Another embarrassing Dion moment
National Affairs
Claire Hoy
Early last week, right after Prime Minister Stephen Harper rose in the Commons to announce a full public inquiry into the Brian Mulroney-Karlheinz Schreiber affair, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion rose in full indignation to demand - wait for it - a full public inquiry.

It was just another in a series of embarrassing moments for the hapless Liberal leader - since Harper simply replied that Dion should have been listening rather than reading his prepared questions - but it also underscores the reality that for all Dion's obvious enthusiasm to bring former prime minister Mulroney under the public spotlight, it may turn out to be more detrimental to former Liberals than to the current Conservative government.

Comparisons are being made to the harm inflicted upon the Liberals before the last election after Prime Minister Paul Martin's appointment of the Gomery Commission to investigate the Quebec sponsorship scandal. But really, there is no comparison. Gomery was focusing on players who, at the time, were still very much a major part of the Liberal government, including the recently-retired prime minister Jean Chretien, a government which Dion himself had been part of.

This time it's different. For one thing, Harper was never, ever part of Mulroney's government. Yes, they've kissed and made up in an advisory capacity, but at the time Mulroney was running the Tories, Harper was helping to establish the Reform Party, a movement which began in western Canada as a direct rebuke to what many western Tories felt was Mulroney's dismissal of their concerns.

While all the major players in the Liberal scandal were fresh, all the major players in this one haven't been active in politics in many years, and in the end, Dion may get more out of this inquiry than he had wished for.

The only current tie to Harper in the entire matter are a couple of letters that Schreiber, desperately fighting deportation for Germany, where he faces jail for tax fraud, wrote to Harper making allegations against Mulroney. Harper says he was not shown those letters. Both Dion and NDP Leader Jack Layton say they don't believe him.

The reality is that it would have been highly inappropriate for Harper to become involved in what was a private, legal dispute between Schreiber and Mulroney. While Dion and Layton scream about a political 'cover up'- the fact is that had Harper become involved, presumably on behalf of the former Tory prime minister, the opposition grandstanders really would have had something to complain about. The fact that, in this instance at least, Harper did the right thing, kind of weakens their case.

That having been said, however, it seems ridiculous to this writer to commit untold millions of tax dollars and likely the next two or three years to investigate what essentially is a private dispute.

But given the opposition howling - and demands from both Mulroney and Schreiber for a full inquiry - and the continued innuendo against Harper, and for that matter Mulroney too, he had little choice.

Schreiber, as you likely know, now claims that he made a deal with Mulroney, while Mulroney was still prime minister, to pay him $300,000 - which was delivered in cash, in three payments - for his help in the sale in 1988 of Airbus planes to Air Canada.

In a sworn affidavit on the matter, Schreiber blatantly contradicts things he has said both under oath and in the media about this matter over the years, most significantly by changing his previous story that his business deal with Mulroney came after Mulroney had retired from politics.

As for Mulroney, he likely could have helped matters somewhat over the years had he chosen to be more specific about just what, exactly, Schreiber had paid him for, but he certainly flatly rejects the notion that he did anything wrong and, so far, other than Schreiber's suspect version, there is precious little evidence to suggest Mulroney did do anything wrong.

We'll see.

This was the very issue which Chretien and his Liberal government - which included Dion, by the way - tried to go after Mulroney for 12 years ago and ended up paying him a $2.1 million settlement for defamation.

The difference, of course, was that the government didn't know about the $300,000 deal with Schreiber at the time but then, if it's a legitimate business deal, as Mulroney claims, they had no right - or need - to know.

"Twelve years ago I was falsely accused," said Mulroney. "I fought and I won. Now it seems I'm going to have to fight again. I'm not pleased by this, but so be it. I am going to fight and win again."

I've never been a fan, but I wouldn't bet against him.