[colecampbell666]

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister and head of the Canadian Conservative Party, sues Stephane Dion, head of the Liberal Party for libel.

It is probably worth noting that so far Mr. Harper’s legal counsel, Richard Dearden of the Gowlings firm, has simply sent a formal "Notice of Libel" to Stephane Dion, Michael Ignatieff, Ralph Goodale, and the Liberal Party of Canada. A libel lawyer on CBC Newsworld has advised that for every five notices of this sort he receives on behalf of clients, only one finally gets to court as part of a serious case.

In this Notice of Libel Mr. Harper’s counsel complains about two articles on the Liberal Party of Canada website — "Harper Knew of Conservative Bribery" (February 29, 2008), and "Harper Must Come Clean About Allegations of Conservative Bribery, Liberals say" (February 28, 2008).

The "bribery" allegations here refer to a story in a new biography of the late great federal MP Chuck Cadman, by BC author Tom Zytaruk. Cadman, a former Conservative then sitting as an Independent, finally voted to sustain the former Liberal minority government of Paul Martin on May 19, 2005. But according to a story told by his widow, Dona Cadman, to author Zytaruk, "two Conservative agents met with her husband two days before the vote and offered him a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his support."

Author Tom Zytaruk also interviewed Stephen Harper in connection with this part of his Cadman biography. He has made available some tape with Mr. Harper commenting on the subject of his party’s meeting with Mr. Cadman in May 2005. As explained by the CBC, "‘I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions,’ Harper says on the tape ... Later, he explains the offer to Cadman was ‘only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election’ and it was carried out by people who were ‘legitimately representing the party.’"

http://counterweights.ca/content/view/261//

[IceFire]

Figures...

Harper keeps going back and forth on this issue.  He admits one thing...then another and they have it all on tape or video and I've seen the comparisons back to back on CBC more than once.  I think he'll loose but he's trying to keep the Liberals down as much as he can.  I'm not sure if this is a political gamble that will pay out or not.  Might still be an election in the next few months so we'll see what happens.

Politicians...they are all nuts.