Federal Election Called for Oct 19, 2015

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by John Doe

Politically, the problem is the cover-up. Conservatives got caught "misleading the public", have since denied any wrong doing and keep getting caught with conflicting accounts of what actually happened. If they had dealt with it out in the open from the beginning it would have largely been forgotten by now.

It also has to do with Harper's reputation for having a very tight grip on both the party and the PMO. For someone with a perception of wanting to be in control, it becomes hard to believe when he says he knew absolutely nothing.

[Weitz]

But who cares really?

Public money was not appropriately spent - then was repaid with private money.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Weitz

But who cares really?

Public money was not appropriately spent - then was repaid with private money.

You don't care when your government lies/misleads you?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by rubecube

You don't care when your government lies/misleads you?

Not when its something trivial like repaying inappropriately expensed expenses. Especially when it was re-payed.

How much money has been wasted by the government now on this ridiculousness?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Weitz

But who cares really?

Public money was not appropriately spent - then was repaid with private money.

The impression it gives is that they tried to pull a fast one and got caught. It brings into question whether or not it happens more often than we know.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Not when its something trivial like repaying inappropriately expensed expenses. Especially when it was re-payed.

How much money has been wasted by the government now on this ridiculousness?

If it was so trivial, why were they lying about it? It's the old adage that the cover-up is always worse than the crime.

[killer_carlson]

Before the Duffy expense scandal and the audits which showed the Liberal senator doing something similar on residency claims, I was thinking that the Senate should be abolished.

Now I am convinced it serves very little purpose. I would rather the resources be put towards greater auditing and accountability of MPs or government appointed bodies.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Before the Duffy expense scandal and the audits which showed the Liberal senator doing something similar on residency claims, I was thinking that the Senate should be abolished.

Now I am convinced it serves very little purpose. I would rather the resources be put towards greater auditing and accountability of MPs or government appointed bodies.

Or the money that used to go to the Senate could go to finance CFL and NHL venues around Canada

[John Doe]

Originally Posted by Weitz

But who cares really?

Public money was not appropriately spent - then was repaid with private money.

It brings to question the trustworthiness of the government, specifically Harper and the PMO (who by all appearances seem to be running the country), especially when the Conservatives narrative is that they are the only ones you can trust to run the country.

Watergate started out as just a break-in.

Actually, I agree with you on this. There are many better reasons to find fault with the Harper government than the repaying of Duffy's expenses by a third party. People love a conspiracy, however, and this cover-up is a pretty good one that potentially involves the PM.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Not when its something trivial like repaying inappropriately expensed expenses. Especially when it was re-payed.

How much money has been wasted by the government now on this ridiculousness?

Well its a little unsettling to see that a private citizen paid a sitting legislator $90k? It wasn't like this was an act of kindness either, it was done to further the goals of a political party. The idea of a guy paying on his behalf specifically to avoid an audit is absolutely questionable and should be fully investigated.

Now we're at the point in the trial where some remarkable things have come out. First the CPC people can't get things straight as far as who knew about the payment. Before, when apparently there were only Duffy and Wright who knew, the quote was that it would be "unfathomable" if Jay Novak knew and didn't tell the PM. Just to be clear here, that means impossible. Well testimony from two people now (Wright and Perrin) indicate that Novak knew what was going on. Because Kory Tenecke claims it would be unfathomable for Novak not to tell Harper, Harper knew as well.

So what you have here is a PMO that either A) held material information from the PM and let him run around spouting these facts for months without telling him. Or (B) you have a PM who knew exactly what was going on, and did nothing to stop it. Then he proceeded to lie to the public about the whole thing.

Lastly, and there are two important things here, Harper not only appointed all of these people (which further shows his terrible decision-making and judgement of character, but once Wright was found out as the guy who cut the cheque, did nothing. He accepted his resignation, that's it. The others are still around, being paid and faced no consequences at all.

[Weitz]

Personally I still haven't been convinced this is a big deal in comparison to a multitude of other things that should be the talking points right now.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Personally I still haven't been convinced this is a big deal in comparison to a multitude of other things that should be the talking points right now.

Because we can't talk about more than one thing at a time, right?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Because we can't talk about more than one thing at a time, right?

I meant the coverage on the news and what not. Not here specifically. There's always 3 or 4 things being discussed at a time here

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I meant the coverage on the news and what not. Not here specifically. There's always 3 or 4 things being discussed at a time here

Well it's being discussed in the media because the trial is going on right now and a lot of the info coming out of the trial is contradicting things the Conservatives have been saying. As others have said, if Harper had gotten out in front of this when it happened, it would've been a non-story.

[Slava]

Well its weird, but when a sitting senator has been charged with 31 different counts including bribery, fraud and breach of trust its kind of a big deal. Throw in the fact that the PMO is involved in trying make this go away and its going to get front page news.

[GirlySports]

senate will never be abolished, won't be able to get it past the provinces (esp. Quebec and the Maritimes)

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

If Bunk decides to run for office, we're auditing his entire post history on cp.

There's bound to be something negative!

Nope.

[Nuje]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well its weird, but when a sitting senator has been charged with 31 different counts including bribery, fraud and breach of trust its kind of a big deal. Throw in the fact that the PMO is involved in trying make this go away and its going to get front page news.

Yeah. If anyone views this as a non-issue, that's sad.

Private money to pay back stolen public funds. It wasn't done for good will. It was done because they got caught, and wanted to say "it's paid back, leave us alone" in an obvious attempt to sweep it under the rug. Any talk of firing people over it? No. Any talk of implementing measures to uncover all abuse and prevent future instances? No. How is that piss-poor an idea of accountability acceptable?

[JohnnyB]

Posts this about a young woman running to become an MP who tweeted nasty insults as a teenager.

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

It would still be nice if they took us vaguely seriously.

Thanks this post about the Duffy scandal and obvious public deception in the PMO.

Originally Posted by Weitz

Personally I still haven't been convinced this is a big deal in comparison to a multitude of other things that should be the talking points right now.

OMG. WTF?

[Nehkara]

New CROP poll from Quebec on Federal voting intentions:

1000 respondents - including undecided

NDP - 41%
LIB - 17%
BLOC - 14%
CPC - 11%
GRN - 4%
Not voting - 4%
Undecided - 9%

876 respondents - decided voters

NDP - 47%
LIB - 20%
BLOC - 16%
CPC - 13%
GRN - 4%

Best Prime Minister for Canada [1000 respondents]

Thomas Mulclair - 41%
Justin Trudeau - 15%
Stephen Harper - 13%
Gilles Duceppe - 7%
Elizabeth May - 3%
None of the above - 7%
I don't know - 15%