The timing couldn't have been more embarrassing for the Cons.
On Saturday they will choose a new leader, and Rona Ambrose is still desperately trying to whip up interest in the event...
As well as trying to make Canadians believe that the Cons have changed, and are now the New/Nouveau Conservative Party.
When along comes a blast from the past, to remind us who they really are...
It was for me the burning question at the heart of the Mike Duffy scandal. The one that never got answered.
Why did the RCMP charge Duffy with bribery, and not charge Nigel Wright for paying that bribe out of his own pocket?
And now we finally know the answer.
A few days ago I wrote a post where I wondered why the RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has so far failed to explain the reason his investigators decided not to charge Nigel Wright for his role in the Duffy scandal.
Even though he promised to do that more than a year ago.
Now Michael Harris goes a step further and wonders whether the Mounties have become Harper's private police force.
Now that we know that Stephen Harper's lawyer believed that Nigel Wright had Harper sign off on a five-point plan to payoff Mike Duffy.
That good to go really meant good to go. And now that we know this:
Donald Bayne, Duffy’s defence lawyer, read from the transcript of a police interview Perrin did a year ago: “He [Wright] was explicit the prime minister approved of the responses to Ms. Payne [Duffy’s lawyer], so as I said at the time, the prime minister had approved all of the five points articulated by Mr. Wright.”
“That was an accurate statement,” Bayne asked. “You said that to the police?”
“Yes,” replied Perrin.
I think it's about time that the RCMP be asked to explain why it didn't charge Wright, or Stephen Harper's intimate advisor Ray Novak.
It's the smoking gun. Or should I say the smoking flamethrower?
The Con conspiracy has finally been exposed.
It now seems that Ray Novak, Harper's beloved Chief of Staff, knew all about Nigel Wright's payment to Mike Duffy.
His friends on Bay Street and in the MSM describe Nigel Wright as a "straight shooter." A man who wouldn't lie about anything.
But the evidence presented at the Duffy trial so far has shown him to be a grubby schemer, who would do anything to protect the image of the Con regime, and his depraved master.
And the story he is spinning couldn't be more absurd.
Ever since the trial of Mike Duffy began, his lawyer Donald Bayne has been circling over Stephen Harper, like a hawk over a rabbit.
But today all that changed.
When Bayne swooped out of the sky, and went in for the kill.
It couldn't be a more outrageous statement, or if you are a Christian a more blasphemous one.
But there was Jesus Harper's fallen but still faithful disciple Nigel Wright, citing the Bible to defend his actions in the Mike Duffy scandal.
They say Nigel Wright is an honest man, who just happened to be working for the most morally corrupt leader of the most morally corrupt government this country has ever known.
And all that was missing on his first day of testimony at the Duffy trial was a halo over his head.
Even if the story he told was just too good to be true.
Well we've had to wait a long time, but the Mike Duffy trial is back again, and you can be sure it's giving Stephen Harper nightmares.
Not just because the timing couldn't be worse.
But also because his old buddy Nigel Wright will be taking the stand to explain what he meant when he said the PMO plan to keep Duffy quiet was “ good to go from the PM.”
For although Harper is now denying he ever used those words.
That's not what he once told Tom Mulcair.
I grabbed this screen shot of Question Period yesterday with my new, shiny, but very cheap cell phone.
And as you can see it didn't come out that well eh?
You do get what you pay for, just like you do get what you vote for.
But when I looked at it later, I thought it captured Stephen Harper's state of mind rather well.
For he is desperate, he is a mess, and it was yet another disastrous day of scandals, starting with this one.
Nothing could tell us more about the dilapidated state of the Con regime, than Stephen Harper's absurd attempt yesterday to crank up the Great Terrorist Menace.
For there he was at yet another staged photo-op, with his travelling "Protecting Canadians" sign, trying to make Canadians believe that our country is besieged by hordes of dangerous terrorists or tourists.
In yet another other desperate attempt to scare Canadians into voting for him, so he can turn this country into a police state.
When in fact, if you take a close look at his face, it's pretty clear that the most desperate and frightened person in Canada is Harper himself.
As you know the trial of Mike Duffy resumes on Monday, and as you imagine Stephen Harper must be shaking like a leaf, or a coward in a closet.
Or tossing and turning in his bed at night, wondering when Nigel Wright might be called to the stand.
And asked to explain, among other things, what exactly Boss Harper meant when he told his faithful henchman that the plan to bury a scandal was "good to go."
Because as Michael Harris writes, while the trial may be farcical.
Ever since the trial of Mike Duffy began, I keep getting asked the same haunting question:
If Duffy is being charged with accepting a bribe, why wasn't Nigel Wright charged with bribing him by cutting him that $90,000 cheque?
And I have to explain that the RCMP has yet to explain that decision. But it seems that they didn't believe that Wright obtained any "personal benefit" from that blatant bribe to try to keep Ol' Duff from opening his big mouth.
And then I have to explain that yes it's true, and no I'm not insane, and since I'm not a lawyer, and legalese gives me headaches, I'm really glad to see that Democracy Watch is still demanding justice.
It must be Stephen Harper's worst nightmare. Just as he's trying to scare Canadians into voting for him, with his politics of fear and his Great War on Terror.
He himself must be terrified by the number of Con scandals coming out of the woodwork to tarnish his government's already soiled reputation..
For as if Mike Duffy and Dean Del Mastro weren't enough to keep him awake at night.
Now comes his old buddy Vic Toews, staggering out of the darkness to haunt him.
It's like some ghastly merry-go-round. Stephen Harper's groaning circle of scandal.
One moment it's Mike Duffy or Pamela Wallin.
The next moment it's Dean del Mastro.
And today it was Diane Finley's turn to mount the stinking nag of Con corruption.
For a brief moment today I wondered whether I should remove Nigel Wright from the poster for my new and exciting season of Senategate.
After the RCMP announced that he was no longer under investigation.
The RCMP has ended its probe into Nigel Wright, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and his $90,000 payment to suspended Conservative Senator Mike Duffy.
But then I thought no, this scandal is still as sordid as ever. It couldn't have happened without Nigel. Bless him. And it could still bring down Stephen Harper.
Oh goody. It looks as if my favourite show Senategate is back.
With the whole cast of characters ready to entertain us again.
And now even MORE exciting than before.
With the RCMP going after the PMO !!!!
Well he wasn't in the House of Commons today to answer any questions about the Senate scandal.
No doubt recovering from his latest attempt to try to improve his image by posing as a man of the people. Which can't be easy when you're a millionaire.
And you have to go to a football game to try to make yourself look popular.
But of course, it's not hard to understand why Stephen Harper is so afraid of saying anything eh?
Not when he's caught between a rock and a hard place.
Well he wasn't in the House of Commons today. He was out in Lac Megantic handing out a $95 million cheque.
But he couldn't run away from the questions about another cheque.
The one he was apparently prepared to write Mike Duffy to paper over a budding scandal with party funds.
The one that can be boiled down to this question: who do you believe Stephen Harper or the police?
