OMG. The horror, the horror. It was supposed to be Stephen Harper's Day of Jubilee. The day he showed off the severed heads of the three Senators to his demoralized caucus. Or tossed them in the general direction of the opposition.
And solemnly declared that the sordid Senate scandal, or The Great Distraction, was over.
But instead the scandal took another macabre twist, when one of the heads started talking....to the RCMP!!!!
Senator Mike Duffy's lawyer has begun turning over hundreds of emails to the RCMP following a request by the Mounties last Friday to hand over documentation that may prove to be "evidence of criminal wrongdoing by others," CBC News has learned.
The emails being turning over to the Mounties by Duffy's lawyer Donald Bayne are said to be "much more explicit" about the Prime Minister's Office script that Duffy said he was to follow.
Just as I predicted eh?
And to make matters even worse, the opposition wasn't intimidated by Great Ugly Leader's shrunken head show, and was STILL asking questions.
The suspension of three former Conservative senators without pay did not stop the opposition parties from keeping up their attacks on Stephen Harper over what his office knew about a plan to repay the inappropriate expenses of senator Mike Duffy.
Including this one from Tom Mulcair.
"Was Jenni Byrne [political director of the Conservative Party] aware of the plan to repay Mike Duffy's expenses using Conservative Party funds? Yes or no?" Mulcair asked Harper.
You know.... Jenni Byrne...the Con attack
Byrne, whom Mulcair noted has a fearsome reputation, currently works as the deputy chief of staff to the prime minister.
A question which Stephen Harper for some reason refused to answer directly.
"Without proof, the leader of the NDP is making allegations against people. Clearly Mr. Wright acted alone and accepted responsibility for that," Harper responded.
And although the Con Speaker shamelessly tried to come to his aid.
In a surprising move, House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer intervened on more than one occasion to warn Mulcair to stick to government business, not party business.
That didn't stop Mulcair...
The leader of the NDP hit back at the Speaker saying, "Just to be clear, perfectly clear, this is about a coverup in the Prime Minister's Office. This is government business. This is the public's business."
Who kept grilling Harper like a bearded Perry Mason...
And making Great Desperate Leader look bad. I mean REALLY bad eh?
For if you take a closer look at what happened today, as recorded by Aaron Wherry.
“Did the Prime Minister know about the plan to use Conservative Party funds to reimburse the illegal expenses of Mike Duffy,” the NDP leader wondered, “no weasel words, yes or no?”
“Once again, my clear view on this was that Mr. Duffy’s expenses could not be justified. He had claimed expenses he had not incurred and that I had told him, including telling him directly, that he should repay those funds. I was later told that he had, which, of course, was not true. That is, of course, one of the reasons why the Senate has acted as it has, and we congratulate it for that action.”
One thing should be obvious to any Canadian who doesn't need to be watered like a plant: Stephen Harper can't seem to give a straight answer to ANYTHING.
And the obvious question is WHY?
Which unless it is answered, will make more and more Canadians ask themselves this wider question...
And ensure that the Senate scandal will haunt EVERYTHING Great I Know Nothing Leader does all the way to the next election. If him and his ghastly gang aren't arrested first.
Because I can already see at least two ways this Perry Mason show could end eh?
With Stephen Harper being dragged away for his crimes against democracy...
And/or for lying in a compulsive and shameless manner, and by so doing rendering him unfit to remain in office.
Or with him and the entire PMO gang being dragged into court and made to look like idiots...
Or MANIACS.
And quite frankly I like BOTH endings eh?
Yup. Settle back everyone and enjoy the show. It's going to be really scary.
But it will have a happy ending...
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The Speaker’s intrusion on the “party business” vice “government business” question was pathetic. You could see in his demeanour and in the object of his attention that the young man was searching hopelessly within himself for some means to serve his leader in an hour of need. The unspoken word has obviously been conveyed to the most essential followers who must at all costs remain to be seen as faithful and of as much use as they can continue to be to the man and to a cause that most of them have probably never understood. Don’t give up the ship. Keep rowing. Surely, as long as we are still afloat, the captain will find something else to ram that might save the day. We just need to give him time and deprive the enemy of opportunity wherever we can.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased that Mulcair didn’t back down from the attempted rebuke and responded by reinforcing concisely and forcefully the message that Harper’s party has caused its internal business to intrude into the business of government. By having made no distinction between the two, Harper is now being asked to reap what he has sown. If the Speaker had the benefit of experience outside of Harper’s playground he might understand this. He might also understand why his partisanship was so transparent to anyone old enough to remember Canada before the CRAP Party.
hi John.... I can only imagine how much pressure the PMO must be putting on the Speaker to make him try to shutdown the debate. And I will add it to the long list of that cult's crimes against our democracy. But I was glad to see how forceful Mulcair's reply was, and I only hope it shocked the Speaker back to reality. Because can you imagine how many Canadians would have reacted if he had succeeded in shutting down the debate? I must admit it bothers me to see our Parliament consumed by this scandal, when there are so many other problems facing this country. But what choice do we have when we have a Prime Minister like Stephen Harper? How can we properly address all those other problems when our democracy is dying?
