THERE’S A HUGE CORRUPTION SCANDAL IN CANADA that doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of attention in the United States:

The quarter-billion-dollar federal sponsorship fiasco was so widespread that even Canada’s fabled national police force was used to funnel cash to friends of the federal government, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said today.

Fraser delivered a brutally methodical account of how the Public Works Department used Crown corporations and the RCMP to systematically shovel funds from a national-unity program to a select group of businesses.

This bit isn’t especially reassuring:

“We’re not interested in a witch hunt and we’re not interested in anything that could negatively affect the party brand,” said the official.

“But at the end of the day the public interest demands that the answers to these questions be provided.

“We’re the government. We’re not just a political party.”

“Negatively affect the party brand?”

UPDATE: Damian Penny is upset.

Colby Cosh, meanwhile, is unsurprised.