Switching back now to politics, the hottest news right now is the statement coming from John Saldivar a few minutes ago. It's the first thing we've heard from him since his text exchange with Jacob Kingston was revealed.
Somewhat surprisingly, he says, quote "those messages do not appear to accurately reflect my recollection of any conversation with Jacob Kingston...expert scrutiny of the text messages reveal serious discrepancies that creates high suspicion of being deliberately manufactured."
Later on in the statement he adds, "On a daily basis I assist many individuals and families with cash for various purposes from health to education to water bill, light bill and the likes. This money has to come from somewhere and it's not coming from government whose budget for sports and community assistance is very limited. The money to help our constituents come from business people who have the compassion and desire to help. If politicians are going to be held criminally liable when they accept financial contributions from persons who later on turn out to be criminals, then all of us politicians are in jeopardy of one day being considered a criminal for having taken an innocent contribution. There are some politicians even in my Party who are pretending sanctimoniously that they don't." End quote.
That's some hard talk - and while it is not clear who he is directing it to, most will keep their heads low. That's because campaign financing is not something much talked about publicly. And, while Patrick Faber surely had to do a whole lot of it in his run for leadership - the next time around, if he chooses to run, it probably won't be as expensive. But yesterday he told us he still hadn't made up his mind:
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"We have to make moves in order to secure a new leader and that means that all of us, all 31 of us including the Prime Minister and everybody else, we must try to come up with ideas as to how we are going, of course, to fill the gap of our leadership and to ensure that our party secures a victory."
Reporter:
"Would you be interested in that job?"
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"Well, it is something I am still going over in my mind. I won't tell you absolutely that's what I'm going to do just yet. In fact, it takes a lot of consulting."
Faber says he may decide this weekend.
Email
Print