Canadian prime minister Paul Martin made a rare televised address early today to apologise for a corruption scandal in his Liberal Party that he called an "unjustifiable mess".
An auditor general's report found millions of dollars in a national unity fund went to Liberal-friendly advertising firms to promote federalism in Quebec following the narrow defeat of a separatist referendum in the French-speaking province.
Canadian prime minister Paul Martin
Mr Martin promised to call an election within 30 days of an inquiry report on the scandal that has disgusted Canadians and provoked the opposition Conservative Party to threaten a no-confidence vote that could take down the government any day, triggering new elections.
"Those who are in power are to be held responsible, and that includes me," Mr Martin said. "I'm sorry that I was not more vigilant. Those who have violated the public trust will be identified and will pay the consequences."
Mr Martin has not been implicated in the scandal and is quick to point out that his first piece of business in office was to cancel the programme, file writs against 19 of the involved firms, and demand the inquiry.
"If so much as a dollar is found to have made its way into the Liberal Party for ill-gotten gains, it will be repaid to the people of Canada. I want no part of that money," Mr Martin said in taped speeches in English and French.
The scandal outraged the public when it was uncovered in 2002 and contributed to the Liberal Party's loss of its majority in Parliament after elections last June.
Mr Martin appealed to the two-thirds of Canadians who have told pollsters they do not want elections now to give his government time to pass critical legislation on such issues as health care and environmental reform, gay marriage, a national child-care programme and the budget.
His address was the first such address by a Canadian leader in a decade and was aired coast-to-coast by all six of Canada's English and French television networks.
Former prime minister Jean Chrétien did so on the eve of the failed 1995 referendum, pleading with voters in the French-speaking province of Quebec to turn down a proposal to become a sovereign state.
AP