XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   On 23/11/2013 2:35 PM, ConɀRConɀ 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.   
   Nothing to see here. And in case you thought the stunned one came up   
   with this herself.   
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nigel-wright-mike-duffy-affair-t   
   sts-harper-s-new-era-of-accountability-1.2435876   
      
      
      
      
      
      
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