Boom goes the ClusterDuff yet again, as the RCMP laid 31 charges against Mike Duffy, relating to fraud, breach of trust, and bribery. (RCMP statement here). These charges relate to his housing expenses, his travel claims, the consulting contracts to the tune of $200,000, and the $90,000 cheque from Nigel Wright. Duffy will be in court on September 16th – the day after the House comes back. Duffy’s lawyer says that he’s content, which means that months of innuendo are over and it moves to a fair trial. The opposition reminds us that this is about Harper’s poor judgement. Kate Heartfield gives some questions that voters should be asking in the wake of this including who else benefitted from those payments, but absent from the list is the reminder that under the tenets of Responsible Government, Harper is the one who is accountable for appointing Duffy to the Senator. Don Martin writes about the political fallout of the charges today. Andrew Coyne wonders about Nigel Wright’s motives, and how it is that he wasn’t charged for giving the bribe (which leads one to believe that perhaps it was not so much his idea). Jonathan Gatehouse explores that issue a little more, and notes that Wright didn’t exactly benefit from the cheque, which may shield him from “corruptly” giving the cheque.
The Western University student charged with exploiting the Heartbleed Bug to steal Social Insurance Numbers from CRA had his court appearance put over until mid-August.
The Supreme Court sided with the government on a legal challenges to the 2010 changes to the EI fund that allows the government to reallocate surpluses into general revenue.
The government announced that the planned OSIRIS-Rex to nearby asteroid Bennu will use Canadian-made 3D mapping technology. CBC has a video with Chris Hadfield explaining the mission. The spacecraft will launch in 2015, arrive at Bennu in 2018, and return to Earth in 2023.
In a terrible story, the seven year-old daughter of the Conservative Party president died after being struck by a car.
The Canadian Press turns its baloney meter to the claims about how much interprovincial trade barriers cost the economy, with figures ranging from $2 billion to $50 billion per year. What they find is that yes, most of those claims are completely fiction.
And Michael Ignatieff gives a lecture at the Ditchley Foundation about the changing world order post-Crimean annexation, and how things no longer fit into the boxes that they did in, either in 1914 or in the Cold War era. It’s fascinating reading.