Justice grinds along as the federal election wanders to its ten-week conclusion. Nothing but a busker, Senator Duffy serves as a minor entertainment as we wait to record the verdict of a nation. Mr. Harper no longer cares about the future of the Senate of Canada. And if he could get away with dispensing with the House of Commons as well, he would be much happier running the country.
Poor Mike Duffy, as a political pundit for CTV, his bias was brazen. As an entertainer, he was at the top of his game. When Prime Minister Harper called, he jumped at the chance to be pensioned off to a seat in the Canadian Senate. He saw it as a sinecure, a well-earned early pension for a bon vivant who had earned his chops.
But the Prime Minister wanted a quid pro quo. He expected “The Duff” to sing for his supper at Conservative fund-raisers. And The Duff saw it as a way to live high on the expense account. Just maybe, he lived a little too high.
The new Senator saw the Senate as something of a private club. It was run on the honour system. “We are all honourable ladies and gentlemen here.”
It even does a little work if you feel like it. It keeps the hand in.
Senators have to be from a province or territory and Duffy chose Prince Edward Island. He had a place there that he could claim as a residence. In the meantime, he continued to live in the Ottawa area for convenience.
And the wonderful thing about it was that Duffy could help his friends in the Conservative caucus of MPs. Was not the Prime Minister’s Office his booking agency? Did not the Prime Minister have first call on Duffy’s services? Who was the best warm up act for the Prime Minister of Canada?
It was certainly inconvenient that someone called Duffy on his expenses. They must have known where he really lived. His booking agents at the Prime Minister’s Office thought that the Conservative Party might offer a bailout. The party baulked when it was found that the Senator had misspoke on his expenses. He might have erroneously billed more than $30,000. It was the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Nigel Wright who wrote the cheque for over $90,000 that Duffy found was needed.
And since the Chief of Staff reports directly to the Prime Minister, that was who fired Mr. Wright. It was the only way that Mr. Harper could disassociate himself with the illegal payment to a Canadian Senator. Mind you with the way the Prime Minister micro-manages his office and parliament, he is the only person we can blame.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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