If you didn't know there was a Senator named Mike Duffy, you are forgiven. For this is the tale of Canadian Senator Mike Duffy. But fear not, for this tale is definitely popcorn-worthy.
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As always, help yourself to an orange croissant on your way below.
The players in this sordid little tale:
Mike Duffy: Former television journalist for both CBC and CTV, Canada's major networks. Appointed to the Senate in 2009, suspended without pay in 2013 for problems related to his Senate expenses. Now on trial with various criminal charges related to those expenses.
Pamela Wallin: Former television journalist for both CBC and CTV. Appointed to the Senate in 2009, suspended without pay in 2013 for problems related to her Senate expenses. The RCMP has refused to comment on possible criminal charges related to those expenses.
Patrick Brazeau: Former vice-chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP). Appointed to the Senate in 2009, suspended without pay in 2013 for problems related to his Senate expenses, as well as charges for sexual assault. Now on trial for domestic assault and sexual assault, and employed as the manager of a strip club in Ottawa.
Mac Harb: Former member of the House of Commons, and former member of the Senate. Appointed to the Senate in 2003 by then PM Jean Chrétien. Retired from the Senate in 2013, for problems related to his Senate expenses. Currently awaiting trial on fraud charges related to those expenses.
Nancy Ruth: Formal social activist and philanthropist. Appointed to the Senate in 2005 by then PM Paul Martin. Currently being questioned as to a number of details of her Senate expenses, though not facing suspension or charges at this time. A minor player in all this, mostly unknown to the public, but instantly infamous for a very recent statement. More on that below.
The Senate: A body of currently 105 persons, unelected but instead appointed by the Prime Minister. Often described as the House of Sober Second Thought, in contrast to the elected House of Commons. One could be forgiven for wondering if either House is ever a place of sobriety.
Stephen Harper: Current Canadian Prime Minister, head of the Conservative Party, and the one who appointed Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau, and others to the Senate.
Nigel Wright: Former Chief of Staff to Stephen Harper. A central figure in the tale for having cut a personal cheque for about $90,000 to Duffy to repay the expenses at the heart of the scandal.
The Senate of Canada operates in a way that would be unfamiliar to most Americans. Its members are not elected, but appointed by the Prime Minister as seats become available. (Formally, they are appointed by the Governor General representing the Queen, with advice from the Prime Minister. In practical terms, the PM of the day fills open seats). As such, many citizens view the Senate as a patronage dumping ground for party hacks, sycophants, and various village idiots who are in favour with the government of the day. Senators are supposed to represent a specific geographic region, in which they must own property, and live. As the business of the Senate takes place in Ottawa, the regional living requirement is often something of a stretch.
Stephen Harper named Mike Duffy to the Senate at the end of December, 2008. He took his seat in January 2009, one of 17 appointments at that time including Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau, sworn in as Conservative members. Duffy represents the eastern province of Prince Edward Island. Exactly how much time he spends "living" there is an issue in the current trial. Clearly, Duffy lives and works in Ottawa, as he has for many years. Some question whether he is eligible to be a member of the Senate at all. Nobody's asking for birth certificates, but they are asking for proof of his primary residence.
As summarized in a primer by the CBC, the expenses scandal started to become public knowledge in 2012:
In December 2012, the Ottawa Citizen reported Duffy had claimed more than $33,000 in living expenses for his home and meals in the National Capital Region, despite having lived in Ottawa since the 1970s. Property records also showed Duffy and his wife had bought their home in Kanata, a suburb west of the city's core, more than five years before he was appointed as a senator from Prince Edward Island.
...
Senators and MPs who live more than 100 kilometres outside of the National Capital Region are allowed to claim up to $22,000 to cover their accommodation and meals when they're in Ottawa, since they're also expected to maintain a home in the province from which they are appointed — their primary residence.
Basically, Duffy wasn't actually living in PEI, but in a suburb of Ottawa, as he had for years. And meanwhile, he claimed expenses on the Ottawa home, as if his living arrangements were the other way around. Duffy applied for a provincial health card in PEI, but only after a senate committee asked him to provide proof of residency.
The next public announcement in this circus was from Duffy himself, that he had repaid $90,124.17 in senate expenses. This was startling in both the amount, and the eventual outing of where he found the money to pay back those expenses: a personal cheque from Nigel Wright, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. As a direct result, Wright resigned his position and returned to corporate life.
You might wonder why a high official in the Prime Minister's Office did such a favour to help out a guy like Duffy. We are still waiting for the answer to that question, and it leads to even more questions.
"Nigel Wright needs to come clean on the details of the deal he negotiated to cover up for Senator Duffy's expense claims and whitewash the Senate committee report," [NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus] said, adding it's important to have an independent investigation to determine exactly what happened.
Wright claims that he was acting in the public interest. That claim doesn't pass the smell test. And if Duffy didn't have $90,000 to repay his expenses (which he now claims didn't need to be repaid anyway), how did Wright just happen to have that kind of money to write a personal cheque?
"We know that Senator Duffy's audit was shortened, was changed, because of the fact that he made this $90,000 payment and that he made this payment because Mr. Wright gave him the money to make the payment," [Liberal MP Bob Rae] told CBC News.
If we want to play a game of "what did the Prime Minister know, and when did he know it?", the answers are a bit convoluted. Harper has made various statements since the outbreak of the scandal, not all of them consistent with each other. He seems to be trying to use the Chris Christie defence: oh my, I had no idea all these people who work for me were up to such things!
