Senate expense scandal points to the essential Stephen Harper: Walkom

[CHIMO]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has attempted to put the Senate scandal behind him. He has failed.

He has failed because the imbroglio in the upper chamber speaks to more than the dubious accounting methods said to be employed by Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, two high-profile Harper senators forced to resign from the Conservative caucus.

It also speaks to the essential Stephen Harper.

The prime minister is a complicated man. He is at heart deeply ideological, a Margaret Thatcher conservative who believes firmly in the primacy of markets.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/05/21/senate_expense_scandal_points_to_the_essential_stephen_harper_walkom.html

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. At some point,

dodging (see Rob Ford), deflecting (blaming the Senate), self-prorogation (helllooo Peru!) and throwing people under the bus isn't going to work anymore. One; its not the scandal but the cover up, that may very likely be criminal. And secondly, its easy to throw a bunch of low ranking staffers under the bus, but now he's trying to throw people who know where the bodies are buried under, and/or people that are well connected and getting nervous about their business interests. It may very well be Conservatives (both old and new) who decide that Harper is the next one to go under the wheels.

How much more of this intransigence will Canada's power brokers tolerate?

A good critique of Harper's "Greasy bait and switch" today from the Disaffected Lib:

Having, like Pilate, washed his hands of the affair, Harper demanded the Senate reform itself forthwith, clean up its act, put an end to these transgressions.

But what exactly had the Senate actually done that was particularly egregious? Nothing. A few of its members may have fudged their expense accounts and claims but it was the actions of the Senate that brought that out. It was the Senate that called in outside auditors. It was the Senate that ordered an investigation.

And, once the Senate had taken these steps to cleanse its own house, what did Stephen Joseph Harper's very own PMO do? Why top officials in the PMO brought Mike Duffy's problems in-house. The bribed Duffy with cash to reimburse the Senate accounts. Harper's office did that, not the Senate. Then they moved to thwart the Senate's investigation, ordering Duffy to say nothing to the independent auditors and spurn their requests for cooperation. Harper's office did that, not the Senate. And then they moved to strongarm the Senate audit committee to launder the report into Senator Duffy's difficulties. Harper's office did that, not the Senate.

In fact, almost all of the real corruption in this scandal emanated from Harper and his closest aides (or just his aides if you believe in the Easter Bunny and the claims that Harper had no knowledge of any of this). That's where the corruption is, within Stephen Harper and his office. So it's a little rich when the Great Corrupter points fingers at the Senate and demands they reform.

http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-man-of-no-integrity-and-limitless.html