XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics   
   From: doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca   
      
   In article <2baku.257454$DT4.232114@fx13.iad>,   
   =?UTF-8?B?Q29uyYBSQ29uyYA=?=   wrote:   
   >CBC News Posted: Nov 22, 2013   
   >   
   >Nigel Wright-Mike Duffy affair tests Harper's 'new era of accountability'   
   >   
   >New RCMP documents raise more questions than answers about Mike Duffy   
   >payment   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >For his single-minded devotion to business as usual, you have to hand it   
   >to Stephen Harper. Really.   
   >   
   >There he was Thursday in Lac Megantic, far away from Parliament Hill,   
   >committing $95 million to the critical work of decontaminating the site   
   >of one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.   
   >   
   >Harper is frequently the face of his government when it comes to big   
   >spending announcements. Good news like that is good for the PM's image.   
   >   
   >But when it comes to the $90,000 doled out by his former top adviser to   
   >solve a political problem largely of Harper's own making, well, then the   
   >responsibility rests squarely with others.   
   >   
   >For months now, Harper has ducked, weaved and laid the blame on Nigel   
   >Wright for having the poor sense of paying off Senator Mike Duffy's   
   >improperly claimed living expenses; and also on Mike Duffy for lying   
   >about having used his own money when he hadn't.   
   >   
   >The prime minister's lines have changed each time the scandal deepened:   
   >from first praising Wright's intentions to later condemning them, from   
   >saying Wright ''acted alone'' to suggesting he told ''very few.''  He   
   >has also morphed from saying Wright resigned, to insisting his former   
   >chief of staff was dismissed.   
   >   
   >This week, new RCMP court documents related to their investigation of   
   >the Wright-Duffy affair, made it clear that many more people knew of   
   >Wright's decision than the ''very few'' he referred to.   
   >   
   >They include a half-dozen of the most senior people inside his own   
   >office, as well as at least one senator and two officials with the   
   >Conservative Party.   
   >   
   >None of those people have paid a price for helping keep what Harper now   
   >describes as Wright's ''deception.''   
   >   
   >Nor does it appear any of them will.   
   >   
   >   
   >A higher accountability   
   >   
   >"It's important to note that the inappropriate action taken here was by   
   >Mr. Wright at his own initiative and obviously [by] Mr. Duffy, who   
   >deliberately lied to the public about those things,'' Harper said in Lac   
   >Megantic when reporters pressed him on the matter at a brief news   
   >conference.   
   >   
   >As for his own responsibility for the actions of people in his office,   
   >Harper was mute. This buck is for passing.   
   >   
   >That stance is, of course, entirely at odds with the standards Harper   
   >promised when he first came to power in 2006.   
   >   
   >In those days, a Conservative win meant a new era of accountability in   
   >Ottawa.  He vowed Conservative ministers and political staff would be   
   >held to a higher standard of conduct than the Liberal government that   
   >preceded them.   
   >   
   >Canadians were told he would brook no aberrant behaviour, no case in   
   >which anyone in his government would profit from his or her position.   
   >   
   >The promise became an important selling point in Harper's win, and was   
   >built on voter fatigue with the Liberal sponsorship scandal.   
   >   
   >Living up to those standards today in the midst of the Wright-Duffy   
   >scandal may well determine the Conservative hold on office two years   
   >from now.   
   >   
   >Harper is now the leader under siege over what he knew, and when he knew it.   
   >   
   >He's being pressed to explain why staff in his office seemed to work   
   >harder on the cover-up, keeping the issue under wraps, than on saving   
   >taxpayers' money from being spent on Mike Duffy's expenses.   
   >   
   >Perhaps most troubling, he's being pressed to explain why his   
   >confidantes went to such lengths to meet the conditions Duffy imposed on   
   >their dealings, including one ''to keep him whole on the repayment'' —   
   >something the RCMP documents released this week make clear Wright   
   >reported to Harper way back on Feb. 22.   
   >   
   >"I want to speak to the PM before everything is considered final,''   
   >Wright sent to others in the office. An hour later he sent another email   
   >indicating ''we are good to go from the PM.''   
   >   
   >   
   >The larger question   
   >   
   >Harper insists the ''good to go'' meant he was good with Duffy repaying   
   >the $90,000. Not, as the RCMP investigator writes in the documents, "I   
   >believe the term keep him whole means that Senator Duffy would not be   
   >financially out of pocket.''   
   >   
   >NDP leader Thomas Mulcair seized on this point Thursday in question period.   
   >   
   >"Since when does the prime minister of Canada have to approve a senator   
   >repaying his own expenses,'' Mulcair thundered.   
   >   
   >Harper, of course, wasn't there to hear it. He was in Lac-Mégantic. The   
   >answer fell to his parliamentary secretary, Paul Calandra.   
   >   
   >"As I've said on a number of occasions,'' Calandra solemnly intoned as   
   >though his words carry the same weight as those of his boss, ''and as   
   >the prime minister has said, the standard that we expect on this side of   
   >the House is that if you have some expenses you did not incur you should   
   >not be accepting those expenses, Mr. Speaker.''   
   >   
   >That might pass as an answer explaining why the government wanted Duffy   
   >to be held accountable, but it doesn't begin to address the larger question.   
   >   
   >Harper's been even less clear on what Wright meant in another email sent   
   >May 14 — the day before the PM says he learned Wright had paid for   
   >Duffy's expenses.   
   >   
   >In that email, Wright says this: "The PM knows, in broad terms only,   
   >that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to repay the   
   >expenses.''   
   >   
   >There's been no explanation of when the PM knew this, or what Wright   
   >means by ''broad terms only.''   
   >   
   >It doesn't appear the RCMP are focused on getting answers to those   
   >questions either. As Harper says, only Wright and Duffy are under   
   >investigation.   
   >   
   >"After months of interviews and review of documents,'' Harper read from   
   >the RCMP production order made public this week, ''the investigator says   
   >he is not aware of any evidence that the prime minister was involved in   
   >the repayment or reimbursement of any money to Mr. Duffy. The RCMP could   
   >not be clearer.''   
   >   
   >And that's the message the prime minister wants Canadians to remember.   
   >In the Wright-Duffy affair, the man who would be the face of the   
   >government was left in the dark.   
      
   What accountability?   
   --   
   Member - Liberal International	This is doctor@nl2k.ab.ca Ici doctor@nl2k.ab.ca   
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   23 Nov 2013 a Big day indeed   
      
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