PUBLICATION BAN LIFTED - PARTIALLY.

Justice Gomery lifted the publication ban this afternoon, freeing the way for a public consumption of Brault's testimony. Some aspects wof the testimonyy will remain under wraps, but the details are not yet known.

Brault, Groupaction's founder, had his trial moved from early next month to June. Along with former sponsorship program head Chuck Guite, he needs to answer for allegedly defrauding taxpayers of almost CN$2MM (a buck two-eighty American). It was the proximity in time of his Gomery testimony and trial that prompted the ban.

Public consumption may include the digestion of the Liberal government, who hold a plurality in the House of Commons, outnumbered by the combined Conservatives and BQ'rs. The Conservatives are down to the Libs 135-99, while the BQ'rs hold 54, and the NDP 19. Shifting only a handful of seats from the Libs would mean a new government.

"I hate this job. A barn's a barn, dammit," Gomery said after announcing the ruling, apparently thinking the microphone was turned off. "I could give a rat's *ss if the horse left last week."

Paul Martin, soon-to-be-former Prime Minister, has not commented publicly yet, but is rumored to have called the Maintenance Department (le Département D'Entretien) to deliver some moving boxes. During the call, "his voice seemed to quiver," says a person privy to the conversation but wishing to remain anonymous. "I asked him if he was working under a deadline, and he let out a guttural sound. Then I think I heard retching in the background, like when my kids used to go yammy in their jammies. I got the boxes up there right away."

Conservative leaders were seen high-fiving each other in the hallways as they passed one another. “Ah, the smell of napalm in the morning,” one was heard to say.