Memories

Jacques Corriveau, a man who knew everyone and everything in the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party, now suddenly can't recall anything to do with the sponsorship fund.

Per this long-time Chretien crony, as reported in today's Globe and Mail:

I have to tell you, Mr. Commissioner, as a volunteer within the Liberal Party of Canada, I was involved in a very political milieu and an advertising environment,” he told Judge Gomery before his explanation trailed off.

“... to say exactly when it happened, no, it was too far away and too close, if you will, to be able to identify who really made me aware of it. No, I'm sorry, I can't answer that.”

....

Mr. Corriveau, who the inquiry has heard received millions of dollars through sponsorship funding, on Thursday blamed age and recent surgery for repeated memory lapses. A day later, his inability to be precise continued.

Asked when he had first spent time with another person who has figured in the testimony and he could offer no better than a four-year range a decade ago. He didn't remember whether he had recommended the man, Claude Boulay, to another key figure, Luc Lemay.

And he could not be sure when asked how long he had been aware that the federal government was keen to spend sponsorship dollars in Quebec.

Old age and ill health may make a man forgetful. So, too, can the prospect of prosecution and public disgrace.

Corriveau made $6.7 million in sponsorship commissions for contracts steered to Luc Lemay's companies, and another $425,000 from Jean Brault and Groupaction. No matter how faulty your memory, you just don't forget who helped you make seven million easy bucks for doing next to nothing, how, and when.

As Adscam gets closer to Chretien personally, the witnesses do as well, and how many of them will suddenly become forgetful on the witness stand?