DeleteGot to say Mulcair is doing us proud at the moment, his retort to the speaker was brilliant and framed exactly the way it needs to be despite the weasily attempt to distance harper. This is a good time to keep tabs on harper's behaviour because he's doing exactly what a bully does when he's been exposed: blame, lie, act out, and get really irrational. Couldn't happen to a more deserving person. I don't want him to step down because the Canadian public has yet to get its pound of flesh out of the worst mistake its ever made at the ballot box.
ReplyDeletehi bcwaterboy...yes, Mulcair is doing a very good job, as I knew he would, because he has had a lot of practice. I remember when he was leading the charge for the Quebec Liberals at a time when the PQ was involved in a series of scandals. By the time Question Period in the National Assembly was over, the Pequistes were often shellshocked and had smoke pouring out of their ears. However, I have to say I wouldn't mind if Harper stepped down, even if we are deprived of the joy of defeating him in the next election. I just think his toxic influence is so great, that he could do even more damage to our country in the next two years. So the sooner he goes the better.
DeleteP.S. Just because he resigns doesn't mean we can't light giant bonfires and ring church bells from coast to coast. One way or the other I'm partying for DAYS... :)
Hi Simon,
ReplyDeleteReports comming in from the mean streets of Toronto. Bad guys without crack are leaving town. If you do not have crack, you do not want to see him in a drunken stupor!
hi Steve...yes I've seen the video, and although I'm embarrassed my parents also saw the video....in the barren north of Scotland...I'm glad it came out. Because it shows Ford as he really is, not a nice guy with a substance abuse problem, but a bully and a thug. And one who clearly enjoys hanging with a bad crowd. If this doesn't put a dent in the Ford Nation's adoration nothing will...
DeleteP.S. Who called the Ford brothers BIRDS? I don't know what it means in gangster talk but I quite like it...;)
Top Ten Bob Dylan covers by Crackman
Delete1) Shelter from the Fords (credit David Ray)
2)Tangled up in a Drunken Stupor
3) Like a Rolling Crack Rock
4) Transit Plan number 61 revisited
5)Vodka in Escalade
6) Sandra, Bill Blair and the diamond Crack Pipe
7)All along the crack houses
8)Most likely you will vote for me, and I will get high
9) Drug dealer from Etobickoe
10) Desperation Row
http://thinkingaboot.blogspot.ca/2013/11/crackman-new-kind-of-hero-for-new-kind.html
Mulcair I believe is filleting Ugly Leader like a fish. His questioning makes Harper trip all over himself, and Harper is falling on his face regularily. I loved the one where Mulcair asked if Harper had said something in particular (and then he read a quote) while meeting with Duffy and Wright about the cheque scheme. Harper replied he never said that, but unwittingly admitted he was there in the room with them, which he had been denying since 'Wright acted alone' and Ugly Liar Leader 'knew nothing.' Well, BULLSHIT. And the fact Harper can't answer any direct questions speaks volumes. Meanwhile the House Speaker, that fucken dufus Con shill Andrew Scheer, who lets Conservative yobo's stands there and gleefully make idiotic and false allegations for 'answers' - like 'Justin Trudeau wants to let children smoke pot!' - then has the fucken audacity to stand there and chide Mulcair ablut 'party business?" SERIOUSLY? Fuck off Scheer, you are speaker and supposed to be impartial. If you can't do your job properly get the fuck lost. But we all know impartiality is a no-no in Harperland. The sooner these Conmen circus sideshow hucksters get cuffed and hauled to prison the better it will be for Canada.
ReplyDeleteYou believe that? Have you been raiding Rob Ford's supply?
Deletehi wazz...yes Mulcair has been excellent, and I especially like the way he has ignored Harper's smears, stripped his own questions of partisan trappings, and just asked the Dark Lord to please answer a simple question. Or explain the amazing way his story has been changing from the day the scandal broke. Because clearly Harper has been wasting his talent impersonating a Canadian Prime Minister and writing books about hockey. He should dedicate himself full time to writing Gothic novels.
