Senator Mike Duffy: An Ever-Lengthening Trail of Conservative Corruption.
 

In 2006, Steven Harper promised a new era of accountability.

I'd like to hear Mr. Harper's definition of accountability, because mine definitely differs from his.


Tl;dr...

-Mike Duffy was appointed as a Conservative Senator in 2008.

-Senators primarily residing outside Ottawa may claim capital region living expenses.

-Mike Duffy's primary residence is located in Ottawa, where he's lived and worked for decades.

-Mike Duffy has a secondary residence on Prince Edward Island, a small and isolated cabin he seldom visits.

-Mike Duffy claimed his PEI cabin as a primary residence, and received compensation totaling $90,172.

-The Senate Standing Committee on Internal Economy began investigating the expense claims, and requested health cards and other evidence of residency outside Ottawa.

-Subsequently, Duffy applied for a PEI health card and asked for the card to be fast tracked in time for the audit deadline.

-Steven Harper's Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, wrote a personal cheque for $90,172 to Mike Duffy. A Conservative Party spokesman confirmed the money was a gift with no expectation of repayment.

-Mike Duffy proceeded to repay the $90,172 in improperly claimed expenses.

-Mike Duffy claimed additional expenses related to senate business for four dates, which records show he spent campaigning for the Conservative party.

-Mike Duffy refused to meet independent auditors or supply financial records, credit card statements, and information about his calendar related to the investigation, because he had repaid the debt.

-The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada and the RCMP are investigating the "gift."

-Senator Mike Duffy resigned as a member of the Conservative caucus to become an independent, he continues to earn a salary of $132,000.

-Steven Harper has stated continued confidence in Nigel Wright, who continues to earn a salary between $117,300 and $177,000.

That's the core of the Mike Duffy story, which has been unfolding for several months. Another story is emerging, however, revealing the greater depth of his corruption.

"A well-placed source told CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife that Duffy approached a Conservative insider with connections to the CRTC three weeks ago to discuss Sun Media, which is asking the federal regulator to grant its news channel “mandatory carriage,” or guaranteed placement on basic cable and satellite packages.

“You know people at the CRTC,” the insider quoted Duffy as saying. “This is an important decision on Sun Media. They have to play with the team and support Sun Media’s request.” (quote from the second article).

this guys is such a cock.

^ they are all crooks , feel more under conservatives than any other party.

Liberals had the sponsorship scandal...BC NDP had connections with a Casino license and Quebec municipal government just always seems to have back room deals.

The issue ISN'T the party. It should, but it isn't. It's a system that is never going to have that much insight and you are never going to find that many humans that will overlook their own interests.

The beauty is, we know about this stuff. It comes up. For little old Canada, we have a lot more of this on the news than the US, at 10x the population and 15x the government.

corruption exists in all governments

Corruption in Canada isn't unique to the Federal Conservatives, but it certainly seems much more common, and the resistance to investigating it is far greater.

Granted, I was quite a bit younger under the Federal Liberals (currently mid-twenties), but I don't recall any significant corruption allegations beyond the Sponsorship Scandal. Paul Martin initiated the inquiry into the Sponsorship Scandal, of course, cooperated with it, and the findings weren't too significant.

Under the Federal Conservatives, corruption allegations have been constant, and we've seen the PM repeatedly push these serious concerns to the side. We've seen the Conservatives tied to corruption in Quebec, repeatedly; we've seen significant issues with Conservative campaign funding come to light; we've seen the Conservatives introduce the exact legislation requested by oil sands execs, immediately following the submission of the requests, no less; we've seen the Conservative robo-calls; we're now seeing Mike Duffy and Sun Media issues - and that's far from a comprehensive list.

As you've said, Grid, corruption happens because the system simply cannot sort out overly self-interested individuals. The system can, however, cooperate, investigate, and take these concerns seriously, instead of stonewalling and refusing to cooperate with committees, inquiries, and ombudsmen. Paul Martin's response to the Sponsorship Scandal was the former; Steven Harper's response to his slew of issues has been the later.

In some governments, corruption is essentially non-existent. In other governments, corruption is a fundamental component. Your point is too broad to actually mean anything.

As the sponsorship scandal ended his government, ended his political career, removed the liberals from office, removed him from the liberals, and tainted his legacy, and ultimately put the conservatives in power and led to the implosion of the Liberal party...I don't think its hard for you to see that he wasn't jumping up and down himself to hold inquiries into the situation. And it was a matter of years between incident and resolution.

I'm not defending the Conservatives here. I tried them out for a vote after their stint in Minority rule and thought they could do well for Canada, but even I'm starting to feel uncomfortable with some of the back room shit that's going on.

What I'm really interested in is how the opposition aren't driving this. If you want to get your name in the papers, and be known as sticking up for the little guy...this is your chance.

So far, everyone is paying back money and walking away as a result of the government itself working as intended.

Very disappointed in Mulclair and Trudeau. **edit and of course Harper for not asking for resignations

The NDP Ethics Critic, Charles Angus, has requested the Senate Ethics Officer investigate the Wright-Duffy deal, requested Elections Canada investigate Duffy's activities during the last election, and urged the Conservatives to launch an independent investigation. In fact, Angus has been raising these issues in question period for months. I've seen further quotes from Angus is multiple news stories, as well as some from Olivia Chow and Ralph Goodale, so it's definitely an issue the opposition are pushing hard on.

