tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131464952009-06-20T17:38:49.942-04:00The Grewal Tapesbucketsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger405125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-3713421982348558692009-06-08T07:43:00.002-04:002009-06-08T07:47:32.110-04:00

From the Surrey Leader: Former Newton-North Delta MP Gurmant Grewal said he was "relieved and pleased" to hear there will be no charges laid against him over a six-year-old complaint about misuse of donated funds.A statement released Wednesday by the Criminal Justice Branch of the BC Attorney General's ministry said a review of the RCMP investigation conducted in 2005 "has concluded that there is

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1118277647527815012006-05-09T23:00:00.000-04:002008-02-29T10:22:43.938-05:00

This blog discusses the controversies surrounding Gurmant Grewal, a former Conservative MP from Surrey BC. The most notorious of these involved his negotiations to defect to the Liberals, the recordings of those negotiations, and the editing and release of those recordings. But these not Grewal's only brush with controversy. Indeed, there is not one Grewal affair, but about a dozen (see here

bucketsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1145896553081451982006-04-24T12:33:00.000-04:002006-04-24T12:35:53.110-04:00

The National Post: RCMP confirm Grewal investigation:In rare move, a top RCMP officer with the force's commercial crime section has officially confirmed former B.C. Tory MP Gurmant Grewal is under criminal investigation relating to tens of thousands of dollars in donations given to him by members of the Indo-Canadian community."The RCMP's commercial crime section is conducting an investigation

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1145711799904534212006-04-22T09:14:00.000-04:002006-04-26T04:51:34.203-04:00

The Province has a new story on Grewal's political financing: Where did our money go? Grewal donors. Armed with copies of cheques, RCMP officers are blazing a trail in B.C.'s Indo-Canadian community asking questions about tens of thousands of dollars donated to former Tory MP Gurmant Grewal.I'll try to get back to this later.Update. More here.

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1139613734090966252006-02-10T17:53:00.000-05:002006-04-19T01:16:27.070-04:00

As I've just posted, a story in the the Surrey Leader mentions that rumours concerning the potential defection of the Grewals were circulating in the Indo-Canadian community apparently even before the negotiations of the May 15th-18th, a fact also mentioned in the Ethics Commissioner's report.One of the conclusions of that report, of course, was that it had been Grewal who had begun the

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1139587096168621422006-02-10T16:56:00.000-05:002006-02-10T17:34:41.736-05:00

The Surrey Leader is reporting:Grewal switch rumoured in advance: DhaliwalBy Dan FergusonStaff ReporterFeb 05 2006Before the controversy over Gurmant Grewal's secret tapes erupted last May, Sukh Dhaliwal said he heard something was in the works that could displace himself as the Liberal candidate for Newton-North Delta."I heard rumours in the community... that Grewal was going to switch to the

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1139345032433510762006-02-07T15:43:00.000-05:002006-03-14T23:04:26.916-05:00

There is an awful lot of commentary from left, right,and center on Harper's decision to appoint to his cabinet David Emerson less than two weeks after he re-elected as a Liberal in Vancouver-Kingsway, most of it critical.And many have made allusion to the Stronach defection and the Grewal negotiations (for a humorous version, see here).One point that it seems has escaped the attention of many is

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138678807944498372006-02-04T23:35:00.000-05:002006-02-05T22:52:57.366-05:00

The election’s over; Grewal is no longer politics; Murphy is now looking for new employment; Dosanjh was re-elected, but will now sit on the opposition benches.Most of the inquiries surrounding last summer’s events have resolved themselves: Transport Canada ruled that Grewal did not act improperly in the airport incident; he was cleared with only mild criticism by the Ethics Commissioner for his

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138935588376143222006-02-03T09:58:00.000-05:002006-02-03T09:06:06.433-05:00

From a local Surrey paper comes the story that Grewal saw earlier drafts of the Ethics Commissioner's report, that the first draft exonerated him, and that the second and third (final) drafts were changed to find him chiefly at fault and exonerate the Liberals. Grewal says ethics report on taping was changed By Dan FergusonStaff ReporterFeb 01 2006Former Newton-North Delta MP Gurmant Grewal says

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138884050004078972006-02-02T07:32:00.000-05:002006-02-02T12:31:41.030-05:00

From the Jan. 28th edition of the The Surrey Now Grewal threatens to sue Shapiro over ethics reportTom ZytarukThe fur is flying over Parliament Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro's report on the Dosanjh-Grewal taping affair, with Grewal threatening to sue and Dosanjh accusing Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper of hiding from the inquiry.Gurmant Grewal, formerly the Tory MP for Newton-North

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138757892532045522006-01-31T22:23:00.001-05:002008-04-17T11:19:24.080-04:00

I've long considered Andrew Coyne is one of the country's best columnists: at his best, he is intelligent and vigorous, ideologically clear without being unduely partisan. His blog is less impressive--but that is natural enough. The best material is saved for the paying customers--and rightly so. In his recent blog post on the Grewal affair, he's disappointed.He begins with the report of

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138634571766176902006-01-30T10:17:00.000-05:002006-01-30T13:16:04.836-05:00

There's a story in the Maple Ridge News about BC's nine ex-MPs and their pensions, including Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal, who the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation says will draw a pension now worth $41,215 per year when he turns 55. He also gets severance worth $72,150 because he hasn’t yet reached 55, the age when the pension kicks in.MPs' pension is not something that I'm normally much

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138548050520914192006-01-29T09:42:00.000-05:002006-01-29T14:21:34.293-05:00

While going through Ethics Commissioner Shapiro's reports I noticed something odd. Consider this: Mr. Grewal and Mrs. Grewal both testified that while on their way to Question Period on Monday, May 16, 2005, he informed her for the first time that he had been contacted by Mr. Kalia. Mrs. Grewal’s response was “you’re wasting your time since, you know, we’re not going to be joining the Liberals.”

