Taking a leak when no one's looking...

The Xmas truce among Canada's electoral combatants came to a snarling halt yesterday as the RCMP launched a criminal investigation into a possible leak from Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's office. The alleged leak (brought to the attention of the Mounties by NDP Finance Critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis) spiked trading in income trusts and related stocks just before Goodale announced on November 23 that Ottawa would not be taxing those income trusts.

On the surface, the investigation will be difficult, and may not reap the political jackpot the opposition parties are hoping for. Prior to November 23, did Goodale give any indication that the Liberals were about to start taxing income trusts? What has to be proven is that Goodale explicitly said he was not going to do something in advance of the November 23 announcement. If the RCMP can find the money where his mouth was, then they have a case.

The real question is, does this scandal (or lack thereof) have the legs to impact how 1/23 plays out? This page contends that anything without a body count can be pretty much blown over, but if there is a smoking gun, it might be the best holiday financial scandal since Uncle Billy lost $8,000 in Bedford Falls on Xmas Eve. It really depends on how fast the investigation moves. Remember, it was two years ago this week that police raided the BC Legislature, and while a couple of heads (Garry Collins' and Christy Clark's) ducked and covered, no heads of consequence ever rolled.

Of course, that lack of rolling in BC may have to do with the fact that in British Columbia, the media is squarely in bed with whatever Vancouver Board of Trade mouthpiece masquerades as the political party who keeps the NDP at bay. At the national level, the media has some kind of sordid kinky threesome with the Liberals and the Conservatives: it's awkward and uncomfortable, but everybody likes to watch because we think anything's possible. If the NDP is serious about running on real solutions and their results from the last parliament, this is a bed they should back away from ASAP.