In the end, that doesn't necessarily get names in papers, though.

I thought I heard Parliament was not in session all this week or we would be hearing a lot more critisism from MP's.

There has been a few developments since last week:

- Pamela Wallin, another Harper-appointed Senator, leaves the Conservative Caucus over expense issues.

- Nigel Wright steps down.

- NDP request RCMP investigation.

- Harper addresses media by not addressing anything.

- Parliament grilling Cons in first day back.

yeah well over 300,000$ in travel expenses :lol

Not to belittle your thread MindBomber but when our former defense minister comes out on record to expose a shadow elite bent on controlling the world, what does the media do? Report about a crack smoking mayor and petty scandals... people eat it up!

I'm sure most of the senators.. if not all, are guilty... they should just retire/quit NOW like this guy who probably realized he's in deep shiz.



Mac Harb is stepping down from the Senate, dropping his legal action and repaying tens of thousands of dollars more because of inappropriate living and travel expense claims, CBC News has learned.

Harb, who was a Liberal senator until his spending came under scrutiny through an external audit, has already paid back $51,482.90. He did so under protest and had asked the court for a judicial review of the order from the Senate to pay money back.

In a news release, Harb said he delivered a cheque to the chair of the Senate standing committee on internal economy for $180,166.17. That means he's repaid a total of $231,649.07.

Speaking to CBC News, Harb said he "is relieved after 28 years in public service to become a private citizen. The last couple of months have been very hard," he told the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau, adding that he is relieved to move forward.

Harb, who was the MP for Ottawa Centre for 15 years until he was appointed to the Senate in 2003, maxed out on his parliamentary pension in 2007.

In May, the Senate internal economy committee said Harb owed $51,000 in expenses claimed over the past two years. In June, Harb was sent a letter ordering him to pay that amount.

The Senate also advised Harb to repay more than $231,000 claimed since 2005 or face an extensive audit of his expense claims over that period.

His expenses were controversial because of his claim that a home near Pembroke, Ont., is his primary residence. Senators whose primary residence is at least 100 kilometres from Ottawa are permitted to charge living and travel expenses.

RCMP investigating expenses

The RCMP is looking into Harb's spending and in court documents filed earlier this summer, an investigator said he believes the senator really lives in Ottawa and should not have claimed the housing and travel expenses over the years.
Read: Senator Harb didn't live at 'primary' residence, RCMP say

Harb reiterated in his statement that the Senate internal economy committee treated him "very unfairly," and said he wanted "to make the point that every Canadian, even Senators, should be entitled to due process."

"I always followed Senate rules on expenses, and filed my expense claims in a timely and transparent manner. At no time did anyone suggest my claims were invalid or questionable. And from what I could tell, most Senators made similar claims."

Harb's lawyer, Paul Champ, said in a statement that the "Tory-dominated" Senate committee is to blame for retroactively applying "its own vague definition of residence, with criteria that are not set out in any Senate rules or policies."

"It’s sad, but my client became a casualty of the hyper partisan atmosphere that prevails in Ottawa right now," Champ said.

Of course they are all guilty they just don't have the huge paper trail like wallin

What I find absolutely disgusting is that Wallin comes out in the media and plays it like she is some sort of victim in all this
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It's fucked up that the system is so broken that most of us just look at it and aren't shocked at all and then go on with our normal life. It's nice to see some of them get caught and have to repay but it's fucked it just keeps happening over and over, there aren't many honest ones out there.

That whole, "absolute power corrupts absolutely" thing going on. I don't think most of these politicians get in to try and fuck over the people they're representing but it's just to easy for them to screw the system over and most of there co-workers are doing the same thing so there moral compass gets thrown out of whack.

Suspended senators to lose credit cards, phones, offices - Politics - CBC News

awesome...but i wonder if this will eventually catch up to Harper.


Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau will lose their security passes and access to their offices following their suspensions last night, Senate administration says.

The Senate voted yesterday to suspend the three for filing false expense claims.

While some details of how the suspensions will work are still being determined, others are already clear.

Senate administration issued a statement today regarding the three banished senators:
■Their security passes and government credit cards will be cancelled.​
■Mobile phones will be deactivated.
■They will only be allowed into their offices if accompanied by a Senate security guard.

By Wednesday afternoon, the suspended senators' office phones were already cut off.


The three will keep their medical benefits and life insurance, but it's still unclear what happens to their pensions.

Senators are eligible for retirement benefits after six years in the upper chamber.

Claude Carignan, the government leader in the Senate, said the government is looking at whether it can legally keep the three senators from collecting.

"The intention of the motion, the spirit and the letter, it's to suspend without pay, without any benefits. It includes all benefits. Including pension plan," he said Wednesday.

Carignan said there hasn't been a case like this in more than a century, so the Senate is still working out what he calls technicalities.

But the Liberal leader in the Senate, James Cowan, said it looks to him as if the government is making things up as it goes along.

"I would have thought somebody at some point would have figured out those questions. But it's not my job to do that. It's their motions," Cowan said.

The Senators don't much matter. It's Harper and the conspiracy to shut this down that's the most serious issue, and it's catching up to him more and more every time he opens his mouth. Harper should appoint Rob Ford for smoking crack, because that's saving the conservatives by take the limelight off them.

are Duffy and his friends suspended for two years or is this a perma-ban?