Andrew Coyne: The only right thing left for Mike Duffy to do now is resign

[nik-]

I'm honestly over the Conservatives, but it has nothing to do with this scandal. Still won't vote for someone using their family name to try and be PM.

[Matty81]

MacKay destroyed any hopes he had of ever being PM the moment he lied about not folding the PC party and then immediately did the opposite. No credibility or trust and unacceptable to the huge bloc of their support who were once PCs.

Just personal opinion but from recent cabinets, Prentice was their best hope for a smart and capable new party head, Harper doesn't exactly groom independent intelligent leader types within his caucus, his ideal deputies tend to be Rona Ambrose types, tick a box, look presentable and have the brainpower of a trained monkey.

I think when he does go down their best new leader will be somebody off the back benches who is smart but has been disciplined enough to play pawn. Either that or somebody who is a total outsider, there are a ton of people in provincial politics who would like to make the jump and a sea of the greasiest poli sci grads who have never held a real job filling up their backroom/staffer roles. If they pick anybody from the current cabinet it would be akin to when the Libs picked Dion - they'll get beat up though Bernier, Baird, etc will all run. Scheer has done OK as speaker so far too, maybe timing will be good there.

I think it's just an Alberta phenomenon the volume and hardheadedness of people who vote Conservative no matter what happens. In Ontario, BC, etc most people realize how little difference there has been between the PCs/Cons and the Liberals historically and a good chunk swing their vote depending on issues, who is the better candidate (or usually the worse one). It's in those two provinces where they'll get punished in the polls if they don't change the narrative in the next year. In Alberta its like Liberal is a dirty word for some reason, it's more of an emotional or gut response than a logical one. Also I know a lot of people who say things like, "we're a conservative family" as an excuse to never pay attention to issues or candidates and just go vote the same way every time.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Is there someone within the ranks of the CPC Party you'd like to see lead the Party? Personally, I don't think the obvious choices like MacKay, Clements, Baird, Kenney would be any different that Harper. I had high hopes for Peter MacKay but he's turning out to be pretty greasy.

This is one of the effects of centralizing everything within the PMO and Harper muzzling his MPs. It makes a succession planning rather difficult. It also makes finding a "less bad option" (I say that as a liberal of course) out of his group pretty difficult, and they're all kind of non-descript pawns.

I'd guess that the next leader of the Conservatives is Flaherty. Can't say I like him much though. I just can't get over his "there is no recession, and we are not implementing any stimulus" budget update from November 2008. (Those Economic Action Plan signs that are all over should really be red! )

Prentice went into the pile of "bad conservatives" as soon as he tabled his copyright bill.

Baird is probably my favorite of the bunch, for his work on the homosexual rights front. I don't know a ton about him otherwise though.

I used to somewhat like MacKay when he was a PC, but after his work on the F-35 file he doesn't have a shot.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

I'm full of surprises eh?

Honest question ....

If you had your druthers, what would you like to see happen?

Harper has been in power too long and there needs to be change at the top. I think he has handled this scandal very badly and as a result put the CPC in a hole they may never dig out of come the next election. An enquirey is probably the only way we'll get to the truth as Harper isn't saying much.

Is there someone within the ranks of the CPC Party you'd like to see lead the Party? Personally, I don't think the obvious choices like MacKay, Clements, Baird, Kenney would be any different that Harper. I had high hopes for Peter MacKay but he's turning out to be pretty greasy.

Alison Redford Seriously I don't know enough about the people in the CPC to make an informed choice.

Would you consider voting Liberal?

Yeah the thought has crossed my mind. My only fear is wether Justin Trudeau is realy ready to be the PM of Canada. A part of me thinks he won the leadership based on who his father was.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Dion

Yeah the thought has crossed my mind. My only fear is wether Justin Trudeau is realy ready to be the PM of Canada. A part of me thinks he won the leadership based on who his father was.

I think that's a bit of stretch. His father's name certainly isn't hurting him, but I don't think that's why he won the leadership race. Most Liberals I talked to who were voting for Justin were doing so because they think he has the best chance to beat Harper, based on the fact that he has more charisma than other leadership candidates combined, and also couldn't be linked to the old guard.

I think in general there was a lot of apprehension about handing the reigns to Trudeau, but I like what he's shown so far.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I think that's a bit of stretch. His father's name certainly isn't hurting him, but I don't think that's why he won the leadership race. Most Liberals I talked to who were voting for Justin were doing so because they think he has the best chance to beat Harper, based on the fact that he has more charisma than other leadership candidates combined, and also couldn't be linked to the old guard.

I think in general there was a lot of apprehension about handing the reigns to Trudeau, but I like what he's shown so far.

Good to hear that.

[Ozy_Flame]

Not sure where to put this, but NDP MP Tyrone Benskin has been suspended from by his own party from their shadow cabinet for chronically not paying taxes. He owes around $58,000. Benskin was actually an actor in the movie 300, and blames his tax issues on being an artist.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05...-unpaid-taxes/


And here's a shot of Benskin fighting tooth and nail to avoid paying taxes:

[Stay Golden]

I have often wondered why can't criminal charges and legal action be taking against MP's, MLA's etc in these large scale expense scams?
Is it not fraudulent behavior and using government funds to support their private life??

