Allan Rock: “That’s why an apology was given”

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The following is a conclusion of the Report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, found on page 29 of the report

Airbus Libel Case Settlement

The Opposition insisted that as part of our study we examine the Airbus Libel case settlement between Mr. Mulroney and the former Liberal Government. As Allan Rock, Minister of Justice at the time of the settlement testified before us, the now public information about the business relationship between Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Schreiber, while it could have impacted the terms of the settlement, did not change the essential reason for the decision to settle.

Mr. Rock testified, “The advice I had from the department, with which I agreed, was that the gist of the reason we apologized to Mr. Mulroney was the language used in the letter of request, and if you read that language, you’ll see it was conclusory. It asserts as a matter of fact that there was criminal activity. That’s why an apology was given.” Further, he testified, “…regarding who is responsible for the $2.1 million, the government acknowledged that the letter should not have been sent in that language. It was the language used that was the essential harm here, and it was for that reason we apologized and agreed to pay
costs.”

Given that a decade-long RCMP investigation into the Airbus purchase which proceeded well past the date of the libel settlement found no evidence of criminal wrong-doing, and given the lack of any new evidence before our Committee, it must be concluded that the settlement reached with Mr. Mulroney was appropriate.

Mathias:Oliphant findings won’t sate the scandal-lust of Mulroney haters

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The following was published in the June 2, 2010 edition of The National Post

The witch hunt against the 18th prime minister of Canada — the “Airbus affair” — is over (perhaps). And the people who tried for a quarter of a century to find Brian Mulroney guilty of heinous corruption have failed. Meanwhile, this wild goose chase has cost $30-million of public money and consumed huge quantities of political oxygen, often suffocating more vital matters.

Airbus has been probed by the RCMP (twice), by the CBC (for 15 years), by the House of Commons Ethics Committee and by the $16-million Justice Jeffrey Oliphant Commission. At times, Mulroney’s treatment has descended into a public degradation ritual. But all this rage and spending has produced little more than Oliphant’s finding that Mulroney’s conduct was “inappropriate” for a former prime minister. When the dust settles, historians will call the Airbus affair, “The Mouse that Roared.”


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