Mulroney invokes Sir John A.

in his closing remarks before the Ethics Committee:
"From Sir John A. Macdonald on, every prime minister has made mistakes," Mulroney said. ". . . part of the greatness of Sir John was that he was flawed..."

Ah, now that was an unfortunate comparison, Bri.
As Ottawonk points out, Sir John A holds the distinction of being " the very first conservative prime minister to take kick-backs on a procurement contract (they didn't have planes back then so they did it with trains)."

Despite Sir John A's claims of innocence, there was the little matter of receipts for the money from the Canadian Pacific Railway bidder (thank heavens we've progressed since then!) plus a telegram from Macdonald six days before the election which read, "I must have another $10,000. Will be the last time of calling. Do not fail me. Answer today."

Sadly, telegrams are seldom used for this type of transaction nowadays.

Best live-blogging of Muldoon's 3 1/2 hour non-testimony is Hope and Onions' The Mumbrage. The subtitles alone are worth the jump.