Roundup: The exoneration of Mike Duffy

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It was rather a stunning result, where Senator Mike Duffy was acquitted of all 31 charges against him for fraud, breach of trust and bribery. The judge ruled that he found Duffy to be a credible witness, and said largely ruled that Duffy followed what few rules there were in place at the time, a fact that many would contest – there were rules that Duffy indeed skirted, but not to the degree of criminality, according to the judge. In fact, it goes against the very ruling of former Justice Ian Binnie in his arbitration report, who noted that there were rules and there was also common sense in determining the eligibility of expenses, and while he didn’t rule on criminality, it does contradict some of the judge’s reasoning in the Duffy verdict. That the judge singled out the PMO for scathing words is of very little comfort, particularly because of his belief that they somehow overrode Duffy’s free will in “forcing” him to accept that $90,000 cheque. Duffy is now free to return to work in the Senate, but he may not find it a very welcoming place, given his direct culpability to the hits on the institution’s credibility. That, and there will be eyes on his spending at all times, particularly by those senators who knew that there were rules in place – despite what Bayne and eventually the judge felt – and those rules have only become more stringent since. More from Köhler, Harper and Reevely, while Reevely had a few other thoughts over Twitter that also bear repeating.

Good reads:

  • Senator Peter Harder only got half of the budget he asked for, which seems a little more in line with what he actually needs for staff.
  • The family of Kay Carter took to Parliament Hill to protest the assisted dying bill, saying it is unconstitutional and wouldn’t pass the SCC’s test.
  • Justin Trudeau is signing the Paris Accord on climate, but our country’s current grade on the environment is a “D.”
  • The PBO released a report that said that combating climate change won’t destroy the economy (though it won’t be done without some economic pain either).
  • The Commons’ anti-harassment policy is supposed to generate an annual report, but it hasn’t been published yet, 16 months after its creation.
  • Kellie Leitch got all tearful on Power & Politics in saying that the Barbaric Cultural Practices Tipline was a mistake and that she was “doing it for the children.”
  • The Canadian Press took their Baloney Meter™ to the claims that there would be a “legal vacuum” if the doctor-assisted dying bill doesn’t pass by the deadline.
  • Ruth Ellen Brosseau isn’t ruling out a run at the NDP leadership, and I can’t even.

Odds and ends:

Here are some photos of Trudeau’s day in New York.

Former NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan wants to run for the provincial Liberals in an upcoming by-election.

One thought on “Roundup: The exoneration of Mike Duffy”

  1. After reading your column as I do every day religiously, I read 2 opinion pieces in the Charlottetown paper The Guardian, both pieces are written by columnists for the paper and one by Barb McKenna suggest the Senate be scrapped and goes on with the usual nonsense about the Senate. The other by Russell Wangersky suggest that the entire Senate be put on trial. Sad to read such silly opinion pieces in a regional newspaper. But it goes to highlight your argument about Civic Illiteracy which permeates even the Media.

    As for Kellie Leitch’s crocodile tears on Barbaric practices, what an hypocrite, they are still trying to rehabilitate themselves after Harper all claiming that ”we were just following orders”. War criminals claimed the same thing at Nuremberg. The CPC really has no credibility.

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