"...the Prime Minister’s Office appears to have been blindsided by Duffy’s claims that he had arranged his own loan with Royal Bank of Canada to cover the repayment.
“There are a growing number of questions about Mr. Duffy’s conduct that don’t have answers. Mr. Duffy will have to answer as an independent senator,” a government official said Thursday night.
Duffy’s claim that he had secured a bank loan was a complete surprise to senior government officials and appears to have sparked his departure from the Conservative caucus.
Senator Marjory LeBreton, the government house leader in the Senate, confirmed he was out of caucus.
“Senator Duffy has informed me that he has resigned from caucus to sit as an independent senator,” LeBreton said in a statement.
Duffy said in a statement the controversy around his repayment had become a “significant distraction to my caucus colleagues, and to the government.”
And then this curious statement from senator Mike who refused to cooperate with auditors, refused to hand over bank statements and other records, and claims to have been ordered by the Prime Minister's Office to dummy up:
“Throughout this entire situation I have sought only to do the right thing. I look forward to all relevant facts being made clear in due course, at which point I am hopeful I will be able to rejoin the Conservative caucus,” he said.
Mike, the auditors were asking you to make the "relevant facts" clear and you wanted no part of it. You gave them the slip. Sorry, Duff, but you've been marooned.
The sad thing is, Mound, that he and his former masters somehow think that removing himself from the caucus will somehow make everything better, at least until the next scandal erupts.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope that will not be the case.
Lorne, we've had almost 7-years of this. It's by now the default response of the Harper government to scandal. Ignore it, remain motionless, and assume whatever it is won't stick. It's been infuriating to see, time and time again, how well this has served them.
ReplyDeleteChristy Clark did essentially the same thing to get out from under the scandals of her rightwing bunch (aided and abetted by a hapless opposition) and she gained a bigger majority for it.
Duffy always wanted to be a Senator and he isn't about to give up his gravy train that easily.
ReplyDeleteAnyong, you could be right. I don't know. Duffy may hang on because he needs the paycheque. It's unusual for a guy of his age to still be carrying a significant mortgage liability, rarer still given how much he was earning at CBC and CTV.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of people claiming that he's got a lot of demons, booze among them. Who knows? Not I.