Former prime minister Brian Mulroney wants the federal government to drop an independent review of allegations he faces and proceed immediately to a full-blown public inquiry into the matter.

Mulroney said an inquiry is the only way the issue which has dogged him for years will ever be put to rest.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday that he would appoint an independent adviser to review allegations in an affidavit by German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber that include a claim that while Mulroney was still in office, the two struck a deal for the former prime minister to be paid $300,000 after he left public life.

Mulroney said he will meet with the adviser but he will come to that meeting with a message.

“I have come to the conclusion that in order to finally put this matter to rest and expose all the facts and the role played by all the people involved, from public servants to elected officials, from lobbyists to police authorities, as well as journalists, the only solution is for the government to launch a full-fledged public commission of inquiry,” he said in a statement.

CBC 

I mentioned this in conversation tonight with two separate people who burst out laughing.
Does anyone believe the Privy Council office didn’t alert the current PM when Schreiber sent his letter?
35 people screen 1 million letters a year, and 1 million emails a year. 
Okay.
This was snail mail from an internationally known man who is facing bribery, fraud and tax evasion in Germany and a man who has fought extradition for ten years. His  allegations are about a former PM, I find it extremely difficult to believe it didn’t move up the food chain to the current PM’s office.
Obviously so do my friends.
(Schreiber says he has sent 15 to 20 letters to Harper)
There is such a trail of lies, combativeness, suspicion, exaggeration,  egos, wheeling and dealing, no one seems to walk away untainted.
It’s going to cost Canadians a lot more no matter where the truth lies.

background: the fifth estate
background to current controversy

Update: That didn’t take long