PM denies leading caucus cheer 
for Chretien 
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 5:00 p.m. April 25, 2005]

Former PM Jean Chretien and PM Paul Martin at the Liberal leadership convention in November 2003.

OTTAWA  — In a radio interview on the weekend, Prime Minister Paul Martin provided a version of events about the mood of the Liberal caucus the day after former prime minister Jean Chretien testified at the Gomery inquiry that appears to be at odds with what other Liberals told reporters at the time.

During an appearance on CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup with Rex Murphy, Martin downplayed media reports from February that he led the Liberal caucus in a standing ovation of the former prime minister a day after he mocked Justice John Gomery in the final minutes of his testimony.

Martin appeared for part of the program on Sunday to field questions from Canadians about the sponsorship scandal. 

After being reminded by an earlier caller that Martin's reported praise of Chretien's appearance ran counter to his public support of Gomery, Murphy asked the PM if the reports he led the Liberal caucus in a cheer for the former prime minister were true. 

"No," the PM said. 

Martin explained that the media reports were unreliable. 

"There's nobody at those caucus meetings except Members of Parliament, so anybody reporting on them is reporting second-, third-, fourth-hand."

Thursday morning newspapers after Wednesday caucus meetings are filled with unnamed MPs who strategically leak certain stories about what happened at the meetings, which are supposed to be privileged. 

However, that is not always the case. And the day after Chretien testified was one of the few exceptions where Liberals - who were emboldened by Chretien's peformance -- provided enough details on the record about what happened behind closed doors. 

On February 10, when Canada AM host Beverly Thomson said Martin had "asked for a standing ovation and credited Jean Chretien for strengthening the Liberal Party" at caucus the previous day, Liberal Senator David Smith agreed with her description of events.

"He did," Senator Smith said. "Mr. Martin was very generous. And he spoke very well of Mr. Chretien."

Other Liberals who were at the meeting were singing the praises of Chretien's performance after they walked out and met with reporters. 

"Mr. Martin is very supportive of Mr. Chretien and what he's done," Liberal caucus chair Andy Savoy said after the meeting. "Everybody in the entire caucus was extremely proud of Mr. Chretien.

"Mr. Chretien was a small-town guy opening a big town can of whoop ass on his detractors." 

Cabinet Minister John Godfrey gave reporters a positive review. "I thought it was a terrific performance. Just top rate."

All on-the-record indications at the time suggested the Liberal caucus had become unified around their former leader after he tried to show up Justice Gomery by making him aware that other world leaders had golf balls with their names embossed on them. Under cross-examination by his lawyers, Chretien extracted golf balls from other world leaders and from the law firm the commission's lead counsel and Gomery's daughter works for. 

Gomery had said in an earlier interview that Chretien's participation in such a practice seemed "small-town cheap."

But in his interview with CBC Radio on the weekend, the prime minister downplayed caucus reaction to Chretien's performance. 

"But fundamentally what happened is caucus did react to the fact that a former prime minister had just testified. And that's a very, very rare occasion to testify in front of a commission such as this.

"That's all that happened," the PM said. 

"There were a number of issues discussed. They just simply said, 'Former prime minister testified.'"

As for those second-hand accounts, leaked reports about what happened in the caucus that day painted a picture of Martin being Chretien's biggest supporter.

"Prime Minister Paul Martin walks into the Liberal-sponsorship inquiry today in a new and surprising role - as chief cheerleader for his old rival, Jean Chretien," the Toronto Star reported on February 10.

The Star's story -- based on unnamed MPs -- said Martin "led a standing ovation" for Chretien and devoted "about a third of his six-minute address to caucus in tribute to Chretien."

"At the end of his speech, Martin told his caucus that instead of applauding for him as they usually do, that they applaud Chretien instead," the Star reported based on their sources. 

Meanwhile the Globe and Mail's sources said Martin "punched the air with his fist," when praising the job Chretien did as PM. And the Canadian Press reported at the time that MPs in the room quoted the PM as saying he agreed with almost everything Chretien had said and that the former PM's testimony was a tremendous service to both Canada and the Liberal party. 

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