Michael Harris On Why the Truth In the Duffy Case Must Be Flushed Out

Yesterday I wrote that the RCMP owed Canadians an explanation about  the way it handled the Duffy case.

Because it has raised some disturbing questions about the relationship between the police and the Harper regime, that strike at the heart of our democracy.

And now Michael Harris has a lot more questions for everyone involved.

And says it's time to flush out the truth.

They cut off the wrong leg, mixed up the babies, confused the medications, screwed up the blood types and didn’t much like the patient. If RCMP investigators and ministry of the attorney general’s lawyers had been doctors, they would have been facing a malpractice suit over Duffygate.

With an investigation or a public inquiry.

When will someone call for an investigation into this institutional witch-hunt in which a legal calamity was only avoided thanks to a crusading and indefatigable lawyer and a clear-eyed and fearless judge?

This needs to be investigated by someone who can tell his ass from a hole in the ground. Kevin Page comes to mind, with help from Sheila Fraser.

And I agree. There are too many serious issues involved to let the case slowly fade in the collective memory.

The RCMP commissioner does need to explain why Duffy was charged with bribery but Nigel Wright, who paid the money to cover-up a scandal, wasn't.



Why did the RCMP proceed with bribery charges against Mike Duffy but not against Nigel Wright? The RCMP promised to reveal the reason at the appropriate time. If there was a deal struck with Wright, will the RCMP make public precisely what it was – such as consideration for Wright having handed over Duffy’s diaries, or proof that Wright had permission from his boss to do the expenses deal?

And we do need to know whether Stephen Harper, the ringleader of the PMO conspiracy, and the man who had the most to lose, tried to influence or pressure the RCMP.

Did the Commissioner of the RCMP or his staff have any communications from the PMO regarding the Duffy case, and if so, will he make them public? 

Did the Commissioner of the RCMP or his staff communicate with the Minister of Public Safety or his staff about the Duffy case? If so, did he offer or receive any advice and will he release those communications?

Because those are the kind of questions that determine the difference between a healthy democracy and a budding police state...



So we do need to know what really went on in Stephen Harper's shadowy PMO.

And of course Harris is right, we can't count on Rona Ambrose and her Cons to help uncover the truth or apologize for the crimes of the Harper regime.

Because as you know Ambrose and her cowardly gang are not just refusing to comment on the Duffy verdict.

They're literally running from the media...



In the wake of last week’s court verdict, instead of acknowledging that things had gone horribly wrong in the political persecution of Mike Duffy, Ambrose and almost all of her caucus had nothing to say about the disgraceful conduct of Harper and his PMO. Worse, they had nothing to say for themselves – not even that this kind of political scape-goating and abuse of power was dead wrong and would never happen again under Conservative auspices.

And the hapless Droner never look so bad.

Every once in a while, a defeated political party reminds everyone of why it was thrown out, and more importantly, how unfit it remains for office. Rona Ambrose showed once more that she is a not a leader but a dead-end partisan just as uninterested in the truth as her former boss.

Or more of a Harper stooge.



And the good news?

We can use the Duffy verdict to keep the Cons on the defensive, and blunt their attacks. By simply repeating the judge's words to them over and over again.

“Mr. Neubauer [one of the Crown prosecutors] stated that Senator Duffy’s actions were driven by deceit, manipulations and carried out in a clandestine manner representing a serious and marked standard expected of a person in Senator Duffy’s position of trust. I find that if one were to substitute the PMO, Nigel Wright and others for Senator Duffy in the aforementioned sentence that you would have a more accurate statement.”

For they do condemn them all...



Or squish them all.

Let there be an investigation and a full public inquiry.

Let the truth about Stephen Harper and his foul regime be exposed at last, so even the dumbest Canadians can understand it.

And let Mike Duffy's legal nightmare.

Help bring those ghastly Cons down in flames...



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