With the latest set of revelations in the ongoing Senate Scandal, we find out that Senator Wallin spends the majority of her time living in Toronto. Frankly, I don’t much care where Ms. Wallin lives. That is largely her business – except for that part of her life where she
Continue readingTag: mike duffy
Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Michael Harris offers a theory for the Cons’ handling of the Clusterduff – from their willingness to pay him off to their subsequent decision to cut him loose: Why were the CPC and the PM’s chief of staff willing to risk what
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Marc Lee takes a high-level look at the absurdity of our destructive economic choices: Exhibit one: the North Pole at the moment is a one-foot-deep aquamarine lake. After reaching record low ice cover and thickness at the end of summer 2012, an ice-free
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Myles discusses the Cons’ war on evidence: The mandatory Census was the lifeblood of almost all social and business planning. It provided key data for studying things like income inequality and poverty since both low- and high-income households were required to report.
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy shows his dance moves
Picture is a little grainy. Duffy was not co-operating. 🙂
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: RCMP move Duffy investigation to PMO as those with knowledge relocated
A few years ago, we were treated to a new low in Canada when the RCMP had to raid the offices of the Conservative Party of Canada in relation to an Elections Canada investigation. And now, the RCMP are eyeing the Conservative Prime Minister’s Office as well. We hear now
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Plenty more commentators are weighing in on the Harper Cons’ enemy list, including the Star, the Globe and Mail, and Lawrence Martin. But Robyn Benson makes the most important comment about the Harper with-us-or-against-us mentality that’s being applied to the federal government
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: If the Prime Minister Obstructs Justice, Isn’t It Still A Criminal Offence?
CTV reports the following: The Prime Minister’s Office has been withholding from the RCMP an email about the $90,000 cheque Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff wrote to Sen. Mike Duffy… RCMP investigators have been trying to obtain the email ever since CTV News first revealed its existence two months
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy in Florida and money
I am disappointed by Harper’s Cabinet shuffle. I thought new finance minister will be Mike Duffy. He knows all about money.
Continue readingImpolitical: Noted in the RCMP affidavit on the Duffy matter
Interesting pickup by Alison at Creekside on the RCMP sworn information in relation to “Project Amble,” the Duffy Senate matter:
According to RCMP Corporal Greg Horton’s excellent summary :
On June 21, 2013 my office received a letter from Peter Mantas, which I have read, advising that Mr. Wright recalls that he told the following people that he would personally provide funds to repay Duffy’s claimed secondary residence expenses:
a. David van Hemmen (PMO)
b. Benjamin Perrin (PMO)
c. Chris Woodcock (PMO)
d. Senator Irving Gerstein
“Would” is future tense, seeming to indicate they were all advised before Wright wrote Duffy the cheque on March 26.
According to the affidavit then (para. 37), just to emphasize a point, Wright advised the RCMP that he told the above four individuals, in advance, that he would write the cheque.
Further, this group included Benjamin Perrin, the Prime Minister’s former legal advisor.
Recall Perrin’s statement:
I was not consulted on, and did not participate in, Nigel Wright’s decision to write a personal cheque to reimburse Senator Duffy’s expenses.
I have never communicated with the Prime Minister on this matter.
The RCMP affidavit notes at the end that Perrin “cannot meet investigators until after July 5th.” Presumably the above two versions were or will be put to him, whenever that meeting happens.
Continue readingImpolitical: Noted in the RCMP affidavit on the Duffy matter
Interesting pickup by Alison at Creekside on the RCMP sworn information in relation to “Project Amble,” the Duffy Senate matter: According to RCMP Corporal Greg Horton’s excellent summary : On June 21, 2013 my office received a letter from Peter Mantas, which I have read, advising that Mr. Wright recalls
Continue readingImpolitical: Noted in the RCMP affidavit on the Duffy matter
Interesting pickup by Alison at Creekside on the RCMP sworn information in relation to “Project Amble,” the Duffy Senate matter: According to RCMP Corporal Greg Horton’s excellent summary : On June 21, 2013 my office received a letter from Peter Mantas, which I have read, advising that Mr. Wright recalls
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Robert Reich asks a few impertinent (but important) questions about plutocratic encroachment on the U.S.’ political system. – Catherine McKenna explains why it’s important to try to make a difference in our political system. But Chris Cobb reports on what happens to
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy
He is having time of his life. He has some dance moves to show that he is having great fun.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the Cons’ abuse of supporters’ donations can only stoke cynicism about the value of participating in politics – but how the limited number of people currently involved in politics creates a huge opportunity to change the system. For further reading…– Samara’s poll and analysis on public participation
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – George Monbiot rightly challenges the attempt of corporate interests and their political sock-puppets to demonize anybody concerned about our planet’s future: Exotic invasive species are a straightforward ecological problem, wearily familiar to anyone trying to protect biodiversity. Some introduced creatures – such
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz makes the case for free trade talks to be based on the public interest rather than the further entrenchment of corporate power and siphoning of wealth to the top. But there’s little reason to expect a meeting of corporate and government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The death of plausibility
“It doesn’t have to be true. It just has to be plausible.” Tom Flanagan’s unusually candid statement about the Harper Cons’ view of politics received plenty of attention. And rightly so, given how it signals a party and government with absolutely no interest in anything approaching honest discussion or debate.
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