10 Great Canadian Political Scandals

It's a tight race between Liberal leader Jean Chretien and Conservative leader Brian Mulroney!

According to this list anyway.

The Libs and Cons split the list 5-5.

It's funny. While people harp on Harper, it's mostly focused on policy and his "dictatorial" style, and not on any specific scandal that actually harmed democracy like, say, under the Liberals. I'm pretty sure they turned a blind eye with Chretien. As far as I'm aware, Harper is an angel next to Chretien's scandals. Meh. Chretien is "liberal." You do the math.

My personal favorite:

"The billion-dollar boondoggle: Human Resources Development Minister Jane Stewart was in the hot seat in 2000 when an internal audit found that Jean Chrétien's Liberal government had failed to track employment program grants worth $1 billion to make sure the money was spent properly and the promised jobs were created. At one time, the RCMP had launched 12 separate investigations into HRDC files as a result of the audit; three of them related to grants awarded in the prime minister's riding of Saint-Maurice. Stewart faced grilling for months in the House of Commons, but managed to hold on to her job. She decided not to run again in the 2004 federal election, however."

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How low have the Liberals gone? Put it to you this way. NDP leader Jack Layton is more popular than the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec - according to polls anyway. Here's a leader from a third party who fraternizes with separatists and he surges past the Liberals!

The Liberals would have been better off without the non-confident vote. All they're doing is exposing they're not ready for power. Loathe as I am to admit it, but the NDP are more ready.