Was Cadman bought?

This story (copied below) from the Montreal Gazette is of some interest.

Hat tip to Rayguy.

Cadman's dream for justice now a little closer

He entered politics to fight for justice for the victims of violence and their families after his son was stabbed to death.

Now British Columbia MP Chuck Cadman's dream of justice is a little closer to being realized after Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said late yesterday he shares many of Cadman's concerns and plans to act on them.

However, Cotler said he told Cadman only after last night's critical vote because he didn't want to be accused of trying to influence him.

"I went to Mr. Cadman (after the vote) and said, 'I didn't want to speak to you about this before the vote and never did, but those initiatives that you had with respect to victims' rights, I said I am going to be supporting them as best as I can because I believe we have a common cause in that regard.' "

Cotler said he had been thinking about issues Cadman had raised for some time, such as victims' rights and Cadman's bill to crack down on street racing. Cotler said his preoccupation with victims' rights came long before there was any question of a vote. Now that the immediate crisis has been averted, Cotler said, he can move forward with addressing those concerns.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan had nothing but praise for Cadman and also appeared open to acting on some of Cadman's causes.

"We are bringing forward legislative amendment to strengthen the rights of victims and victims' families. We're putting more resources into our existing victims' programs to expand them.

Does anyone believe this?

After these tapes we released this week (summary here) regarding Liberal attempts to buy Conservative MP's, something smells a little fishy. On the tape, the PM's Chief of Staff, Tim Murphy, makes statements such as how it is a "bad idea" to "have any kind of commitment that involves and explicit trade".

So here we have Chuck, meeting with the Prime Minister before the vote, not have any discussions of a trade, but then, lo and behold, less then 24 hours after he votes with the Libs, certain pet projects of his are now a higher Liberal priority. What a coincidence.

Even if I am wrong, based on the Liberal standard operating procedure we have all witnessed this week, I should be forgiven for jumping to conclusions.

Cadman sold out.