DeleteAlthough I suppose he can wait until he goes to prison. The Bird Man of Millhaven by Stephen Jigs Harper, I would definitely read that one.... ;)
He simeon, read Dave Bidini's (ex-Rheostatics guy) book on hockey called 'Keon and Me.' There's a REAL hockey book. Harper probably can't even skate.
DeleteWhen Roy wrote the hockey book, little Steve couldn't wait to take credit.
ReplyDeleteWhen Nigel wrote the emails, little Steve turned blue denying that it was him.
How come?
hi rumleyfips....Good question. The only explanation must be the subject matter, and the length of the sentence. From what I've seen his boring hockey book should earn him at least six months in writer's prison for crimes against literature. But hopefully his Senate sentence will be much much longer....
DeleteFord seems to have taken a page out of Harper's book. We know Harper and Ford are friends, both of them refuse to resign. Both of them, lie like sidewalks. Neither one of them, will step down.
ReplyDeleteWe really don't know how much of Canada, Harper has handed over to Communist China.
Good grief!! Harper is in Parliament, lying his head off AGAIN. Harper is making this absolutely clear, also AGAIN.
hi anon...actually they are more than friends. His organization, or should I say his Brother Doug's organization, is extremely well organized and financed, and packed with Con operatives. Steve and Doug were counting on the hapless Rob to deliver them the progressive bastion of Toronto on a platter.
DeleteWell so much for that one....
When you deal with cretins Simon, all logic goes out the window. I believe Carlin said something to the effect of "look at the stupidest person you know, and 50% of the people are stupider than them." The true believers will never accept that Harper is not a good PM, not an economist, and not accountable. He will get his 20% or 30% of the vote next election, same as Ford will get the votes of Ford Nation.
ReplyDeleteA bright spot is (my understanding) Senator Wallin does have support in Saskatchewan from those that do support Harper, I only hope this makes him unpalatable to his base. Of course we have to balance that with the rumor the second Ford video is a sex tape, which no one wants released.
hi Filcher....Gawd. I hope you're wrong. But I'm afraid you're not. When I see how some of both Harper and Ford's supporters twist themselves into knots trying to explain away or dismiss all their democratic atrocities I can't believe the depth of their fanaticism. The good news is that I have seen some Cons finally start to wakeup and declare that the Emperor has no clothes. It's a late awakening, but better now than never...
Deletehi Robert...thanks I've added looniepolitics to MY list. And I must say that mine notwithstanding, your list of stories is a good one. Keep up the good work....
ReplyDeleteI have read you for many years Simon, and the posts at the Galloping Beaver, and thwap and Desmog and so many others, with very few comments. Thank you all for doing the heavy lifting.
ReplyDeleteThe Harper government and those that support him have shown that talk of democracy and justice is simply buzzwords. What happened in the Senate was a travesty, and all the senators should be appalled. As should the media; they presented as a black and white, the issue of Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin owing money, which was a small part of what the problem was. I do not know, but suspect that senators are able to use government accountants to help with expenditures, or have some other form of vetting their expenses. I think Harper signed off on some of these, so he was well aware of what they were charging, I would also think the head of the Senator would also be aware that there may be issues, but how can several years pass with no one cluing in Duffy had a house in Ottawa. Total incompetence, or criminal negligence on the part of many others, not just those three.
Rob Ford has broken the law and has failed at his job. One of the unspoken functions of his office is presenting Toronto as a world class, business friendly city. He has failed to do that, and whether he seeks help or not, he should resign. I personally would love to see him replaced by Charle McCarthy, who would sit there woodenly, say nothing, and appear smart than Ford.
Mulcair was great. His questions are so clear and Harper just goes back to his same old lines. Doesn't answer the question. Mulcair was great when he turned on the Speaker. The Speaker just backed off. Looked like he didn't want to take Mulcair on.
ReplyDeleteHarper most likely did think this would all go away with the suspension of the 3 senators. It hasn't in the house of Commons. As long as it continues there, the press will continue to cover it, we hope. The House now has a week off. we can only hope that Mulcair resumes his questioning when the House returns. Even if Harper never goes beyond his mantra, the Opposition must continue to ask the questions each and every question period.
Saw the Trudeau the younger commercials. good on the federal Liberals for starting them,. They and the NDP are going to have to spend the next two year countering the attacks the slimers will be engaged in. Ignoring them doesn't work.