AS FAMILIES fired up their barbecues to celebrate the Victoria Day long weekend from May 18th-20th, a double helping of juicy political scandal was served along with the burgers and steaks. First came an extraordinary story in Toronto, where Rob Ford, the mayor, faced unproven allegations that he had been caught on video smoking crack cocaine. Next a long-simmering tale of senators fiddling their expenses boiled over unexpectedly into the office of Stephen Harper, the prime minister; on Sunday it forced the resignation of his chief of staff.
The allegations against Mr Ford, who has stumbled from one personal controversy to the next since his election in 2010, attracted worldwide attention. Reports said that a film, supposedly recorded by drug dealers, showed the mayor of Canada’s biggest city smoking what looked like a crack pipe. The video is reportedly being flogged online to the highest bidder. Mr Ford, who remains popular in spite of (or perhaps partly because of) a colourful personal life, dismissed the allegations as ridiculous and the product of a vendetta by the Toronto Star newspaper. But even some of his supporters want the mayor to assuage their doubts by dealing with the allegations more completely. He avoided journalists on May 21st when he arrived for a council debate.
The expenses scandal is less exotic but farther reaching. Nigel Wright, Mr Harper’s chief of staff, resigned after admitting he had given a personal cheque for C$90,172 ($87,240) to Mike Duffy, a former Conservative senator. Mr Duffy is one of four senators (three formerly of Mr Harper’s Conservative Party and one a former Liberal) under investigation for making false expenses claims. Mr Wright, a former private-equity executive, apparently gave Mr Duffy the money to help him repay improperly claimed housing costs. The opposition says that the gift, which was not declared, was an attempt to help Mr Duffy avoid censure by paying back the money before the Senate’s investigation was complete. The New Democratic Party, the official opposition, wants the police to investigate and the prime minister to explain.
Mr Harper has not done so. In an address to Conservative MPs and senators on May 21st, he briefly mentioned that he was “very upset about…the conduct of some parliamentarians and the conduct of my own office”. But he waited a day before saying, on a trip to Peru, that he had not known about the cheque and would not have agreed with it, adding he was “very sorry that this has occurred”.
The foreign trip is well timed for the prime minister, who is facing mounting problems at home after more than seven years in office. Within his previously united party, social conservatives are agitating to put abortion, a divisive issue, on the political agenda. Fiscal conservatives are unhappy with continuing budget deficits. All are appalled that, having run for office vowing to be more accountable and transparent than the Liberals, they are now tarred with the expenses scandal.
Mr Harper has been further frustrated by delays to the proposed Keystone XL oil-pipeline, a signature project of the government which would pump oil from Alberta to Texas. Amid environmental worries, it has yet to be approved by the United States. Lastly, Conservative attack-ads that swiftly undermined two previous Liberal leaders have backfired when used against the new Liberal chief, Justin Trudeau. Students from a primary school in Ottawa wrote to Mr Harper asking him to stop bullying the young leader, who has pushed his party to the top of opinion polls since taking over last month.
Both Mr Harper and Mr Ford have survived political near-death experiences in the past. In 2008 Mr Harper persuaded the governor-general to take the unusual step of proroguing Parliament, when it looked certain that his minority government was about to fall. Last year a judge ordered Mr Ford out of office for violating conflict-of-interest rules, but the mayor won an appeal. The latest scandals need not prove fatal. But as elections loom in Toronto next year and at the national level in 2015, both men need to firm up the support of voters. This week’s scandals will not have helped either of them.
Original Article
Source: economist.com
Author: From the print edition
The allegations against Mr Ford, who has stumbled from one personal controversy to the next since his election in 2010, attracted worldwide attention. Reports said that a film, supposedly recorded by drug dealers, showed the mayor of Canada’s biggest city smoking what looked like a crack pipe. The video is reportedly being flogged online to the highest bidder. Mr Ford, who remains popular in spite of (or perhaps partly because of) a colourful personal life, dismissed the allegations as ridiculous and the product of a vendetta by the Toronto Star newspaper. But even some of his supporters want the mayor to assuage their doubts by dealing with the allegations more completely. He avoided journalists on May 21st when he arrived for a council debate.
The expenses scandal is less exotic but farther reaching. Nigel Wright, Mr Harper’s chief of staff, resigned after admitting he had given a personal cheque for C$90,172 ($87,240) to Mike Duffy, a former Conservative senator. Mr Duffy is one of four senators (three formerly of Mr Harper’s Conservative Party and one a former Liberal) under investigation for making false expenses claims. Mr Wright, a former private-equity executive, apparently gave Mr Duffy the money to help him repay improperly claimed housing costs. The opposition says that the gift, which was not declared, was an attempt to help Mr Duffy avoid censure by paying back the money before the Senate’s investigation was complete. The New Democratic Party, the official opposition, wants the police to investigate and the prime minister to explain.
Mr Harper has not done so. In an address to Conservative MPs and senators on May 21st, he briefly mentioned that he was “very upset about…the conduct of some parliamentarians and the conduct of my own office”. But he waited a day before saying, on a trip to Peru, that he had not known about the cheque and would not have agreed with it, adding he was “very sorry that this has occurred”.
The foreign trip is well timed for the prime minister, who is facing mounting problems at home after more than seven years in office. Within his previously united party, social conservatives are agitating to put abortion, a divisive issue, on the political agenda. Fiscal conservatives are unhappy with continuing budget deficits. All are appalled that, having run for office vowing to be more accountable and transparent than the Liberals, they are now tarred with the expenses scandal.
Mr Harper has been further frustrated by delays to the proposed Keystone XL oil-pipeline, a signature project of the government which would pump oil from Alberta to Texas. Amid environmental worries, it has yet to be approved by the United States. Lastly, Conservative attack-ads that swiftly undermined two previous Liberal leaders have backfired when used against the new Liberal chief, Justin Trudeau. Students from a primary school in Ottawa wrote to Mr Harper asking him to stop bullying the young leader, who has pushed his party to the top of opinion polls since taking over last month.
Both Mr Harper and Mr Ford have survived political near-death experiences in the past. In 2008 Mr Harper persuaded the governor-general to take the unusual step of proroguing Parliament, when it looked certain that his minority government was about to fall. Last year a judge ordered Mr Ford out of office for violating conflict-of-interest rules, but the mayor won an appeal. The latest scandals need not prove fatal. But as elections loom in Toronto next year and at the national level in 2015, both men need to firm up the support of voters. This week’s scandals will not have helped either of them.
Original Article
Source: economist.com
Author: From the print edition
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