The Captain’s Quarters seems to have got itself a juicy scoop and some nice traffic from Canada. But with all the hyperbole coming from our media outlets (force a quick election, explosive and damning testimony, devastating impact on the minority Liberal government, and criminal charges against senior Liberals), keep in mind a few things:

• the blog publishing the details has a right-wing conservative bias;
• because of the Gomery Commission’s publication ban on this testimony, any confirmation is vague at best;
• the ban was intended to ensure fair criminal trials for Chuck Guité, Jean Brault and Paul Coffin;
• the information was undoubtedly leaked by the current government’s political opponents;
• it’s great gunpowder for both politicians and the media;
• and no party, except maybe the Bloc Québécois, wants an election right now.

Although I’m not at all condoning the Liberal parties questionable actions, the testimony itself, as leaked, doesn’t seem any worse than anything else we’ve learned.

Unfortunately, given the law surrounding publication bans in Canada, I don’t know if this post is in contempt. Although I don’t think it is, I still won’t be linking to the alleged testimony directly, but the fact it had been released and so widely publicized severely weakens the publication ban as tool in such prominent cases (remember the Karla Homolka plea ban?).