speaking province had frayed the country. In fact, a formal probe has shown that more than one-third of the 200-million dollar government- funded campaign was paid out to advertising agencies close to the ruling party who apparently did little work for the money. One blatant example, cited by The Washington Post earlier this week, entailed the payment of 2.5 million dollars to one such private advertising agency to make sure a "Canada" logo appeared on an ad for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. One investigator pointed out that since the mounted police were a government agency, they were already required to display the Canada logo. In a formal televised speech Thursday night, Martin apologized for the "unjustifiable mess" and pledged to put his minority government on the line within 30 days after the inquiry report is finished. The televised plea was a "high stakes gamble" by Martin and perhaps his "last hope for holding on" to the job of prime minister, The Toronto Star wrote. --More 2313 Local Time 2013 GMT
