Which Us Senator Tried to Cover Up Baby Scandal
John Ivison: New evidence of how Tories tried to downplay Senate scandal and keep Duffy from 'going squirrelly'
A previously unreleased interview with Gary O'Brien, the former Senate clerk, included quotes from an electronic mail from Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper's ex-chief of staff, that highlight the highly dubious deport of a number of people in the Prime number Minister'due south Part and the Conservative Senate conclave, as they attempted to camouflage Duffy's avarice
The Kerry blue terriers bark only the caravan moves on. As the Mike Duffy trial gets bogged down in whether the senator bought a small dog on a trip to Peterborough, Ont., that he expensed, the public could be forgiven for thinking things are getting a little featherbrained.
Perhaps that was why Duffy'south lawyer, the fastidious Donald Bayne, submitted some fresh transcripts to remind us about the gravity of the proceedings.
The previously unreleased interview with Gary O'Brien, the former Senate clerk, included quotes from an email from Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper's ex-primary of staff, that highlight the highly dubious conduct of a number of people in the Prime Minister's Office and the Conservative Senate caucus, as they attempted to cover-upwardly Duffy'south avarice.
The email makes clear that Wright was complicit in a plan to sanitize Duffy's expenses and keep the senator quiet.
Senators David Tkachuk and Caroline Stewart Olsen were corking to continue Duffy'due south case within the purview of a sub-committee on which they constituted two-thirds of the membership, while the cases of senators Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau were referred to an external accountant.
"A purpose of this is to put Mike in a unlike saucepan and to foreclose him going squirrelly in a agglomeration of weekend panel shows," Wright wrote in an electronic mail to colleagues on Feb. vii, 2013. "Mike is very pleased with this, and so it volition give usa a scrap of time if (Tkachuk) can pull it off."
A purpose of this is to put Mike in a dissimilar bucket and to prevent him going squirrelly in a bunch of weekend panel shows
And pull information technology off he did. With Duffy in a "unlike bucket," the Conservatives were able to amend a draft inspect report to make it less critical of the senator's penchant for making expense claims for the habitation in Ottawa he'd lived in for years (on the basis that his primary residence was in Prince Edward Isle).
The Conservatives removed two paragraphs that said Senate guidelines on how to define a senator's primary and secondary residence were "unambiguous" and the intent "very clear."
This broad narrative is not new. Duffy said in his valedictory address to the Senate the deal was he would be given a "pass" in the expense audit procedure, if he co-operated by paying back his claims (albeit it with Wright's $90,000).
Just the new details are a reminder to Canadians that some pretty unsavoury practices were being employed past the Conservative Party to comprise the growing scandal.
"This is pure Richard Nixon, " said Tom Mulcair, during Question Period Thursday. "The cover upward was orchestrated in the Prime Minister'due south Role."
He went on to charge the government of complicity in a "deliberate try at obstacle of justice."
The email brings u.s.a. back to the centre of the matter. It jogs the collective memory about why and so much attention has been focused on the expense claims of one rapacious broadcaster turned party bagman: the integrity of the prime minister and the allegations of shady dealings in his function.
The fresh transcript shows Wright was enlightened that Tkachuk was arranging things to deodorize the Duffy thing.
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Christie Blatchford: Mike Duffy trial becomes a true canis familiaris and pony show as Tory MP testifies
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'Definitely partisan in nature': Duffy trip on taxpayer dime wasn't on Senate business, MP says
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Ezra Levant testifies that he wrote speeches for 'gregarious fellow' Mike Duffy earlier he joined Sun News
To date, the Duffy trial has been titillating enough but it has non moved the political punch.
That is probable to change equally testimony creeps closer to the Prime Minister's Function, culminating in the testimony of Wright himself.
He will undoubtedly exist asked what he meant when he said in a previous correspondence to colleagues: "The PM knows in wide terms but that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses." He will be obliged to provide details of how broad those terms were, and with what precisely the prime government minister was "good to get."
Wright'south advent has not yet been scheduled and Harper must be hoping against hope that it does not happen earlier the general election in Oct.
But it will come and when information technology does, it volition be the crux, after a calendar week of Crufts.
National Mail service
• E-mail: jivison@nationalpost.com | Twitter: IvisonJ
Source: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-duffy-trial-email-reveals-conservative-attempts-to-downplay-expenses-scandal
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