Fitting caricature given his ego
It was a comedy, for real. Mike Duffy, the ultimate Ottawa insider, a cartoonish character who has become the leading symbol of Senate corruption, claiming living expenses for a cottage in Prince Edward Island he hardly occupied. The ultimate oversized sense of entitlement. He is a schmoozer who likes access to power, and has a giant ego to boot. A highschool dropout who made it big.
The documentary showed how Mike Duffy had been lobbying for a Senate seat since the Mulroney era. He had no principles or party preference, he did the same sucking up to Jean Chretien. Finally, Duffy got his break, when during the 2008 federal election he replayed the tape of Stéphane Dion's false start during an interview with CTV Atlantic, leaving out the rest of the interview, focusing on that one stumble. A serious breach of journalistic ethics. Though Harper rewarded him with a seat in the Senate after the election.
Maybe Harper is regretting that decision now... given the embarrassment Duffy has caused him.
You can watch the documentary at this link. Recommend this post
Through all this kerfuffle, I seldom see the finger of blame pointed directly at Harper, who knew full well that Duffy was not a resident of PEI, appointed him as representative of region that he clearly did not reside in. Same for Wallin. The back and forth about where you live stems from someone being appointed who was not, in fact, eligable. While the rules state Must Own Property, how can one represent an area if they don't reside there? The claims were made to support residency, which, did not exist. The appointment itself, first and foremost, was the initial fraud.
ReplyDelete131220, I agree with you 100%.
ReplyDeleteResidence part was fraud.
Harper was fully aware of Wright giving $90 thousand to Duffy. It is coming out slowly and steadily. Hopefully it will come to haunt Harper.
I wonder how hard Stephen Harper is twisting RCMP commish Paulson's arm not to bring charges against Duffy.
ReplyDeleteIt would be hard to prosecute Duffy without charging Wright and Perrin and I hear that Wright has made it clear that he will not spare Harper if he is forced to defend himself against criminal charges.
There is also an overdue audit report into other "out of province" senators and their housing claims that some claim will reveal dozens of others in the Wallin-Duffy situation. There's a lot of political capital tied up in those appointments. Will Harper have them turfed from the Senate? Will he see them prosecuted?
The 5th estate piece really didn't bring out anything new and there's more to come.
@ 131220. Yes, this does point to Harper. It's useful to remember that, at the outset, Harper vouchsafed both Wallin and Duffy on the residence issue. He said both met the requirements to represent their respective provinces. Harper went on to say that he had examined Ms. Wallin's expenses and found them legitimate and appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThese statements, well-recorded, would make Harper a material witness in criminal proceedings against Wallin or Duffy.
A prosecutor would have to prove "intent" and how can you have a wrongful intent if the fellow you serve, the prime minister no less, pronounces both your residency and your expenses correct and appropriate?
Do you think Harper is going to take the stand? Never. Any good cross-examiner could end Harper's political career in a half hour.
Mound, good to see around. Miss your posts.
ReplyDeleteYour observations are quite right. Initially he said Wright quit. When scandal started unfolding he said that Wright was fired.
I hope Canadians remembers his flip-flops and turf him out in 2015.