PM's judgment now in question

[CHIMO]

BERNIER WASN'T THE ONLY source of embarrassment for Harper this week. There was also a new revelation on "NAFTA-gate" – the leaking of an internal government memo that embarrassed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama by portraying him as two-faced on North American trade.

A report on the affair by Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch has been widely portrayed as exonerating Harper's staff. But Star Ottawa columnist James Travers revealed yesterday that the memo was, in fact, leaked by a staffer in the Prime Minister's Office to Obama's political foes, the Republicans.

This is a very serious allegation. If true, it would mean that the Harperites insinuated themselves into the American presidential campaign in an attempt to help their Republican friends and defeat Obama. Think what that will mean for Canada-U.S. relations should Obama win the fall election.

When asked about the allegation in Parliament yesterday, Van Loan – the government point person on NAFTA-gate as on Bernier – responded: "There was no evidence whatsoever that any classified information had been revealed."

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/431908

A little bit at the end that is not showing up anywhere on the radar.

[PDJane]

1. Oh,hell.........

Everything about this PM has been suspect, from the source of his funding to his economics right on through to his social policies.

Man creeps me out.

[CHIMO]

2. Some PM

Has a foreigner in a Canadian position with no responsibility to anyone. The Republicans are running things.


Signs point to PMO in NAFTA leak

OTTAWA–Fingers are pointing at Conservatives close to Stephen Harper for leaking a diplomatic memo that badly embarrassed Barack Obama and put Canada's vital cross-border interests at risk. Multiple sources say the Canadian note questioning the Democrat frontrunner's public promise to reopen NAFTA was leaked from the Prime Minister's Office to a Republican contact before it made American headline news.

Their claims come days after an internal probe threw up its hands at finding the source. Contradicting Friday's inconclusive report, they claim the controversial memo was slipped to the son of Wisconsin Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner. Frank Sensenbrenner is well connected to Harper's inner circle and, at Ottawa's insistence, was briefly on contract with Canada's Washington embassy to work on congressional relations.

Contacted yesterday morning, Frank Sensenbrenner did not seem surprised and agreed to an afternoon interview. But he did not call at the agreed time and did not respond to repeated emails.

A determined reader will find many of the dots – but not the conclusion – in the probe report strategically released on the cusp of a spring weekend. It confirms a few U.S. citizens could have been in contact with government officials who had the report, but finds no evidence of irregularities. Instead, the report makes a distracting fuss about clearing Ian Brodie, the Prime Minister's chief of staff, and Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador in Washington, of revealing classified information that never carried that secretive label.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/431367