“My fellow Canadians.
“We have all just witnessed a sad spectacle -- a prime minister so burdened with corruption in his own party that he is unable to do his job and lead the country, a party leader playing for time, begging for another chance.
“This is not how a prime minister should act.
“A prime minister should not be addressing the population on this partisan issue, but rather on the concerns and challenges with which we are confronted: the health-care system, international trade, agriculture, the fiscal imbalance, safer communities, stronger families and a cleaner environment.”
It was not Justin Trudeau who said this. It was not Tom Mulcair, not Elizabeth May. It very well could have been any one of them on pretty much any day since the Mike Duffy trial resumed.
The above quotes are from a speech by Stephen Harper in 2005. Paul Martin must be turning on the TV every day and just chuckling to himself.
As opposition leader, Harper railed at the idea Martin could not know about the sponsorship scandal saying the Liberal leader was either corrupt or incompetent.
In his testimony over the past two weeks former Harper chief of staff Nigel Wright has put his old boss squarely in the exact same position, that of either a terrible manager or an utter liar. I think it’s both.
Harper and the Conservative Party keep trying to deflect the issue by focussing on the criminal charges against Duffy. Frankly, I wonder if the Crown has a case, but it truly does not matter at this point. The whiff of corruption previously leaking out of the PMO has become a full-blown stench based on revelations from the Duffy trial.
Most significant of these was the fact Ray Novak, Harper’s current right hand man, was in on the scheme to deceive Canadians about the repayment of Duffy’s allegedly illegitimate expenses.
Again, there might not be anything criminal here. The 2015 Stephen Harper seems to think that is all that matters. The 2005 Stephen Harper was of an entirely opposite opinion. The old Harper was correct; ethics matter.
So, the question that remains is whether the candidate for Calgary Southwest is corrupt or incompetent.
Perhaps we should let the party’s chief spokesperson Kory Teneycke answer that question.
“Mr. Novak learned about this at the same time the prime minister did. I’ve known Ray for 20 years. It’s unfathomable that Ray would be aware of a payment from Nigel (Wright) to Mr. Duffy and not tell the prime minister. It’s just unfathomable,” Teneycke said.
Unfathomable. Novak could not possibly have known because Harper says he didn’t know. The party quickly came up with a story that Novak, a supposedly brilliant, meticulous and loyal employee did not read an email from Wright, then his boss.
Five days later, Duffy’s lawyer, Donald Bayne introduced a police interview of Benjamin Perrin, Harper’s former lawyer. Novak knew. Perrin was looking right at him when they hatched the plan to gauge his reaction.
Perhaps Perrin, a lawyer, lied to the RCMP. In fact, there are so many lies piling up, the Conservatives just can’t keep track of them any more.
Apparently Novak is indispensable to Harper because the candidate is sticking by him saying you don’t hold subordinates responsible for the actions of their bosses. By that logic, as twisted as it is, there is only one person who should be held responsible for the entire mess.
On October 19 Canadians will have the opportunity to do just that.
Ethics and accountability matter.
