A strange, $90,000 gift to the undeserving Senator Duffy

[CHIMO]

The gift to Senator Mike Duffy of more than $90,000 from Nigel Wright, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, is one of the more fanciful transactions to have taken place on a Parliament Hill in quite some time. It is not a bribe. It is not illicit. On the surface, the loan is merely an act of political charity, a wealthy politico offering a helping hand to a public servant who is down on his luck.

And yet the transaction is immediately offensive. It does not wipe clean the senator’s misdeeds. It has not served the interests of the Prime Minister’s Office, either, as that pinnacle of government should never be quartermaster to the faithful and feckless, as Mr. Duffy has proved to be.

Senator Duffy claimed expenses to which he was not entitled, even including a per-diem for work in Ottawa while he was really on holiday in Florida. It is good that the public purse has been repaid promptly, thanks to Mr. Wright, but the senator’s own behaviour remains troubling, pathetic and in need of more scrutiny. Senator Duffy did something wrong, and many will conclude that he should be paying a greater penalty than he has.

The Harper government has usually been quite tough in dealing with parliamentarians who have been seen to have crossed a line, and caused it embarrassment, such as Maxime Bernier in 2008 (though he later returned to the cabinet in a lesser portfolio) and Helena Guergis in 2010. That makes the generosity shown to Senator Duffy all the more curious. We can speculate about the motives, but the matter has not gone away with Mr. Wright’s bailout. On the contrary, it implies special treatment and favours.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/a-strange-90000-gift-to-the-undeserving-senator-duffy/article11951156/



Another chapter, perhaps of biblical proportions?

[MAD Dave]

1. No sense?!

This whole story really makes no sense. In the light of the other firings etc, I can't imagine a good reasons that PM Harper would have ordered this payment.

I sincerely hope the truth of this deal is exposed. I think the details will be fascinating.

[CHIMO]

2. No Cents?

It does not have to make sense. It may make cents.

Follow the money!

The ninety dimes are after tax money from Wright. Where is it coming from? Is the guy so innocent that he pulls out a roll to pay off someone? Without some form of payback required? The stiff must know what the payment is for?

Was it a previous contract to screw Dion during an election?

Or
He was summoned before the parliamentary ethics committee to defend himself against the assumption that his advisory utility would be effectively neutered by his prior corporate connections. Of particular concern were his directorial ties to Onex-owned Hawker Beechcraft Inc., a partner with Lockheed Martin in a consortium that is selling F-35 stealth fighters to Canada for $16 billion in an untendered contract. “He’s in a completely untenable position,” complained Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin. “[It’s] a… profound conflict of interest on so many levels that in order to live up to any ethical standards, he would have to recuse himself from three-quarters of cabinet meetings. He would be out in the hallway more often than he would be in the cabinet room… [He] cannot even order a pizza for the prime minister without being conflicted.”

Is it something else?

http://thewalrus.ca/mister-right/?ref=2011.04-politics-mister-right&page=

Harper's man is from Onex. Onex is money and power. We know some of the money connections. Others have to dig for the power connections.