On routine matters

Sask Party MLA Serge Leclerc asks: who are you going to believe, your lying public records or me?

Leclerc claimed in his autobiography, Untwisted, that his pardon was an extraordinary move, entailing a special act of Parliament. But Leclerc's parole board document indicates it was a routine pardon as per the conditions laid out in the Criminal Records Act.
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Leclerc said he still believes his pardon was a special case and should not be compared with James's.
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Leclerc says no matter what others may think of his pardon, he still believes it was well earned.

"I deserved it," he said. "I worked hard for it."

Now, the parole board's records would seem to be compelling enough evidence that Leclerc's claims about his pardon lack any basis in fact. But it's a rather simple matter to directly test Leclerc's assertion that his pardon resulted from "a special act of Parliament".

Here are the full lists of government and private members' bills from the 36th Parliament, 2nd session - covering the "acts of Parliament" for the time period from October 1999 to October 2000. On my review, the only bill dealing with pardons in any way was a Bloc private member's bill dealing with the costs of a free pardon.

So why does that matter? I'd argue that Leclerc's redemption story played a significant part in the Sask Party's attempt to put a friendlier face on itself in 2007. But the more of that story proves to be fabricated, the more reason there is for suspicion about the Sask Party's self-image generally.

Now, it doesn't look like even Leclerc is pretending to believe his own autobiography. And the fact that he's still looking for extra credit for having obtained a routine pardon even after the previous story has fallen apart can only cast doubt on the credibility of Leclerc and his party.

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