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

I have often wondered why can't criminal charges and legal action be taking against MP's, MLA's etc in these large scale expense scams?
Is it not fraudulent behavior and using government funds to support their private life??

Nigel Wright used his own money in this case....unethical probably, but not illegal per se.

Harper is in a world of trouble and it will all start today with question period in the House.

This thing is about to unravel in a hurry....and i can actually see it ending with Harper resigning.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Nigel Wright used his own money in this case....unethical probably, but not illegal per se.

Harper is in a world of trouble and it will all start today with question period in the House.

This thing is about to unravel in a hurry....and i can actually see it ending with Harper resigning.

I could be wrong, but isn't it illegal to cut a $90k cheque to a senator? Surely, regardless of the scenario there is something preventing undue influence? The same would hold for MPs and elected officials, otherwise it would essentially be completely fine to bribe someone openly.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Slava

I could be wrong, but isn't it illegal to cut a $90k cheque to a senator? Surely, regardless of the scenario there is something preventing undue influence? The same would hold for MPs and elected officials, otherwise it would essentially be completely fine to bribe someone openly.

I guess it would depend on why the money was given. If it was a personal loan in order to payback owed money, then im not sure how that would be classified.

Maybe it is illegal in this case, I dont know, but I havent heard that suggested anywhere yet.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by fotze

That was his own money? WTF? Although that makes it better, it also makes it more rotten if that makes sense.

Yup.

[MarchHare]

What's the annual salary for the PM's Chief of Staff? Maybe in the $200-250k range? So $90k is a huge percentage of his annual earnings to give up to try to make a scandal go away.

I believe Harper when he says that the $90k didn't come from the taxpayers, but I'd be very surprised if Wright freely gave away his money without expecting to be repaid somehow in very short order. Maybe they thought they could funnel Conservative Party funds to pay back Wright?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

What's the annual salary for the PM's Chief of Staff? Maybe in the $200-250k range? So $90k is a huge percentage of his annual earnings to give up to try to make a scandal go away.

I believe Harper when they say that the $90k didn't come from the taxpayers, but I'd be very surprised if Wright freely gave away his money without expecting to be repaid somehow in very short order. Maybe they thought they could funnel Conservative Party funds to pay back Wright?

It runs deeper than that though. I read a quote from Duffy last week and when he was asked whether Harper knew said something along the lines of "I would be surprised if.....I really don't know"

I don't think you have to read too much into his starting that sentence to see where he was likely headed with that comment.

[Bunk]

I think Nigel Wright was quite wealthy before he became Chief of Staff.

[Tinordi]

Yes he was CEO of Onex I believe.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Bunk

I think Nigel Wright was quite wealthy before he became Chief of Staff.

He was the managing director of Onex so 100k is basically a drop in the bucket for him.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Slava

I could be wrong, but isn't it illegal to cut a $90k cheque to a senator? Surely, regardless of the scenario there is something preventing undue influence? The same would hold for MPs and elected officials, otherwise it would essentially be completely fine to bribe someone openly.

There as a particular problem with the PMO paying a senator, as the senator's role is "sober second thought" towards the things the PM is doing.

[Tinordi]

Clearly what's going on is this:

It's no secret that Duffy had been spending the last 10 years campaigning to become a Senator. There's multiple sources confirming this.

Duffy saw as his best chance to be nominated by the Conservatives and offered them a deal, he'd be a top fundraiser for them as Senator and also crucified Stepane Dion in the 2008 election on his show with the stuttering issue. In exchange they'd make him a Senator.

However, the quickest way to become Senator was to be named for PEI as the Ontario positions were locked up. Duffy did not live in PEI but had to put it off that he lived in the province to be considered a Senator in good standing. In order to do this, he had to claim living expenses in PEI, or, the $90,000 in question.

When it emerged that Duffy infact did not live in PEI he had to pay the $90,000 back. But Duffy would have likely told the PMO that he was doing them a favour in his position as Senator and that it was the PMO's idea to put him in PEI. The $90,000 was the cost of business as the Conservative party's top fundraiser (he would have raised the CPC millions by this point). And that he wasn't responsible for paying it back.

Enter Nigel Wright who then found the most discreet way to pay it back without the issue blowing up... Until it did.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Clearly what's going on is this:

It's no secret that Duffy had been spending the last 10 years campaigning to become a Senator. There's multiple sources confirming this.

Duffy saw as his best chance to be nominated by the Conservatives and offered them a deal, he'd be a top fundraiser for them as Senator and also crucified Stepane Dion in the 2008 election on his show with the stuttering issue. In exchange they'd make him a Senator.

However, the quickest way to become Senator was to be named for PEI as the Ontario positions were locked up. Duffy did not live in PEI but had to put it off that he lived in the province to be considered a Senator in good standing. In order to do this, he had to claim living expenses in PEI, or, the $90,000 in question.

When it emerged that Duffy infact did not live in PEI he had to pay the $90,000 back. But Duffy would have likely told the PMO that he was doing them a favour in his position as Senator and that it was the PMO's idea to put him in PEI. The $90,000 was the cost of business as the Conservative party's top fundraiser (he would have raised the CPC millions by this point). And that he wasn't responsible for paying it back.

Enter Nigel Wright who then found the most discreet way to pay it back without the issue blowing up... Until it did.

This is probably close to what happened...agreed.

There just is no logical explanation for Wright to personally cut Duffy the cheque otherwise.