Judge Gomery made the right call in both cases.

Canadian government officials can no longer hide behind the law and keep its citizens in the dark.  The Canadian public is now able to learn of the story.

Finally, this story has generated additional interest due to the specific actions of Captain Ed and the dynamics of the blogosphere in general.  To quote one of Captain Ed's readers ("mtaheny"):

"The real story here isn't the corruption...that happens all the time everywhere. It's the lightening speed with which it was uncovered and circulated. This will prove to be a profound instrument in the future."

Air Force Voices couldn't agree more!

Canadian Publication Ban

Will the majority of Canadians finally learn what their government was doing with their tax money?

Allison Dunfield of Globe and Mail reports the judge in the Canadian scandal (aka Adscam) has delayed his decision on whether to lift the publication ban (HT: Captain Quarters)

"Mr. Justice John Gomery decided late in the day Wednesday that he needed more time to consider whether to allow the testimony of Mr. Brault to be reported in the media after Mr. Brault completed his time on the stand.

Judge Gomery is to make a decision Thursday morning.

If he lifts the ban, it may start the ball rolling for opposition parties to pose a non-confidence motion in the Liberals and potentially bring the government down. Opposition parties believe that Mr. Brault's testimony is extremely damaging to the Liberal Party."

Captain Ed continues to follow the story.  He finishes his latest post with the following:

"If the ban gets lifted, expect the media to explode with information. Based on a few conversations I've had with some Canadian journalists, they cannot wait to tell you this story."

I agree...then momentum will really build and who knows what else will be revealed.  If not for Captain Ed and his ground breaking news...who can say if this scandal would ever have seen the light of day?

I am writing about it because my research on weblogs has to do with shaping public opinion.  Weblogs are powerful...Captain Ed is helping to prove my hypothesis. 

The fact they are indeed powerful instruments is probably why politicians and elite media want to regulate them. 

UPDATE: Captain Ed has an update:

"It does indeed appear that money spent on convincing the Quebecois not to secede from Canada went into the pockets of the very separatists it was meant to oppose."

Also, a decision on the publication ban is expected today.

Canadian Cover-up?

Need further evidence of blogs exposing corruption and their power to shape public opinion?

Go see Winds of Change and Captain's Quarters and learn of the explosive story (also known as ADSCAM) regarding corruption at the highest levels of Canadian government. 

The Canadian government doesn't want its citizens to know what is going on.  Blogs are keeping the story alive (in some cases at their own peril).  That is right, the Canadian government is seeking to prosecute bloggers for reporting the story and journalists for mentioning these websites.

I wonder what would happen if our government tried the same thing...oh yeah, that is what the BCRA is attempting to do. 

Both are a threat to democracy.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has a comprehensive update including the publication ban and its effect on bloggers here and in Canada. 

UPDATE II:  Captain Ed explains why the Canadian ban on publication of this issue is a farce.  He sums it up beautifully:

"In order for a citizenry to remain at liberty, they have to know what their government is doing, and the press needs to report it without fear of government reprisal. The notion that Brault's rights had to be protected over the rights of all Canadian citizens is not only ludicrous but a false choice at its heart."

I'll say this...part of my research on blogs led me to Neil Postman's book: Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology.  Though he was no fan of technology, Postman said something very interesting on page 66 and 67 in his book.

Postman wrote that America was the "first nation ever to be argued into existence in print."  He cites Paines’ Common Sense and The Rights of Man, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers which were all written and printed in a valiant effort to make the American experiment appear reasonable to the people.

“There is not a single line written by Jefferson, Adams, Paine, Hamilton, or Franklin that does not take for granted that when information is made available to citizens they are capable of managing it. This is not to say that the Founding Fathers believed information could not be false, misleading, or irrelevant. But they believed that the marketplace of information and ideas was sufficiently ordered so that citizens could make sense of what they read and heard and through reason, judge its usefulness to their lives."

“We need not hesitate to claim that the first Amendment to the United States Constitution stands as a monument to the ideological biases of print.”

Postman was a student of a very famous Canadian named Marshall McLuhan (a famous professor at the University of Toronto).

Captain Ed...you are a true patriot at heart...keep up the great work!

Oh Canada!

For my Canadian readers...

Tech Central Station's Rachel Marsden has this post on Canada's pullout from the Ballistic Missile Defense program.  Memorable passage (taken from a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article):

"Canadian firms may now have to overcome two handicaps when competing in key American markets -- the long-standing handicap that they are not American and the new handicap in the post-Iraq environment that they are Canadian."

Read the post...according to Marsden: Who is at a disadvantage...American or Canadian citizens?

I'll still share a "beverage" with you!