Oh, Pamela Wallin. Hours before Stephen Harper went on stage in Calgary to make his big address to the party faithful came news that the RCMP have indeed been investigating Wallin for fraud and breach of trust, and that Senate administration have had concerns about her spending since 2009 – the very year she was appointed. They allege that her Toronto condo is her primary residence, which she uses for functions outside of her Senate duties, and that she has been filing fraudulent expenses. We also found out that the audits for those four senators cost just a little more than they all repaid, of which Wallin’s audit was the lion’s share. But remember, we’re supposed to look at this price tag in the broader context of public accountability and trust. And if anyone thinks that the Auditor General could have done it essentially for free, they need to be reminded that the AG doesn’t do forensic auditing.
As for Harper’s speech, it was kinda flat, but that’s exactly the way Harper likes things (at least according to Paul Wells in his book The Longer I’m Prime Minister). Much of the speech was just microwaved leftovers from the Throne Speech, with “friends” thrown in at the beginning of every paragraph. Wells takes on the speech here, and notes that it is mostly a replay of things from the 2008 election campaign with bonus bits of fiction, where Harper says that the courts have somehow blocked his Senate reform proposals (they have not to date – the Quebec reference on his bills found them unconstitutional but those bills are now dead, and the Supreme Court reference that Harper himself asked for is yet to come), and he says the Senate needs to “reform itself,” though the limit to which they can do that is to tweak their internal rules and that’s it. And no, passing suspension-without-pay motions without due process is not “reform” or “accountability” either, especially when he appointed the three embattled senators in question. Andrew Coyne, quite correctly, writes that if anyone was looking for a note of contrition from Harper, that they were kidding themselves.
Also at the convention, the delegates decided to retain the same leadership vote process, but the resolution to not bring this issue back up for the next two conventions did not pass. And so it continues. Colby Cosh paints a picture of the scene at the convention here.
Documents show that $300 million in foreign aid funds went unspent last year, opening the government to criticism that they basically doubled cuts to foreign aid by stealth. They also spent more than $700 million in out-of-court settlements, which is an increase of some 40 percent.
Senator Elaine McCoy writes about how the decision to make the suspension motions against the three embattled senators to be a government motion is an attack on the independence of the chamber. And she’s right. Jessica Barrett learns ten things about the Senate amidst the whole drama.
David Akin looks at the Liberals’ fundraising numbers and growing donor base, and how they are finally adjusting to the new normal in the political fundraising landscape. Susan Delacourt looks at the challenge of “donor-motivation,” and provides an example of the Liberals in action, using “should” in their emails as the Obama team figured out.
And Tabatha Southey imagines a conversation between Harper and hotel room service at the convention, based on QP performance in the past week.