Angry in the Great White North

The post reveals that Jacques Hudon was a speechwriter for Paul Martin, as well as a lobbyist for Groupaction, the advertising firm of Jean Brault, and one of the vehicles for moving taxpayers' money from the Sponsorship Program into the coffers of the Liberal Party.

The noose that is around this government’s neck is growing ever tighter.

I agree that the connection is unnerving, but what hasn't been established is that Jacques Hudon was a bagman for the money. Jean Brault named several names of Liberal Party workers posing as Groupaction employees, and Jacques Hudon was not one of them (at least I don't think he was named). Moreover, it's not clear to me how close Jacques Hudon and Paul Martin are -- even if we could establish that Jacques Hudon was involved in the money laundering scheme, would it follow that Paul Martin would have known? Did Jacques Hudon write speeches at a desk and hand them over to someone else, or did he sit with the Prime Minister crafting speeches into the wee hours?

What is undeniable is that Paul Martin has surrounded himself with people who seem to have a knack for getting into trouble. Instead of putting Jacques Hudon out on the streets with a handshake and a fair severance package, the Prime Minister has given him the job of Departmental Manager at Industry Canada in Quebec, awarding contracts. That just seems to be asking for trouble.