Try to suppose, that there are actually two Liberal parties living under a common roof. Doesn't make much sense, does it? How about looking at two people, Chrétien and Martin, both with strong desires to become Prime Minister using different elements within the Liberal Party to get there.
How about we imagine two parties, the Chrétien Liberals, and the Martin Liberals. Both have usurped ideologies for so long, that they have started to believe in them. The Chrétienites have become close to the NDP and the Martinites close to the old Clark-led PCs. Maybe, the Chrétienites belived that they inherited the Trudeau mantle and the Martinites belived in the inheritance of theTurner ideology. Both went from there.
Consider ancient leadership rivalries. Maybe the two simply hate each other ... and the depth of the hate is profound. Martin lost the leadership first time around to Chrétien. HATE. Martin tried to squeeze Chrétien out when Chrétien was already leaving. HATE. Chretien stayed. REVENGE. Martin lost several good years of prime ministerial life. HATE. Martin formed the Gomery Commission. REVENGE.
So, back to the question. " Why didn't Martin know anything about Adscam?" Short answer: " Chretien didn't tell him. " How could Chrétien not tell Martin? Martin was the finance minister, after all. Because Chrétien didn't trust Martin. Apparently, he simply said, "Give me the ^%*!@^&ing dollars." Martin said " Why for?" The answer was, "None of your *%!@^&ing business. " (As a family newspaper we cannot fill in the blanks as to what is Chrétien’s favourite English verb. However, the taxpayer knows what it was, and is still feeling the pain.)
Considering all this, the question to ask is - “If you are not in charge, Mr. Martin, how come you took credit for the financial successes of the Chrétien government?"