The Mulroney-Schreiber-Airbus affair has been in and out of the press, and at times the courts, for almost 20 years now. In his recent column, Prime ministers and their friends, Andrew Coyne gives a recap of what the fuss is all about:
Nearly twenty years after the Airbus deal was signed, and twelve years after the first definitive reports that secret commissions were paid, in explicit violation of the contract, we still don’t know who got the rest of the money, or for what. Schreiber is known to have been paid some US$20-million — $600,000 per plane. His bank records show that about half this amount was doled out, by means of his labyrinth of bank accounts, to various “Canadian friends.†Some of these are known. Some are not.
Equally perplexing is how someone of Schreiber’s obvious odour was able to gain such access to the corridors of power. A former Justice minister, a former Solicitor General, even a former Supreme Court justice numbered amongst his friends and clients, to say nothing of his close and well documented relationship with Mulroney and his circle, dating back to the early 1980s.
In broader terms, then, the issue is not just Mulroney, or Schreiber, or Airbus. It’s the ability of this country to hold people in high places to account. Had a former president of the United States been found taking cash from a notorious bribe artist, six Congressional committees would have been convened on the spot. Years too late, a public inquiry would seem the least we could do.
(emphasis mine)
As a Conservative supporter and as a budding politician myself, I have some very real apprehensions regarding the prospects of subjecting this country to yet another political scandal enquiry. My apprehensions do not stem from any concerns for the individuals or political parties implicated, but rather for the effect this enquiry will have on the Canadian voting public. Voter cynicism and political apathy are already undermining our democracy.
Having said that, I also recognize our system only works when there is participation and trust. Call it “tough love”, but our democratic institutions need a good cleaning. Rather than staying home on election day, or holding their noses when they vote, it’s time for the people of Canada to feel good about their government again.
