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But Iacobucci found that Wilkinson was never given the original version of the crucial memo. It stated that all the firms could handle the litigation, but “the Review Committee ranked International Tobacco Recovery Lawyers last, primarily due to their lack of depth and the lack of any presence in Edmonton.”

This memo then went on a tortuous journey through the bureaucracy. It emerged with no hint of the earlier dismissal.

“No one consortium stood out above the others,” the final version said. “All three have unique strengths and weaknesses, and the decision really depends on what ‘package’ is most appealing to the government.”

And the contract went to the consortium that included Hawkes’s firm.

The judge says he has no evidence that Redford ever saw the earlier memo. He assigns no blame. But he does say, forcefully, that to leave the matter hanging would “risk undermining public confidence in the administration of government.”

He rejects the thought of a public inquiry, but recommends referring the matter back to the new ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler, for possible re-investigation.

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Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley has already sent the report along. It’s hard to imagine Trussler, herself a former Queen’s Bench justice, just letting the whole thing drop.

While this was happening, word came out that Craig Chandler, who was once barred as a PC candidate for anti-gay remarks attributed to an organization he was involved in, has been acclaimed as a Calgary regional director for the PC party.

And the PCs themselves released a poll of party members who were asked why they’d been so badly beaten by the NDP last May.

Ninety-four per cent agreed that “the major cause for the elections loss was that Albertans viewed the PC Party as arrogant and entitled, and that the organization did not listen to Albertans and had lost their trust.”

That’s the PCs talking. About themselves.

There will be more Mondays to overcome.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald

dbraid@postmedia.com