Gomery Set to Rule on Publication Ban

Justice John Gomery, head of the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program, arrives for the hearings in Montreal, April 4, 2005. Gomery is set to rule later Wednesday whether to lift a publication ban on evidence which could bring down the country's minority Liberal government.

Reuters has the following:

MONTREAL (Reuters) - The head of an inquiry into a Canadian cash-for-favors scandal is set to rule later on Wednesday whether to lift a publication ban on evidence which could bring down the country's minority Liberal government.

The evidence in question -- termed "explosive" by newspapers -- was given to the inquiry last Thursday by advertising executive Jean Brault. The publication ban was imposed because Brault faced a trial for fraud next month.

A Quebec judge on Wednesday agreed to push the trial back to June 6, leaving inquiry head John Gomery to decide whether to lift the publication ban.

"He will most likely make a decision today," said a spokesman for the inquiry. Brault's lawyers, who argued that their client would have no chance of a fair trial in May if his evidence was made public now, had pushed for the proceedings to be put back to September.

The probe is looking into how C$100 million ($82 million) from a government advertising program designed to combat separatist feeling in French-speaking Quebec was given to Liberal-friendly firms, often for little or no work.

If the ban is lifted, the impact of Brault's evidence could prompt the opposition Bloc Quebecois party to introduce a motion of no-confidence in the government of Paul Martin on April 14.

Martin says a small group of rogue Liberals in Quebec may have been guilty of wrongdoing. The Bloc and other opposition parties say the group in question in fact ran the party in Quebec at the time of the scandal.

Will the ban be lifted?