Jean Brault, who provided some of the most damaging revelations heard in the sponsorship inquiry, has pleaded guilty to five of six fraud-related charges in connection with the now-defunct federal promotional program.
Brault is one of four people charged by police investigating the sponsorship affair.
Sentencing arguments for Brault will begin March 27 in Montreal while he will go to trial at a later date on one remaining charge of conspiracy.
Had the Liberals been able to hold on and call the election within 30 days of the Gomery inquiry's second report, this would have been the lead-off story along with the dropping of the writ, and the sentencing would have been the lead-off story of the last weeks of the campaign.
Brault's testimony was considered so sensitive and potentially prejudicial that it was put under a publication ban while he was on the stand--an action that brought Captain's Quarters into the public spotlight when he broke the ban from his Minnesota home and raised debate blogging and its effects on such bans.
Those were the days.
But a change in government has a way of making even the ugliest scandals of its predecessors disappear into irrelevance. The voters have spoken, and they will not want to hear too much more about the subject.
Source: Toronto Star
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