One of our senators, Mike Duffy, got into serious trouble earlier this year over his expense account. He charged for a main residence in Prince Edward Island (PEI) and a house in Ottawa. There was no house in PEI. In fact, it was very dubious if Duffy had a claim to residence in PEI for many years. So politicians being politicians, they began yelling at each other and asking questions. The answers changed as the procedure moved along for several months. Other discrepancies were found in the senator's expense accounts.
Three other senators were found with expense account inaccuracies. One senator paid back most of what was over the limit.
Now Senator Duffy was appointed by Prime Minister Steven Harper. Steven Harper apparently wanted somebody who could speak to party members and get them to part with their cash. It looks like Duffy used some of his Senate expense account money to pay for his time, effort and travel to promote his own party.
Now this didn't look good for Steven Harper's government. So a scheme was invented to give Duffy $90000.00 so that he could pay his illegal expenses back to the government. The plan was hatched up in the Prime Minister's office(PMO). So one of the PMO staff cut a check from his own bank account. The operation quickly fell off the rails and got the government in more trouble than before.
Now a full scale audit was started. Then Mike Duffy was suspended from the Senate. So the Prime minister and the Senator quickly became enemies. Senator Duffy was claiming that the PC told him to claim expenses for Conservative Party of Canada business. Then the RCMP was brought in to make a criminal investigation. Recently Mike Duffy was charged with 31 offenses. One of the offenses was accepting a bribe from Nigel Wright from the PMO. However, Nigel Wright, who paid the bribe was not charged!!!
So this is a long story that's far from over . As the story continues it gets more sordid .
Now there's a good possibility that Steven Harper may be called as a witness to this criminal trial. Immediately Steven Harper says he has nothing to say so doesn't intend to appear at the trial as a witness. Steven Harper may not have the choice as to whether he attends or not. I think he's very much fearful of cross examination since he's given a few different versions of his part in this story.
This is a low point for government morality, openness and honesty. When will it change? How can it be changed? When will politicians get some common sense and act in proper manner?
