목요일날, 현수상 Paul Martin의 증언을 앞두고, 화요일에 증언대에 선 전수상 진 크리티엥은 한사코 자기는 Sponsorship Scandal에 직접 관여 하지 않았다고 주장 했지만, 정치의 중심지 Ottawa 에서는 그에 대한 이야기로 하루종일 시끄러웠다고 한다. 야당 당수 스티븐 합퍼는"세금납부자를 위한 진실을 밝혀야할 이번 청문회에서 그는 청문회 자체를 비난하는것으로 일관했을뿐 아니라, 반성하는 기색이 전연없고, 책임이 없다고, 비난조의 대답이 전부였다 한다.그러한 짖을 할때, 그는 그가 속해있는 자유당 모두로 부터 지지를 물론 받고 했는데도 말이다.... 그러면서, 그의 후계자 현수상 Paul Martin에게 아무 꺼리낌 없이 모든책임과 잘못을 떠 맡기는데 여념이 없었다. 이상은 수요판 Globe and Mail 지에서 일부 전재한 내용입니다. 캐나다라는 나라를 존속시키기 위해서 취한 조치는 어느것에도 우선한다는 논리를 펴면서, 스폰서쉽 스캔달은 그런 차원에서,퀘백의 캐나다로 부터의 독립을 막기위한 조치였었다고, 청문회에서 읽어 내려간 그의 성명문의 일부에서 그는 주장했는데, 그만이 취할수 있는 엉터리 논리를 잘도 설명하고 있다는것을 금방 느낄 수 있었다. 수상직을 맡고 나라를 통치할때도 쓸데없은 거만함을 피워,사사건건 미국과 충돌만 하더니, 광우병, SARS 등으로 미국으로 부터 외면을 당해 캐나다 전체가 곤욕을 치르게 하여, 현재도 캐나다산 소고기의 미국수출이 막혀 있게 한 장본인이 바로 Jean Chretien 그사람이었는데... 그것도 모자라, 미국의 경제 정책을 비아냥 거리면서, 잘나가고 있는 캐나다의 경제 성장 정책을 미국은 도입해야 된다 라고 현 조지 행정부를 노골적으로 비아 하기도 했었다. 그때 당시에 캐나다 국적기인 Air Canada 가 파산 선고직전에 몰려 법원에,채권자로 부터 차압을 피하기위한 보호 조치를 요청하고 있을때 였는데 말이다. 불쌍한 늙은이.... 고집불통의 운좋았던 퀘백에서 태어난 정치인. 그에 대한 저의 개인 생각입니다. Chrétien's testimony talk of the town By ROMA LUCIW Globe and Mail Update E-mail this Article The sponsorship scandal dominated discussions in Ottawa, as opposition politicians reacted with skepticism to Jean Chrétien's assertions that he was not involved in the minutia of the sponsorship program he created as they await Thursday's testimony from Prime Minister Paul Martin. “Chrétien demonstrated contempt for the inquiry, for the truth and for taxpayers,” Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Wednesday during Question Period. “He stonewalled, he showed no remorse, he took no responsibility and he gave flippant answers and, of course, he had the support of everyone in the Liberal party while he did it.” Mr. Chrétien, however, had “no problem pointing the finger at his successor,” Mr. Harper said. In his testimony before the sponsorship inquiry on Tuesday, Mr. Chrétien implied that Mr. Martin, who was then finance minister, was also involved in the sponsorship scandal through his position on cabinet. Much of the attention in Wednesday's question period was directed at Mr. Martin, who is to testify before sponsorship inquiry on Thursday in what is bound to be another charged appearance. Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe accused Liberal ministers of pleading ignorance and “trying to dissociate themselves from Jean Chrétien ... in order to cling to the new Prime Minister.” Mr. Chrétien's testimony that they were all his accomplices, he said, has caught up with them. According to one journalist in Ottawa, the sponsorship scandal and testimonies of Mr. Martin and Mr. Chrétien is “all anybody is talking about today here on parliament hill.” On Tuesday, the former Liberal prime minister repeatedly said he was not involved in the “mechanics” of the program, blaming bureaucrats who failed to follow his directions and saying decisions were left up to officials. “The point is that he [Chrétien] kept saying ‘I'm above the fray, I expected everybody to do the job,'” Conservative MP John Williams, who sat on the parliamentary committee looking into the sponsorship scandal, said Wednesday on CBC Newsworld. “But he was very, very much aware through his office -- he was signing off on this program. This was his own personal program that he says he dreamt up to save the country.” When asked about his part in a list of companies that received grants for millions of dollars, Mr. Chrétien said he was not involved in deciding who got millions of dollars worth of contracts, nor how the list was established. He said he did not discuss this with senior aide, Jean Pelletier, or Jean Carle, a former aide to Mr. Chrétien. Instead, he said the decisions were made by the various departments. “These were all friends of the prime minister. They were mentioned in the context of the scandal and therefore it seems totally improbable and implausible that Jean Chrétien did not know. Either informally or formally, but he would have known,” Mr. Williams said. Liberal MP Shawn Murphy disagreed, saying the inquiry headed by Mr. Justice John Gomery had not produced “a scintilla of evidence” to suggest that Jean Chrétien was involved in the “maladministration.” Mr. Chrétien gave his long-awaited testimony Tuesday before Judge Gomery, whom he failed to remove as the head of the commission. The former prime minister fielded questions over problems into the program he created in 1996 to boost Canada's image in Quebec following the 1995 referendum. The inquiry is looking into why up to $100-million from the $250-million sponsorship program went to Liberal-friendly ad firms — often for little or no apparent work. Mr. Chrétien is only the second prime minister in Canadian history to testify at a public federal inquiry. From the start, the feisty Mr. Chrétien was on the attack, defending the scandal-plagued sponsorship program as a necessary weapon in the war against Quebec separatists. In five hours of testimony, Mr. Chrétien denied any knowledge of misspending and proudly defended his political legacy. He also hit back at Mr. Gomery's criticisms of his personalized golf-balls by producing a series of balls given to him by world leaders. Judge Gomery will release his report at the end of the year. In it, he will weigh on whether Mr. Chrétien exercised his prime ministerial authority appropriately. With files from Allison Dunfield.