Is there a pizza tape?
Grewal at one time claimed that there were four hours of tape, and the Conservatives in the end released an hour and fifteen minutes worth. Obviously some people will assume the worst: that the Tories have more tapes that they haven't released, or that Grewal has more tapes that he hasn't given to the Tories. It is perfectly possible, of course, that there are no more tapes, and the four hours was yet another Grewal-ish exageration, much like his claim of being offered a cabinet post (it seems that he was offered no more than the vague prospect that he might be considered for a position as parliamentary secretary). But if there were a pizza tape, this would close the gap between what was released and those notional four hours.
The existence of the Pizza Tape would also explain an odd thing about the release of the tapes. Before the release, many people were complaining about the time it was taking for them to be made public. The reason, we were told, was that the Punjabi sections of the tape had to be translated and transcribed. But in what was released, there is not a lot of Punjabi. The initial phone-calls between Kalia and Grewal (about 8 minutes), and some parts of his discussions with Dosanjh (I'm guessing only another 7 minutes--they shift back and forth between Punjabi and English.) It doesn't take a week to translate 15 minutes of Punjabi.
If, however, there was a Pizza Tape, there'd be (what?) another hour (?) of Punjabi. This would take longer to translate.
Thoughts?
posted by buckets at 6/02/2005 12:56:00 PM
4 Comments:
If the pizza meeting was a two hour meeting on May 16th (and I have to double check that to be sure), then I think we have the answer. I made a post about the two hours of tape on my blog.
Ok my mistake. The pizza meeting, according to the transcripts, took place on the night of the 17th. Interesting note, the 17th is when Grewal told Harper of the tapes. I wonder if it was before or after that meeting over pizza.
That brings up an interesting point now. There seems to be an inconsistency here. Grewal claimed he had a two hour meeting with Dosanjh on May 16th. However, judging by this conversation with Kalia, that doesn't seem correct.
"SK called (Sunday, May 16, 2005) :
SK - Minister (Ujjal Dosanjh) called and asked me if I have spoken to you (GG). I said I
have talked to him and explained our discussion. Looks like everything is OK and said
that he (GG) should contact him (UD).
GG – Should I contact him (UD) ?
SK – Yes, he (UD) said GG should meet with him in the HOC. He (UD) will call me in
the morning. He (UD) started talking with the big boss. Unless and until you sit face to
face with the big boss nothing can be resolved. If promise is given face to face and I will
take your (UD) promise also, if need be, I will also come and join you in the meeting.
Everything looks OK, they (Liberals) are the ones who need you (GG).
GG – We will communicate further tomorrow.
SK – You also think what is reasonable to you, take a commitment for both of you and if
the govt is saved then it should be OK.
GG – Ok bye good night."
Also, there is only one log of a May 16th conversation yet his call log indicates several recieved calls and many missed calls from Kalia.
16 May 2:49 PM Received call from Sk
16 May 4:46 PM Received call from Sk
16 May 5:59 PM Received call from Sk
16 May 6:12 PM Received call from Sk
16 May 6:46 PM Received call from Sk
I wonder which time slot that conversation was in.
The other question is, did Grewal misspeak and mean the 17th?
The inconsistencies and mystery continue...
The chronology of those six calls with Kalia are kind of screwed up, not least because the first one is said to be (off the top of my head) Sunday the 16th. (That should have been 15th). The rest, I think, are all from the 16th. The last of them sets up the pizza date for 8 pm.
(Some of this is discussed here:http://bucketsofgrewal.blogspot.com/2005/05/tape-1-conversations-with-sudesh-kalia.html)
In Question Period today Dosanjh speaks about Grewal possibly losing or erasing two hours of tape with him in Dosanjh's apartment. I guess those "failed" recordings were the pizza recordings. At least that is my assumption based upon everything else. I will try to find the exact quotation.
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