This broke last night, but I don't do a lot of writing late at night.
It seems that Harper has found his way to silence this issue for the time being. The minute that it goes to the RCMP - regardless of what the outcome is - there will be a wall of silence about it on the basis of "not wanting to interfere" with an ongoing investigation.
I do not expect that this will produce any kind of charges against Mike Duffy. At most, I expect it to produce a statement from the RCMP in a couple of months to the effect of "we investigated, but there is insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges".
It has long been my opinion that Duffy hasn't engaged in criminal behaviour per se (although his dipping into the Senate money trough should be criminal). Duffy has engaged in something that might be borderline fraud - but it's definitely in a grey zone. What he has engaged in is telling Canadians a different story every time we turn around. Duffy's transgressions are moral and ethical in nature, and speak to a lack of clear-headedness that we demand of parliamentarians in both chambers.
The point here is that were Duffy an "honourable" man in this regard, he would have made right a long time ago. More recently, he should have resigned from his Senate seat.
Unfortunately, with the current Conservative government, it is unlikely that we will see any such thing as a resignation in this matter. Harper has shown that he will go to great lengths to protect people that he sees as political assets. Having recently lost Penashue to a by-election, expect Harper to entrench his efforts to secure his grip on power.
It seems that Harper has found his way to silence this issue for the time being. The minute that it goes to the RCMP - regardless of what the outcome is - there will be a wall of silence about it on the basis of "not wanting to interfere" with an ongoing investigation.
I do not expect that this will produce any kind of charges against Mike Duffy. At most, I expect it to produce a statement from the RCMP in a couple of months to the effect of "we investigated, but there is insufficient evidence to lay criminal charges".
It has long been my opinion that Duffy hasn't engaged in criminal behaviour per se (although his dipping into the Senate money trough should be criminal). Duffy has engaged in something that might be borderline fraud - but it's definitely in a grey zone. What he has engaged in is telling Canadians a different story every time we turn around. Duffy's transgressions are moral and ethical in nature, and speak to a lack of clear-headedness that we demand of parliamentarians in both chambers.
The point here is that were Duffy an "honourable" man in this regard, he would have made right a long time ago. More recently, he should have resigned from his Senate seat.
Unfortunately, with the current Conservative government, it is unlikely that we will see any such thing as a resignation in this matter. Harper has shown that he will go to great lengths to protect people that he sees as political assets. Having recently lost Penashue to a by-election, expect Harper to entrench his efforts to secure his grip on power.
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