Lost in the Senator Mike Duffy scandal is what exactly he's done to deserve such lavish treatment.
It may actually a bigger, more important question than Canada's never-ending debate over the value of the Canadian Senate itself, because it delves even more deeply into the core of what's wrong with the Canadian political system.
Sure, the Senate should be abolished, if for no other reason than for too long now it's been nothing more than a hideously convenient patronage vehicle used to reward longstanding political operatives and fund-raisers who previously toiled in anonymity.
Alas, there will always be board and judicial appointments, government jobs, diplomatic posts, untendered contracts, etc. with which governing parties express their undying gratitude to loyalists.
The strangeness of the Duffy case, however, is how little he did to merit the original political appointment - let alone the overwhelming loyalty/largesse from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief-of-staff Nigel Wright. So, in the wake of Thursday evening's less-than-satisfactory outcome of Duffy's resignation from the Conservative caucus - while still collecting his plump Senate salary and pension as an "independent senator" - we are left with this puzzling question:
Exactly what has Mike Duffy ever done to merit such loyalty?
Duffy was not a career operative being rewarded/protected for a lifetime of loyalty. He was a journalist.
And before any media-haters cast aspersions on those of my beloved craft, allow me to offer a friendly reminder that it wasn't government disclosure, freedom-of-information, effective oppositions or auditors that brought the Duffy story to light. You know about this story because of hard-nosed reporting from the likes of CTV's Robert Fife (a former Duffy colleague), the Canadian Press's Jennifer Ditchburn and others. In fact, Duffy's only relevance to today's world of Canadian journalism is the allegation from sources quoted in a Fife story that he attempted to influence the pending Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision whether to grant the right-wing Sun TV channel "mandatory carriage," on basic cable. (Sun News was busily denying this Friday ... when it was not busily carrying the latest denials of wrongdoing from Canada's only other more embarrassing politician: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.)
And one sincerely doubts any journalist would eagerly fork over $90,000 (presuming any journalist in this country could afford to do so) to wallpaper over an abuse of public funds. Therein lies not only the difference between journalists and politicians, but also what's desperately wrong with the Canadian political system.
It's become so uber-partisan under Harper that he's willing to abandon what few principles he has left to protect someone who has contributed remarkably little to his party.
Remember Harper's pious, but welcome, pronouncement in the 2005 campaign? "Conservatives believe as a basic principle that politicians should not be accountable to other politicians - that government should not be accountable to itself," he said.
"There is going to be new code of conduct on Parliament Hill," Harper declared. "Bend the rules, you will be punished. Break the law, you will be charged. Abuse the public trust, you will go to prison. If you behave unethically or dishonestly, then don't expect a reward from this prime minister of Canada."
Instead, one should expect such rewards from the prime minister's independently wealthy chief of staff, Nigel Wright. It was Wright, after all, who stroked the secret. personal $90,000 cheque to Duffy - either a "gift to a personal friend" or an "honourable" payment to ensure taxpayers were not left on the hook for the expenses of a down-on-his-luck $132,300-a-year senator.
Such Daddy Warbuck's treatment was afforded to an honourable senator who misled people on where he lived, falsely claimed expenses and tried to cover it by attempting to surreptitiously get a P.E.I. health card and then misled the public on paying back the money. That Wright's Feb. 22 cheque might violate Senate ethics rules prohibiting such "gifts" and requiring senators to declare any "gift" of more than $500 within 30 days is almost secondary.
More disturbing is the willingness of Conservatives to commit deceitful/hypocritical/unethical acts for someone who hasn't even been a lifelong follower of the party. It sends out a chilling message that as long as you are willing to swear your political allegiance to the Harper clan, you can pretty much expect to get away with anything. Senate rules and code of ethics? Evidently, they're no longer applicable if you become a self-declared Conservative loyalist and apply to the sanctuary of the prime minister's office.
Sadly, this is how things now work in Harper's world of uber-partisanship.