It's not seen as likely that Harper will be called to testify in the trial, though Duffy's lawyers reportedly would like very much to drag Harper into court.
For his part, Duffy maintains his complete innocence, alternately blaming the whole mess on a clerical error, and malfeasance on the part of the PMO, all the way up to the PM. He has reportedly said that he intends to personally testify in his trial, which officially began yesterday. He is widely expected to drive a large bus into the courtroom, and begin throwing everybody he can get his hands on, under that bus. In short, Duffy is not going down quietly. This could turn out to be highly entertaining.
Duffy's public defence to date seems to rest on: I didn't do it. But, but, but, they did it too!.
Wallen has made a similar public defence, and has repaid expenses that she says don't need to be repaid.
(paraphrasing here, take with a grain of salt)
Oh no, I didn't do anything wrong, somebody else made an error. I'm completely innocent. And by the way, everybody else is doing it too, and I'm ready, willing, and able to name names if you don't stop picking on me. Wahhhhhhhh!
Many of the expenses in dispute are for travel to personal family events (attending a funeral, adopting a puppy), personal grooming and consultants, and other activities that took place when the Senate was not even in session. Duffy claims that much of the non-Senate travel that he claims expenses for, were at the request of the PMO. Duffy was a celebrity that the Conservative party liked to hang around with, and he often was the emcee at Harper partisan events.
When the original problem with Duffy's expenses came to light, a senate committee, and the RCMP, began auditing and investigating senate expenses among all members. That's why we are now looking at Wallen, Brazeau, Harb, Ruth, and others. Some of these have been charged with fraudulent expense claims, some have received official "no comment" from the Mounties, and others have had their expenses leaked and ridiculed publicly.
This brings us to my personal favourite, Senator Nancy Ruth. Her expenses are apparently being reviewed with a fine-toothed comb. We've been alerted to her charging for breakfasts on flights when free food was available. A new meme has developed around Ruth's dietary habits. Poor Senator, we must not expect her to be satisfied with
... ice-cold Camembert with broken crackers ...
Oh, the humanity! A Senator must travel with appropriate style, you see. Yes, this might be nit-picking to the nth degree, but there has been a larger problem of these people spending public money with little regard for the public trust. The currently ongoing detailed audit is long overdue, and has already exposed abuses, from a few dollars here and there, to tens of thousands of dollars, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, in un-entitled living and travel expenses.
As Nancy Ruth says:
"I just don't think they understand anything of what it's like to fly around the world to get here to Ottawa," added Ruth, who lives in Toronto.
Count me among those who don't understand how a short-haul flight of about an hour requires flying around the world. Keep digging, Nancy.
Her words will live long. On the opening day of Duffy's trial Tuesday, staffers of the New Democratic Party (NDP) distributed snacks to reporters:
As Duffy's trial broke for lunch on Tuesday, NDP staffers handed out small cardboard boxes that contained two pieces of "ice-cold" Camembert and a handful of crackers.
"Let them eat cheese," the NDP tweeted from its main account.
The whole affair revives talk of abolishing the Senate for good.
"Canada's scandal-prone Senate is unelected, unaccountable, and has no place in a modern democracy like ours," the petition reads.
And a new poll suggests the vast majority of Canadians agree that the institution needs to change. According to numbers from Angus Reid Institute released Tuesday, 45 per cent of Canadians think the Senate should be reformed, while 41 per cent want it shut down altogether. Just 14 per cent say the upper chamber should be left as is.
What they said.
TOP MOJO
April 7, 2015
(excluding Tip Jars and first comments)
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1) I wish I could be shocked by biloxiblues — 150
2) I called his office first thing this morning by ronnied — 149
3) Is this his idea of "leadership"? by PvtJarHead — 137
4) but this time there is video evidence by white blitz — 130
5) How backwards this country is becoming. by Mopshell — 105
6) Sigh by BoiseBlue — 102
7) Another day, another cop murders by weezilgirl — 87
8) "Put your hands behind your back!" by Louise — 86
9) OH, I wish you were correct by matador — 84
10) There is video evidence by onionjim — 83
11) A bit more: he felt threatened, too. by middleagedhousewife — 81
12) Bored cops with nothing better to do by jayden — 78
13) Do you notice, in the video, the cop saunters back by poco — 75
14) Science has questions that may never be anwswered by dmhlt 66 — 72
15) {{{Ono}}} by anotherdemocrat — 71
16) This past month, March 2015 by pnchad — 70
17) Throwing the taser down next by PsychoSavannah — 69
18) It only looks like it's BECOMING backward by Geenius at Wrok — 68
19) "The Prosecutor's Office... by freshwater dan — 67
20) Blessings, beautiful soul. by belinda ridgewood — 67
21) When was the last time George Soros committed by antirove — 65
22) I think poco alludes to a contingent of folks here by bastrop — 65
23) They have to kill the witness against them; by a2nite — 65
24) We should be funding Innocence Projects by freshwater dan — 64
25) Police orders seem to be as follows: by inclusiveheart — 63
26) I can't watch these anymore by pnchad — 63
27) Serious campaign contributions are at stake here by RFK Lives — 63
28) "I can't carry it" said Sam, meaning the Ring by blue aardvark — 62
29) Of course by gerard w — 62
30) Just been reading about this, by AnnetteK — 61
TOP PHOTOS
April 7, 2015
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