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138397345802116602006-01-28T21:28:00.000-05:002006-01-29T12:19:54.243-05:00

While reviewing the Ethics Report, I noticed that there are unresolved problems with the chronology of Grewal's calls with Sadesh Kalia.Together with his translation and transcript of his calls with Kalia, Grewal created a log of his calls from Kalia on his Blackberry for the 16th, 17th, and 18th. Here is the transcript for the sixteenth:It is difficult, however, to reconcile this log with

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138484199734946122006-01-28T16:20:00.000-05:002006-01-30T18:48:11.533-05:00

As many have noted, Dosanjh is publicly musing a lawsuit against Grewal. From where I sit, it looks to be a slam-dunk of a case. Except for one niggling fact that I noticed several months ago and have not previously mentioned.Presumably Dosanjh's suit would be based on Grewal's public statements about what transpired from May 16-18 and that Grewal released documents that had been doctored to

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138478680379697072006-01-28T14:44:00.000-05:002006-01-31T17:05:04.850-05:00

Andrew Coyne discusses Ethics Commissioner Shapiro's decision today in the National Post, which he reprints in his blog (here). I hope to get time to engage with his piece in a little more detail later. One point that Coyne rightly skewers Shapiro is on his handling, or non-handliing, of the 'tapes'. We wonders how Shapiro can come to the conclusions he doeswhen it is not even clear that he

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138341961591813552006-01-28T01:01:00.000-05:002006-01-28T14:44:04.596-05:00

At this evening's Blogger meet-up, I met Andrew Coyne, who mentioned that he has a column coming out tomorrow in which he will slam Ethics Commissioner Shapiro's report. Knowing this blog's work, he said that he assumed that I had a different opinion.We didn't get a chance to explore this any further, but I think Coyne would be surprised to hear that I have at least two serious problems with

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138391154333209642006-01-27T14:30:00.000-05:002006-01-28T00:45:34.326-05:00

Ethics Commissioner Shapiro's reports that Grewal admitted that on Monday, May 16, 2005, he decided to tape the conversations he was having with Mr. Kalia, Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Murphy in order to ensure he had proof of the nature of the discussions that were occurring. Here again, Mr. Shapiro's decision not to use the primary evidence of Grewal's recordings let him down. Here is a list of phone

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138340823454193402006-01-27T00:39:00.000-05:002006-01-27T00:58:21.486-05:00

The Ethics Commissioner's report continues to discuss the conversation between Grewal and Murphy in Grewal’s office at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18. Shapiro concludes The meeting ended with no commitment by either participant.Mr. Dosanjh testified that subsequently, he was informed that two Conservative MPs were going to be holding a media event and making allegations that the Liberals were

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138325066347026932006-01-26T20:23:00.000-05:002006-01-28T20:49:58.516-05:00

Too much time reading blogs. (Don't let this happen to you!)(cross-posted to Bouquets of Gray)

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138293971586404512006-01-26T19:45:00.000-05:002006-01-26T19:57:45.576-05:00

Long-time readers may remember a rather long-winded and complicated series of arguments last summer about whether Harper had learned about the call on the 16th or 17th (see here, where I concluded on the 17th, and here, where I wrongly argued for the 16th).The Ethics Commissioner's report settles the question once and for all: We wished to clarify with Mr. Harper that Mr. Grewal first approached

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138291758082963212006-01-26T19:08:00.000-05:002006-01-26T19:48:41.706-05:00

From the Ethics Commissioner's report: All three parties agree that the meeting ended with no offers having been made and that there was no commitment by Mr. Grewal. This is as interesting for what it says as for what it doesn't.First, Grewal, Dosanjh, and Murphy all agree that the Liberals made no offers at this meeting, which amounts to an admission of Grewal's that his many earlier statements

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138290805782741082006-01-26T17:51:00.000-05:002006-01-26T19:25:19.446-05:00

From the Ethics Commissioner's report: The testimony of Mr. Dosanjh, Mr. Grewal and Mr. Murphy is relatively consistent as to what transpired during the meeting in Mr. Dosanjh’s office in the Confederation Building at 1:00 pm Tuesday, May 17, 2005.Prior to the arrival of Mr. Murphy at this meeting, Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Grewal both agree that there was further discussion in relation to Mr. Grewal’s

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138291277898688172006-01-26T10:58:00.000-05:002006-01-27T13:48:05.780-05:00

The Globe and Mail reports:Harper failed to meet ethics czar on GrewalBy CAMPBELL CLARKThursday, January 26, 2006 Posted at 5:22 AM ESTFrom Thursday's Globe and MailOTTAWA — Stephen Harper failed to meet federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro despite repeated attempts over four months to interview him for an inquiry into the Gurmant Grewal affair, Mr. Shapiro noted in a report released

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13146495.post-1138290220560194042006-01-26T10:33:00.000-05:002006-01-30T18:55:01.766-05:00

From the Ethics Commissioner's report:Mr. Grewal and Mrs. Grewal both testified that while on their way to Question Period on Monday, May 16, 2005, he informed her for the first time that he had been contacted by Mr. Kalia. Mrs. Grewal’s response was “you’re wasting your time since, you know, we’re not going to be joining the Liberals.”Grewal has claimed on many occasions that he never intended

bucketsnoreply@blogger.com0