Angry in the Great White North

From the Globe and Mail (print edition):

Late last year, [Lorus Therapeutics Inc] was about to sign a financing contract with Industry Canada to receive $6.6 million for the development of a treatment for pancreatic cancer when Lorus and TPC officials discovered that Mr Dingwall had failed to register sd s lobbyist, a government source said.

A few federal officials were prepared to cut Lorus some slack, believing that Mr Dingwall's lapse may have been an honest oversight. Mr Dingwall and Wallding had registered as lobbyists for several other companies, they noted.

The issue remained under review until Aug 23, a government source said, when Industry Minister David Emerson wrote to Lorus to say that the planned investment was off.

The reason? A zero tolerance policy that was implemented in the light of the problems with lobbyists playing fast and loose with the rules.

Now I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that Lorus has a case to go after Dingwall for that $6.6 million. As it is, Lorus claims to want to flush Dingwall down the memory hole:

[Lorus] wants to forget the whole matter.

"It's over and done with and we've moved on," said Bruce Rowlands, the senior vice-president for planning and public affairs.

Very big of them. Actually, I find this annoying. If I had to guess, I would say they are not going after Dingwall and his $6.6 million mistake because they don't want to embarrass the federal Liberals, and put future funding in jeopardy, and that's just so wrong on so many levels.

As for Dingwall, he is still speaking only through his long time executive assistant, Gloria McArter, who claims that there was a "clerical mistake".

I wonder if the $350,000 Dingwall received from Bioniche was also a clerical mistake.

I also wonder if David Dingwall is ever going to be compelled to explain himself.