CKNW Editorial
for February 26, 2001

Bill Clinton is in worse trouble that he has ever been. Indeed, quite apart from the mainstream judicial system, he may face impeachment proceedings since his actions were while he was president. Bad enough that he pardon a crook of international standing and his own brother, it now seems as if his brother-in-law actually received $200,000 for a pardon.

One is tempted to wonder how a man who once virtually ruled the world could be so stupid but it’s simple. We’re all pretty dumb and there is something about power, at whatever level, that gives one a sense of invincibility. I think perhaps it’s because you’re divorced from reality – I remember that from my days in cabinet. The only people who are giving you a hard time are the opposition and by means of the system they are regarded as not worth listening to. Everyone else is telling you what a good guy you are while insulating you from reality.

There is a strong parallel between what Mr Clinton has evidently done and what Jean Chretien has clearly done. The only difference is that now it seems beyond doubt that Mr Clinton got money directly into his account while in Mr Chretien’s case it went to the pockets of pals. Offsetting this distinction is the fact that in Mr Chretien’s case the lolly involved was public money while in Mr Clinton’s case it was not. The other difference, of course, is that Mr Clinton will be held accountable while Jean Chretien, who holds the RCMP in the palm of his hand will go scot free.

The amounts involved with Mr Chretien are greater too – in the millions of dollars.

You have to wonder what’s the matter with Canadians. We get mildly upset at the revelations of Mr Chretien pouring money into the outstretched hands of a crook upon whose fate the Prime Minister depends if he wants to get paid for his golf course but that’s all. The governing party is not the slightest bit upset, with Herb Grey and Brian Tobin accusing Joe Clark of being like Joe McCarthy, the red baiting US Senator of the fifties. How can they get away with this? Here we have the prime minister being cleared by his own personal ethics commissioner then cleared by the RCMP who didn’t even bother to speak with the public servant bank manager the Prime Minister put the heat on and there’s not even mild embarrassment.

It’s so very easy for Canadians to look across the border and scoff at what they see is a strange and dysfunctional system of governance. But in fact, as Churchill admonished us, if you look at all of the other forms of government the US way is clearly the best if only for one reason – it has machinery in place to hold public officials, even the President of the United States, accountable.

And while we’re being a bit introspective we can’t overlook the $70,000 payment to the Alliance by the firm that took $300,000 of Alberta taxpayers bucks to defend Stockwell Day’s libel suit.

No, folks, we’d better not cluck our tongue at what we see in the States any more. As this is written, there is a very good chance that the immediate past president of the United States will go to jail. And there is no chance that the Prime Minister of Canada will have to do anything except to go on being a dictator as long as he wishes.