oliphant inquiry

Fresh off the Oliphant newswire:

(Note: The following post will probably make a lot more sense if you read this one first. )

After reluctantly being forced to miss out on most of the policy review — thanks, Parliament, for picking last week to go into meltdown mode — ITQ is making one last pilgrimage to Old City Hall to bear witness to the grand finale of the Olphant Show, which could prove to be a wonktastic sendoff for our favourite Manitobans, featuring, as it does, the much-anticipated superduper-extra-awesome all-day expert panel, which includes a trio of formidable formers: Mel Cappe, onetime Clerk of the Privy Council, Chretien-era appointments czarina Penny Collenette and the still-Right-Honourable Joe Clark, as well as Public Policy Forum president David Mitchell.

Yes, it’s come to this: the curtain will rise on the last scene of the long-running drama that has been dazzling – and confounding – audiences at Old City Hall since the Oliphant Show opened to rave reviews earlier this year. Well, the last scene of Act One, anyway — we still have the second phase of public hearings to go, after all.

Six years later, Mulroney has yet to give us a convincing account of his deal with Schreiber. Can we really leave it at that?

Hey, remember that RCMP security detail that Brian Mulroney claimed drove him to and from that now infamous August 27th meeting at the Mirabel hotel, when he made the fateful decision to accept that first cash-stuffed envelope from Karlheinz Schreiber? if not, this Canadian Press story might refresh your memory:

We should get the final list later today, but rumour has it that yet another Right Honourable will be dropping by Old City Hall later this month, to share his thoughts on the Mulroney/Schreiber conundrum, this time from a policy wonkish point of view: the Right Honourable Charles Joseph Clark, to be specific. Which – if true – would have to set a new record for former prime ministers to appear before a public inquiry. (Take that, Justice Gomery!)

Says it would be a “travesty of justice” to surrender him before the inquiry has concluded

The man who grilled Mulroney has a history of finding the truth

Um, guys? This inquiry that has been the focal point of ITQ’s existence for the last two months? It’s about to be — over. I know. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my life either.

I didn’t get a chance to watch much of the Mulroney testimony today — I was travelling — but I did catch this exchange, faithfully recounted by the incomparable KDO:

At the close of his testimony, Mulroney was the picture of graciousness.