Philip Jong

Tomorrow Justice John Gomery will release his official report from the nine-month public inquiry which he chaired on the scandalous Canadian Sponsorship Program. Launched in 1996, the Sponsorship Program was created to promote federalism and unity across Canada, particularly within the province of Quebec that had past carried sentiments of separatism. When the auditor-general’s report in 2004 detailed questionable practices and gross mismanagement of the program fund, it sparked a national outcry that eventually forced the Government of Canada to announce a public inquiry. In the wake of this federal scandal, political alliances got divided, politicians fell in disgrace, and our nation became the unwanted center stage of political backstabbing, public mistrust, and backdoor illegal dealings. The Gomery Inquiry was equally scandalous, often befalling to the level of a public sideshow of personal ego and political hand-washing. Notwithstanding the monetary price tag Canada has already paid with this national fiasco, the Gomery Report will only serve to remind Canadians the other unmeasured price tag Canada will have to pay for years to come—the loss of our trust of our government to do what is best in our interest.