Original Article
Source: leaderpost.com
Author: Murray Mandryk
It may actually a bigger, more important question than Canada's never-ending debate over the value of the Canadian Senate itself, because it delves even more deeply into the core of what's wrong with the Canadian political system.
Sure, the Senate should be abolished, if for no other reason than for too long now it's been nothing more than a hideously convenient patronage vehicle used to reward longstanding political operatives and fund-raisers who previously toiled in anonymity.
Alas, there will always be board and judicial appointments, government jobs, diplomatic posts, untendered contracts, etc. with which governing parties express their undying gratitude to loyalists.
The strangeness of the Duffy case, however, is how little he did to merit the original political appointment - let alone the overwhelming loyalty/largesse from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his chief-of-staff Nigel Wright. So, in the wake of Thursday evening's less-than-satisfactory outcome of Duffy's resignation from the Conservative caucus - while still collecting his plump Senate salary and pension as an "independent senator" - we are left with this puzzling question:
Exactly what has Mike Duffy ever done to merit such loyalty?
Duffy was not a career operative being rewarded/protected for a lifetime of loyalty. He was a journalist.
And before any media-haters cast aspersions on those of my beloved craft, allow me to offer a friendly reminder that it wasn't government disclosure, freedom-of-information, effective oppositions or auditors that brought the Duffy story to light. You know about this story because of hard-nosed reporting from the likes of CTV's Robert Fife (a former Duffy colleague), the Canadian Press's Jennifer Ditchburn and others. In fact, Duffy's only relevance to today's world of Canadian journalism is the allegation from sources quoted in a Fife story that he attempted to influence the pending Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision whether to grant the right-wing Sun TV channel "mandatory carriage," on basic cable. (Sun News was busily denying this Friday ... when it was not busily carrying the latest denials of wrongdoing from Canada's only other more embarrassing politician: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.)
And one sincerely doubts any journalist would eagerly fork over $90,000 (presuming any journalist in this country could afford to do so) to wallpaper over an abuse of public funds. Therein lies not only the difference between journalists and politicians, but also what's desperately wrong with the Canadian political system.
It's become so uber-partisan under Harper that he's willing to abandon what few principles he has left to protect someone who has contributed remarkably little to his party.
Remember Harper's pious, but welcome, pronouncement in the 2005 campaign? "Conservatives believe as a basic principle that politicians should not be accountable to other politicians - that government should not be accountable to itself," he said.
"There is going to be new code of conduct on Parliament Hill," Harper declared. "Bend the rules, you will be punished. Break the law, you will be charged. Abuse the public trust, you will go to prison. If you behave unethically or dishonestly, then don't expect a reward from this prime minister of Canada."
Instead, one should expect such rewards from the prime minister's independently wealthy chief of staff, Nigel Wright. It was Wright, after all, who stroked the secret. personal $90,000 cheque to Duffy - either a "gift to a personal friend" or an "honourable" payment to ensure taxpayers were not left on the hook for the expenses of a down-on-his-luck $132,300-a-year senator.
Such Daddy Warbuck's treatment was afforded to an honourable senator who misled people on where he lived, falsely claimed expenses and tried to cover it by attempting to surreptitiously get a P.E.I. health card and then misled the public on paying back the money. That Wright's Feb. 22 cheque might violate Senate ethics rules prohibiting such "gifts" and requiring senators to declare any "gift" of more than $500 within 30 days is almost secondary.
More disturbing is the willingness of Conservatives to commit deceitful/hypocritical/unethical acts for someone who hasn't even been a lifelong follower of the party. It sends out a chilling message that as long as you are willing to swear your political allegiance to the Harper clan, you can pretty much expect to get away with anything. Senate rules and code of ethics? Evidently, they're no longer applicable if you become a self-declared Conservative loyalist and apply to the sanctuary of the prime minister's office.
Sadly, this is how things now work in Harper's world of uber-partisanship.
Original Article
Source: leaderpost.com
Author: Murray Mandryk
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