The home of Canada’s Parliament, held in contempt by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Reform Party, doing business under the name of the Conservative Party of Canada. Below: former chief of staff Nigel Wright, Mr. Harper and Senator Mike Duffy. Surely the wrong man has quit! Nigel Wright, Prime
Continue readingTag: mike duffy
ParliamANT Hill: PM Waxes Poetic on Senate Scandal
One person’s tragedy is another’s travesty.
Continue readingLeftist Jab: The Case Against The Prime Minister In The Mike Duffy Scandal
Ran out of scotch to he’s making a ruckus. To quote the loquacious and disgraced Mike Duffy: “Words are important.” In that spirit, let’s take a careful look at Nigel Wright’s resignation press release to see if it can shed light into this whole affair: In light of the controversy
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Sen. Mike Duffy’s Scandal Torpedoes Nigel Wright: Canadians React
PM Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright resigned early Sunday following last week’s revelation that he cut a $90,000 personal cheque to cover Sen. Mike Duffy’s fraudulent Senate expense claims. The announcement has set the Twitterverse on fire. “Mr Wright’s resignation doesn’t end the matter – how and why was this deal
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy and Rob Ford: The match made in heaven.
They’re two soul-mates. Only difference is that Rob Ford can be fired. Mike Duffy is settled for life. He won a lottery and he did not even have to buy a lottery ticket, Stephen Harper handed him the prize.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On corrupted institutions
Plenty of others have had loads to say about the scandal surrounding Stephen Harper, Nigel Wright, Mike Duffy and the Senate generally – with Wright’s resignation today serving as just the latest chapter of a story with plenty left to be told. But I’ll add a couple of notes to
Continue readingTrashy's World: Nigel Wright resigns…
… and this troubling scandal deepens. How much did Harper know? What DON’T we know about – yet? A what point does the number of misdeeds, lies and deception by Harper government officials lead some to suggest that Harper call an election? Clearly, the government is losing the confidence of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: How the Coalition Came Back to Haunt Stephen Harper
More than four years later I can still remember how frightened Stephen Harper looked.The Great Canadian Coalition was threatening to remove him from power. And the people were in the streets.He was scared, he was desperate. But in the end he survived. The Governor General gave him what he wanted.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Schadenfreude, evidence and politics: a half-hearted defence of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford as he might have appeared in ancient Rome, whence comes the idea that in politics public figures and their associates must be above suspicion. Below: The real Rob Ford; Caesar’s wife. Schadenfreude is all very well, but this whole Rob Ford video scandal has me feeling
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Growing Public Cynicism
I can only hope that the growing public cynicism evident in these Star letters translates into a deep and abiding anger that lasts until at least 2015. Here is a sampling: Beyond money, audit reveals a bigger problem for Duffy, May 15 This column described Mike Duffy’s problem but the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Not surprisingly, plenty of commentators have weighed in on the latest set of Senate scandals engulfing Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Nigel Wright and Stephen Harper among others. Diane Francis takes the opportunity to point out that the Senate is an institutional anachronism (a
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: A Culture Of Entitlement
Following the news that Pamela Wallin has resigned from the Conservative caucus, Andrew Coyne takes a hard look at the Mike Duffy fiasco: So Duffy’s behaviour is not the issue. The issue is the culture that enabled it. The Tories may find it expedient to disown him now, but it
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Rob Ford and the Incredible Exploding Cons
Wherever you went in Toronto today you couldn't get away from Rob Ford.Everybody was talking about him eh? Wondering whether he's a crack head, or just plain crazy.So I wasn't really surprised to find him waiting for me on my way home.And as I stared at this ghastly apparition, I
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy is full of it.
…but he is losing some gas now and stinking up the Senate.
Continue readingValerie Burns: If we can’t pin the tail to the donkey, then we are the donkey.
We could get Nigel Wright’s resignation, but so what? His polling numbers don’t matter. If he trends on Twitter during his scandal, who cares? Nobody is going to vote for him, or against him. Mike Duffy, ditto. He can be the least popular politician in the country, and it changes
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Paul Krugman draws a much-needed connection between austerity politics and Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: What Smith didn’t note, somewhat surprisingly, is that his argument is very close to Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, with its argument that elites systematically exploit disasters to push through
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Beleaguered Harper-appointed Sen. Mike Duffy Quits Conservative Caucus
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Scandal-plagued Sen. Mike Duffy quit the Conservative caucus Thursday after his fraudulent Senate expense claims threatened to engulf the Harper government. Duffy, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, now sits as an independent. “It is clear the public controversy surrounding me and the repayment of my
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Larger Problem
In his column this morning, Thomas Walkom suggests that Mike Duffy’s current scandal-plagued problems are representative of much deeper ones in the Senate, namely that our much-cossetted members of that ‘chamber of sober second thought’ are appointed, not because of their expertise (many of them have none), not because of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Mike Duffy and the Dark Heart of the Scandal
Well he's finally been kicked out of Con caucus.Senator Mike Duffy has resigned from the Conservative caucus and will sit as an Independent amid controversy over his living and travel expense claims.Even as the scandals keep on coming.Sen. Mike Duffy attempted to influence the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission’s upcoming
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Rhyme Of The Duffster
Let’s hear it for Senator Duff/Whose salary wasn’t enuff/He took 90 grand/And when caught redhanded/Just grabbed 90 more from the trough— Trevor Strong (@Trevstrong) May 15, 2013
Continue reading