Sponsorship scandal continues to cost Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees

Whatever happened to the federal Liberal sponsorship scandal?

A story in Quebec's La Presse notes Ottawa is still working at recovering the $49 million found to have been misappropriated in the mid 1990s.

But the government hasn't been all that successful.

So far, it's only collected $6.7 million while paying out $4.9 million in legal fees and $14 million for the public inquiry into the scandal.

The legal fees continue to mount.

The government has a civil suit pending against a dozen companies and individuals, but the process has dragged on. It's not expected to reach the courts until sometime in 2012.

The sponsorship program, with a budget of $ 332 million, was launched by the Jean Chretien Liberals after the 1995 sovereignty referendum to increase the visibility of the federal government at public events in Quebec.

In 2004, Justice John Gomery, who was tasked to head the public inquiry, found some of the money had been diverted by advertising agencies and in some cases redirected to Liberal party staffers.

Gomery told La Presse he's not surprised by the ballooning legal costs during the current legal wranglings.

"These are high figures indeed. Unfortunately, it often happens that the cost of recovery of is very high," he said.

He added high court costs can also be the result of "fierce protest" by defendants' counsel.

Despite the costs, the Harper government insists it will continue to try and recover the sponsorship scandal funds.

"Canadians expect that any money stolen (is) recovered," Michelle Bakos, spokesman for the public works minister Rona Ambrose, told La Presse.

Meanwhile, the scandal continues to dog the federal Liberals in Quebec.

During the last election campaign an Abacus Data poll showed 53 per cent of Quebec respondents agreed they haven't yet forgiven the Liberals for their past scandals, while only 25 per cent disagreed.

(Reuters Photo)