Oh, So That's the Burr Under Warren's Saddle

Our friend wrote a cryptic post this morning, "The Source."

It seemed to attack CBC and the Globe for using an unnamed source who allegedly is/was anti-Semitic and light-fingered. Apparently WK had a falling out with a Daisy staffer who, on his way out the door, made off with a few documents.

Hard to make any sense of it but it did invite a visit to the CBC and Globe web sites. And there it is.

Our friend's Daisy Group, it is claimed, has been working for Scheer's Tories to derail Maxime Bernier's PPC campaign.

Both news outlets report having received a raft of Daisy Group documents laying out the plan, one being an invoice for services rendered.

From his start as a Liberal stalwart, WK has become, in recent years, politically promiscuous. Business is business. He's not the first to play the political field nor will he be the last. I wouldn't read much into that. But there was this part from the Globe story that caught my eye:

A Daisy Group document describing the project says “Daisy’s war room campaign goals will be to place Bernier and PPC on the defensive” and to “work to attempt to ensure that Bernier and the PPC are not included in national leaders’ debates. If unsuccessful in blocking his participation, Daisy will work to ensure that Bernier and his party are weakened to the point of being ineffective.” 

Senior Daisy Group employee Rob Gilmour outlined the plan in the document. 

He noted that Daisy Group’s role could meet Elections Canada’s definition of third-party activity, a move that would require the filing of disclosures on its political activities. “Daisy will create an arm’s-length organization that cannot be linked to the client or any participating organization,” he wrote. He later added, “If possible, Daisy will work to ensure this campaign is not named as a third party.”

What this means I surely don't know. It could be nothing more than innuendo and who knows better on that score than our friend. Still it raises some interesting questions that could use some answers.

We may get those answers before long. CBC reports that Maxime Bernier has filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Elections Canada to get to the bottom of this. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier has filed a complaint to the Commissioner of Canada Elections to get to the bottom of what he called a "secret" smear campaign waged against him. 

During a news conference Saturday, Bernier said the party will retain legal advice and will use all tools at its disposal to get answers on the Conservative Party of Canada's potential role in that campaign.

I'm not sure what just happened but WK has announced that he's quitting twitter and facebook. He says he's ill but that could mean anything. Most of the folks I know who reach a certain age have some sort of condition or illness. That's life.

What I found curious was his contention that he can't respond to questions about the controversy lest he be disbarred. He seems to be raising the defence of solicitor-client privilege but this hardly seems to have anything to do with rendering legal services. Serving as a political operative through Daisy, a public relations firm, is a very far stretch from a legal relationship. It seems that he's reaching. It sounds seriously contrived.

As the day closes, my take on this whole thing is that, providing Daisy did not run afoul of our election laws, it's really not a big deal. Trudeau's fan boys are gushing in delight that their guy's tormentor has perhaps been brought low. WK has earned their enmity with his over-the-top campaign against JT. It concerns me that he is raising this solicitor-client confidentiality business. That sounds a bit desperate. From Scheer's remarks, Daisy was at best a "vendor" and that's far from being counsel.

Let's not kid ourselves. Nobody cares about Bernier. He's an odious character and his operation attracted a core but limited group of sordid followers. If he's got a grievance the commissioner can sort it out. All we know is that Daisy et al set out to derail Bernier's campaign but what they actually did in furtherance of that remains to come out. That could be interesting. It might not be.

As for our friend and his pull on our heartstrings - ditto. He too is an odious hack, a shameless tout, utterly undeserving of compassion. His pity party is abhorrent. Live by the sword, die by the sword.