[getsmart-l] Deja Vu? as 'Old tricks' about to sink Federal Conservative Environment Minister, Mr. Arrogance Hims

[23 Skidoo]

The following report reveals the tried tested n' true patterns of Conservative goverments of yesterday and today. It conveniently spells out their alleged patterns of influence-peddling practices to 'fix' things to their liking. Apparently old dogs need not learn new tricks and just how quaint is this for the layman that this brewing scandal follows so closely on the heals of the Schreiber scandal. The connecting of the dots for a previously only imagined picture has never been so easy.
 
And this time it's Stephen Harper's chosen Environment Minister Mr. Arrogance his self,  John Baird who is being investigated for allegedly conspiring to help one particular candidate win the Ottawa mayor's race. It looks like records from the frequented Hy's restaurant may be Mr.Baird's eventual undoing - just as was a limousine picking up Schreiber to meet with Mulroney. 
 
Film at 11:00
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=fbade23e-66cc-4303-94bb-1ab2087033f1
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The Ottawa Citizen - Monday, December 10, 2007 
Baird questioned again in O'Brien case 
John Baird, the federal environment minister, was called on by police detectives a second time for more questioning in their bribery investigation against Mayor Larry O'Brien, the Citizen has learned. 
The investigation is complete and Mr. O'Brien, 58, is scheduled to be charged as early as this morning with at least two Criminal Code offences. 
In late October, at the tail end of the Ontario Provincial Police bribery probe, detectives, acting on a tip from a source, called on Mr. Baird again, this time asking him about an alleged conversation between Mr. Baird and Mr. O'Brien at an Ottawa steakhouse in 2006. 
Following a Citizen investigative report, Mr. O'Brien became the subject of an intense criminal investigation into allegations that he offered money and help to Terry Kilrea, a former political opponent, land a federal appointment if he dropped out of last year's mayoral race. 
Ontario Provincial Police detectives first interviewed Mr. Baird, MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, at 9:01 a.m. on May 4. 
In that interview, held at his constituency office on Carling Avenue, Mr. Baird told detectives he was never approached by anyone to get Mr. Kilrea an appointment to the National Parole Board. 
Detectives called him back in late October after a source told them Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Baird met at Hy's Steakhouse, an upscale watering hole frequented by politicians and journalists. 
Mr. Baird told detectives that he was, in fact, dining with a constituent. 
Mr. Baird, through a communications director, said yesterday he's "pleased" the detectives have "spoken w (ith) the constituent to validate what we have said all along." 
Garry Keller, director of communications, said: 
"The fact is that the minister has fully cooperated with those looking into the issue, including providing the name of the constituent who he had dinner with." 
Mr. Keller, in an e-mail continued: 
"Finally, the facts surrounding this issue have not changed: An appointment for (Terry Kilrea) was never considered. An appointment was never put forward. An appointment was never made." 
Mr. Baird, whose office handles frontline requests for political appointments in Eastern Ontario, declined to tell the Citizen the identity of the constituent he "dined" with at Hy's Steakhouse, which is afforded a special section on Bourque's Newswatch (www.bourque.org) called Heard @ Hy's. 
In October, the OPP won a court order to seize reservation and payment records from the steakhouse. 
The Citizen went to court and successfully unsealed the once-secret documents. 
In an affidavit to win the court order for the records, Det.-Sgt. Brian 

Mason, wrote: "I am seeking information and supporting records from Hy's ... to confirm that Larry O'Brien and John Baird met there for lunch during the period when O'Brien was telling Kilrea that he was trying to arrange an appointment to the National Parole Board for him (Kilrea ... 
"Such evidence would support the proposition that O'Brien was in fact in contact with Baird and that he was trying to get Baird to support or approve (an) appointment. 
"It is believed through this source (Mr. X) information that Larry O'Brien and John Baird had a dinner at Hy's Steakhouse during the time when Greg Strong ( a former vice-president at Calian Technologies, a publicly-traded company founded by Mayor O'Brien in 1982) was O'Brien's campaign manager. 
"The information provided by (Mr. X) is partially corroborated by the information I received from Craig Stevenson, Hy's Steakhouse general manager that John Baird dined at Hy's Steakhouse on July 26th, 2006 with one other person." 
The Citizen knows what Mr. X told police, but cannot legally report it because of a publication ban. 
Mr. Baird has told the Citizen that he checked his appointment book, which shows no record of a meeting with Mr. O'Brien at Hy's. 
Mr. Baird did say that he frequents the restaurant often and could have bumped into the mayor in the summer of 2006. 
The Liberal Party of Canada asked the Mounties to interview any role Mr. Baird and other top Tories may have played in the bribery affair, and the RCMP, through its commissioner, William Elliot, has said the force is prepared to assist in the investigation, but that's a request that must come from the lead police agency, the OPP. 
The Citizen asked the OPP about this, but hasn't heard back yet. 
If Mr. O'Brien decides to fight the criminal charges, witnesses -- including Heather Tessier, his niece and former executive assistant, and Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod -- may be called to testify. 
According to an executive summary of a May 3 interview with OPP detectives, Ms. Tessier said: 
"She was aware of an offer of about $20,000 to $30,000 which was made to Kilrea." 
According to an executive summary of a May 4 interview with OPP detectives, Ms. MacLeod said: 
"She met with Larry O'Brien in her constituency office and she was impressed with him ... and O'Brien was talking about Terry Kilrea and sort of announced to her that there was going to be an appointment or 'we're talking to Terry about an appointment' and he did say the National Parole Board and she (Ms. MacLeod) just sort of said okay" 
 
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