The World According to Gomery

In 1995, when the Quebec referendum was held, Jean Chretien put everything he could into a political campaign to save the federation known as Canada. It worked, barely, as the No side won a victory as thin as a razor blade, in a vote against sovereignty association. [That vote was held October 30, 1995]
 
Chretien, in order to keep the federation united, took on the personal responsibility of running a program to promote the national government in Quebec. The purpose was two-fold: maintain a federal presence in the province and boost the local Liberal Party's failing support. In other words, fly more Canadian flags.
 
Unfortunately, the plan backfired. Instead of boosting federalism, Chretien hired the wrong people, all of whom wanted to work the system to their advantage. They were caught by an audit in 2004, for misuse of public funds, kickback schemes and a lot of free lunches. The Gomery Report released this week, followed months of hearings into the fiasco. Over 1,400 pages of testimony and documentation revealed the mess, commonly known as the "sponsorship scandal".
 
While it's still too early to judge who is guilty, I find it ironic that Chretien’s efforts to maintain good relations with Quebec came back and bit him on the ass.
 
He carried the weight of every federalist Canadian on his shoulders for several weeks in 1995 and Chretien couldn't let it go. He did his best to maintain a federal presence in Quebec and he failed. The pundits will probably say that it’s the greatest political failure of his career.

Future leaders should pay heed to the warning: don't mess with Quebec because it’s a fragile relationship that often needs a little TLC, instead of more flags.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.