More stories today about what is supposed to be an embarrassment for the Conservatives regarding a volunteer worker named Giulio Maturi. Allegations were made in 2009 by one Benoit Labonté that Maturi advised him to use campaign workers who were paid by a private company. So I can see why the Conservatives might want to shy away from having this person associated with the party, even though he denied the allegations.
But there is something a little more troubling about this story. It's how the media is handling it, apparently ignorant to the fact who Benoit Labonté is and his recent past. Benoit Labonté was an aide to former Liberal PM Paul Martin. That's right, he's a Liberal. So I guess the media don't think it's worth mentioning. The thing is he seems to have a somewhat shady past himself. The media has run with his allegations, despite the denial from Mr. Maturi that it ever occurred. But what of Benoit Labonté? Well, you would think the media might mention this, no?
"Montreal opposition leader Benoît Labonté is denying allegations he had dealings with the construction entrepreneur at the centre of the city's water-meter scandal.
The allegations were reported Friday by RueFrontenac.com, the online news site written by the locked-out journalists from the French-language daily Journal de Montreal.
Labonté met with Tony Accurso in March 2008 while preparing to launch his bid to lead the Vision Montreal party, the website said, citing anonymous sources.
The website alleges Labonté eventually asked for and received more than $100,000 in donations from Accurso."
Full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2009/10/16/mtl-labonte-accurso.html
Update: Doing a little more searching on google produced this. Appears the allegations against Labonte were admitted to:
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091022/mtl_poll_091022/20091022/?hub=MontrealHome
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