MONTRÉAL—The federal Liberals have yet to sweep away all the Quebec rubble of the sponsorship scandal and now the Charbonneau inquiry is piling on the damage of the Gomery commission.

Because the sponsorship program unravelled on Jean Chrétien’s watch, the 2004 federal inquiry into the spending scandal wreaked havoc in the ranks of his Quebec loyalists.

In time, the fallout did wound Paul Martin’s electoral prospects but ultimately he and his Quebec clan were just the collateral damage of a missile that landed on his predecessor’s faction.

But the tables are turned at the Charbonneau inquiry.

Some of the top municipal figures embroiled in the corruption scandal used to be leading members of Martin’s Quebec coterie. Others served in strategic roles in his palace guard.

Before he became an early casualty of the anti-corruption drive, Benoît Labonté — a former leader of the opposition at Montreal city hall — was a longtime Martin protégé. A member of his 1990 leadership team, he served in a senior position in Martin’s ministerial office before moving to the municipal scene.

Labonté quit politics under a cloud of allegations in the middle of Montreal’s 2009 municipal campaign.

Lachine Mayor Claude Dauphin lost his seat on Montreal’s executive committee last spring when the anti-collusion squad took an interest in his dealings on behalf of various developers.

He served as Martin’s chief Quebec adviser between 1997 and 2001.

Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt used to be one of Martin’s high-profile municipal allies. In 2003, Martin tried to lure the veteran mayor into his first cabinet. A tentative plan was said to be afoot to have him run the national infrastructure program.

Over the past few weeks, Vaillancourt has had his home and office raided by the police as part of an ongoing corruption investigation.

Over his lengthy quest of the Liberal throne, Martin built what my colleague Susan Delacourt described as a juggernaut.

By the time Chrétien retired, Martin’s Quebec network was significantly more extensive than that of the prime minister he was seeking to replace.

Almost a decade later, the sight of yet more former federal Liberal associates saddled with allegations of corruption — albeit from a different section of the party — would be little more than a familiar distraction if another consummate party insider was not lining up his ducks for a bid for the job of Montreal mayor.

Last week, Bourassa MP Denis Coderre took the first step towards the exit of the House of Commons and onto a mayoral campaign next fall. He put an informal deadline on his federal career by announcing that he would remain in the Commons until a new Liberal leader is chosen next spring.

Between now and then, there is not a stone along Coderre’s past political path that will be left unturned.

Coderre’s days as an organizer pre-date his entry to Parliament. His Rolodex is second to none. But it includes plenty of names that most Quebec politicians wish would self-erase these days.

A Toronto Star review of federal political financing records has already found that some of the political donations Coderre has received in recent years came from individuals that have been linked to the corruption scandals that are rocking Quebec.

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Until now, Coderre’s extensive connections were not really an issue. Most of those who have done business in Quebec politics over the past decades are bound to have had contact with at least some of the people at play in the corruption saga.

A month ago, polls showed him to be the public’s first choice in the upcoming mayoral race. But come next spring, Coderre may find that a weekly dose of collusion and corruption revelations involving people who contributed to or toiled for his party will have poisoned the well of his municipal ambitions.

He is well advised to hang on to his day job. The light at the end of the Liberal tunnel in Quebec is not necessarily in sight.

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