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In retrospect, the extent to which Zaccardelli went to breach convention and publicize the investigation is quite breathtaking. Here are the facts as catalogued in Kennedy’s independent report in 2008. In late December 2005 the nation’s top cop decided to overlook the long-standing RCMP habit of refusing to confirm or deny the existence of open investigations. Instead, he prepared a letter confirming the income trust investigation was underway and then faxed it to the office of NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis in reply to her inquiries. When no indication of receipt resulted – no audible gasp was heard all the way from Winnipeg – he took matters further into his own hands and telephoned the Opposition MP personally to guarantee that she was made aware. For those who have not served in Parliament, rest assured it is a damned strange day when a backbench MP receives a personal call from the RCMP Commissioner, much less in the midst of a national election campaign.

As Zaccardelli could not have possibly doubted, things quickly hit the fan. The NDP campaign made the letter public and screamed scandal to high heaven. Who could blame them?

But the RCMP Commissioner was still far from finished. In response to the storm of media inquiries that inevitably arose from the disclosure he had volunteered, Zaccardelli instructed his staff to prepare a news release. They complied. But that still wasn’t good enough. According to statements from officials later given to Kennedy, Zaccardelli was unhappy with the vagueness of the first draft. He instructed staff to revise the release and explicitly add the name of then-Finance Minister Ralph Goodale — even though there was no allegation of wrongdoing and Goodale was not personally under investigation. Indeed, Goodale was later thoroughly exonerated, although only after taking a ghastly pounding by political opponents. A grasping Kennedy later characterized the Commissioner’s actions in this way: “I don’t know what he was thinking, I can only speculate.”