Duffy's clean. Which means somebody has to be dirty. Somebody orchestrated this political show trial. Somebody decided to go for a full-bore prosecution with no fewer than 31-charges. Somebody has been lying ever since the day that Duffy's unfortunate email was leaked to CTV.
There's no plausible denial left for Stephen Harper. Not this time. Not after Duffy was acquitted of all 31-charges. Not after what Justice Vaillancourt had to say about this "mind-boggling and shocking" scheme. The judge didn't just pronounce Duffy "not guilty," he found him not remotely blameworthy. Duffy wasn't acquitted, he was exonerated. There's a legal dynamic at play in that.
Nigel Wright is no longer everybody's Boy Scout. No, now he's another Tory Dirtbag. Ray Novak? Ditto. The Senate Tory leadership who participated in this scheme, including LeBreton, Tkachuk and Stewart-Olsen? Oh yeah, them too. Arthur Hamilton? Probably. About the only one of the principals who comes out unscathed is Ben Perrin, the whistleblower. Whether he acted out of principle or merely saw the writing on the wall we may never know. Perhaps it doesn't much matter.
What a fitting way for Stephen Harper to leave federal politics - in utter disgrace.
UPDATE:
It will be a while before Justice Vaillancourt's 308-page written judgment can be properly digested. What we got today was a glimpse at his actual findings. For example, TorStar picked up these gems:
“The political, covert, relentless, unfolding of events is mindboggling and shocking. The precision and planning of the exercise would make any military commander proud.”
The judge concluded the PMO designed a scenario to have Duffy repay, even if it meant Wright handed over a cheque. It “was not for the benefit of Senate Duffy, but rather, it was for the benefit of the government and the PMO.
“This was damage control at its finest.”
Moreover, the judge suggested the Crown fingered the wrong person for criticism, in stating “that Mr. Duffy’s actions were driven by deceit, manipulation, and carried out in a clandestine manner representing a serious and marked departure from the standard expected of a person in Sen. Duffy’s position of trust.
“I find that if one were to substitute the PMO, Nigel Wright and the others for Sen. Duffy in the aforementioned sentence, that you would have a more accurate statement.”
I won't live to see it, but I hope Harper lives long enough to see Omar Kahdr installed as Prime Minister.
ReplyDeleteHey, I called it. (You asked for bets after all.)
ReplyDeleteNot even an h/t for my predictive powers? ;-)
And the lovely little lawyer (Perrin) waited till the winds had shifted to 'blow the world's tiniest whistle'.
Article says perrin blew whistle. Does that mean he sent news to CTV?!
ReplyDeleteArticle says perrin blew whistle. Does that mean he sent news to CTV?!
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ReplyDeleteJudith, neither Duffy nor his defence team knows the identity of the individual who leaked that initial email. It's not clear that CTV's Bob Fife who received it knows.
ReplyDeleteNPoV - we don't know when Perrin blew the whistle. As a lawyer he would have known his revelations could come at no more decisive point than in mid-trial. Had he come out earlier his evidence might never made it into the court record.
.. Dirtbag .. narcissistic .. Dirtbag ..
ReplyDelete.. NPD .. the DSM IV diagnostic criteria
defines Stephen Harper nicely .. point by point
within Narcissistic Personality Disorder ..
Unfortunately.. 'Dirtbag' not added as a clear clinical signpost
but we can certainly ensure he is seen as a wonderful example ...
Sal, I think the lesson is that, if you're planning to bury someone like Duffy, don't settle for a shallow grave.
ReplyDeleteNeither Harper nor Duffy are Tories. After the betrayal of the Progressive Conservative party, most Tories took refuge in other parties; the party became distinctly neo-right, lacking in national patriotism, the hallmark of Toryism.
ReplyDeleteNeo-rightists subvert democracy because their agenda is so unpopular, they're forced to deceive, otherwise they'd never get elected; once elected they limited time before voters twig; subversion then becomes perversion before the window closes. That's why Harper's ruthlessness quickly became rushed and, ultimately, rash.
When have Tories ever tried to sabotage sovereignty? Neo-rightists dream of it every day while wooing voters, then do it every day once voters are duped into electing; then they boil with self-righteous indignation when they inevitably get booted.
The term is often misused because of Harper's usurpation of the party Tories used to support. Originally it labeled Irish rebels branded outlaws (or "fugitives") by the English invaders of their ancient homeland. In the American colonies it was revived to label Loyalists during the Revolution who themselves became fugitives to long-settled French colonial territories on the seaboard which Britain had recently conquered, and to the then-western frontier in Upper Canada.
Heavily outnumbered in BNA by (Quebec) Habitants, and vastly by their former countrymen who'd confiscated their properties in the new United States, it's not surprising these Tories demanded responsible government, British regular garrison, Crown subsidy and, eventually, confederation ---all strategic measures to protect the nascent Loyalist polity---as reward for their loyalty to the Crown. The essential strength of their nationalist culture was evident when ex-pat, American immigrants attracted to cheap land in loyalist Canada stood against their erstwhile compatriots in the War of 1812, a phenomenon the American invasion planners had discounted---in fact, they had miscalculated that these recent immigrants would side with the invaders, their former countrymen, and were seriously disappointed when Canadian nationalism stood deeper and stronger than their own country's did (indeed, America was plagued with mustering squabbles between various States to which, at the time, citizens owed their primary loyalty---that is, the US attacked before it had a cogent and capable nationalism, and when Canada had established a much stronger sense of nationalism cultivated by Tories out of necessity. At times, even today, the American Civil War reminds of their relatively shaky nationalism.
Building of the transcontinental railway and the resulting non-contiguous confederation of BC completed the critical Canadian strategy of preventing American "Manifest Destiny" from flanking on the right, just as confederation had done for the populated East. It was spearheaded by Tory nationalism. (BTW, BC was, at the time, completely ambivalent about nationality and had to be generously bribed into confederating. BC's current neo-rightism is to some extent inherent, it's dream-threat of Cascadia still plausible and it's exceptionalism---falsely presumed immunity to Constitutional obligation regards Aboriginal rights---still alive and sick.)
Toryism has always been about strong nationalism, necessitated circumstantially by low population in a colder land. One doesn't need to be a Tory to be a Canadian nationalist, but to be a Tory, on has to be a nationalist. The neo-right ideal of a stateless corporatocracy that trumps national sovereignty (and therefore democracy) is the diametric opposite to Toryism.
Duffy is not clean. He is a dirty, thieving Conservative like Harper and Wright. We are all stuck with the bills for their corruption and the subsequent botched investigation and court case. There is nothing to celebrate in this mess.
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