So on Tuesday morning the first report of the Gomery Inquiry is coming out, having everybody anxiously preparing for the political war that will ensue. (Extraction from CTV News)

Federal parties preparing Gomery report spin (CP)
OTTAWA — The Liberal party is preparing to return bags of cash purloined from the public purse.

Prime Minister Paul Martin is preparing a late-night huddle with a small circle of advisers on Parliament Hill on Monday. And his predecessor Jean Chretien is preparing to meet with three of his lawyers the following morning at 10 a.m. ET.

For almost two years, the country's political players awaited Justice John Gomery's report as a potentially ground-shifting moment in Canadian politics. That moment -- Tuesday morning -- is approaching fast. And they're all preparing for the fallout.

Opposition parties hope for a lurid chronicle of corruption that triggers enough public outrage to sweep the Liberal government from office. The Bloc Quebecois wants just enough outrage to sweep Quebec out of Canada. The Liberals hope to survive the wave.

Martin's inner circle gets an early glimpse at Gomery's tome late Monday -- 16 hours before its public release.That tight group of advisers will spend the ensuing hours discussing how to dismantle a political bomb.

The document is so shrouded in secrecy that those who see it Monday night will be forced to sign a confidentiality agreement.The few with access will be preparing talking points that will serve the following morning as a line of defence for the prime minister, his cabinet and Liberals across the country.

Liberal party officials say even they don't expect warning of the report's contents -- but they have their main answer prepared. Within hours or days of its release, the party plans to dip into a $750,000 trust fund it recently set aside to refund taxpayers.

"We know we will have a responsibility to reimburse the government of Canada,'' said the Liberals' national director, Steven MacKinnon. "Anyone convicted of wrongdoing -- we don't want that money. We don't want any part of it.''

The prime minister will assess the damage and decide how to respond but is expected to make a formal statement, at the very least, in the National Press Theatre near Parliament.

Several blocks away, Jean Chretien will be meeting with his lawyers. All three of his Gomery commission counsel will pore over the document in a four-hour briefing lockup for media and politicians from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET. They will take the news to their famous client, who plans to issue a public response.

Sources say the potential responses range from a statement of vindication, to a lawsuit aimed at having the report wiped off the government record and discredited. The political response might undergo some last-minute fine tuning.

But politicians of all stripes have already crafted messages based on the assumptions one might logically draw from the inquiry: the federal sponsorship program enriched the Liberal party, there were corrupt elements in the party, the corruption permeated government, several Chretien confidants had a front-row seat to it, and there was no smoking gun implicating the current or former prime minister.

Let the political spin wars begin.