Inside Gomery

In the wake of shocking revelations about the misuse of federal funds in the Sponsorship program, then Prime Minister Paul Martin took the unprecedented step of creating an independent commission of enquiry, to be led by one man. That man was granted extraordinary power to seek out the truth, asking tough questions and demanding real answers. His name is now indelibly part of Canadian history: Justice John H. Gomery.

Gomery chose Francois Perreault, a veteran journalist, to be the Commission's public spokesperson, a move in itself extraordinary, as public commissions usually hide behind a cloak of secrecy and carefully vetted press releases. His resulting insider's account is a revelation of what really happened, and how the two remarkable Gomery reports saw the light of day in spite of huge bureaucratic and political resistance.

Naming names and moving down the corridors of power to the heart of the nation, Perreault shows how Gomery moved from producing a shattering report that brought a government down to offering a set of reasoned, revolutionary recommendations about Federal governance and the delicate balance of power between the Prime Minister and Parliament.