Roundup: Duffy v privilege

Posted on by

As expected, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed Senator Mike Duffy’s attempt to sue the Senate for their disciplining him because the Senate is protected by parliamentary privilege. Privilege is what allows the Senate to be self-governing and as a body that is focused on holding government to account, it has complete institutional independence for very good reason – so that they can speak truth to power without fear of dismissal or reprisal. So imagine the utter gall of Duffy’s response to this ruling.

“The Charter of Rights applies to all Canadians, but the Court decision states that because of the centuries old concept of Parliamentary Privilege, the Charter doesn’t apply to Senators.” Oh dear me. No. You see, the only reason that Duffy still has a job in the Senate is because of parliamentary privilege. If he didn’t have the privilege afforded to him, he couldn’t have made the myriad of accusations about Stephen Harper and his operatives in the Senate Chamber on the eve of his suspension – not without fear of reprisal, particularly a lawsuit. That the Senate is self-governing and has institutional independence saved him from being summarily dismissed by the prime minister of the day when Duffy caused him a great deal of embarrassment. While I don’t dispute that Duffy was subjected to a flawed process that denied him the benefit of due process due to political expediency because, the fact that he received a suspension without pay that was eventually lifted, allowing him to resume his duties with full pay and serving enough time for his pension to kick in, means that he has pretty much escaped consequence for actions that he very likely would have been fired for in any other circumstance. That he then accuses the concept of privilege as stripping him of his Charter rights, when it has in fact protected him in every conceivable way, is utterly boggling.

Meanwhile, it seems clear that between this bit of self-pitying and the decision to pose with Senators Brazeau and Wallin while Brazeau tweeted that they “survived the unjustifiable bs [sic]” (since deleted), that there seems to be an insufficient amount of self-reflection at play, and that perhaps the three should continue to keep their heads down and not draw attention to themselves, because the public has not forgotten them.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau said that our consular officials should be meeting with the second detained Canadian in China “soon,” after a confirmed meeting with the first.
  • Trudeau did take shots at Trump and China for politicizing the rule of law in the case of the Huawei CFO arrest and the retaliation by China.
  • Mélanie Joly postponed her trip to China in light of the current situation (as she was to celebrate the “Canada-China Year of Tourism”).
  • Ralph Goodale shrugged off reports that Canada plans to ban Huawei from the 5G network as being “speculation.”
  • Carolyn Bennett defended not giving the MMIW Inquiry another 18 months of hearings, as the inquiry wraps up hearings in order to write their report.
  • More revelations in the Mark Norman case show the other procurement officer accused was not only suspended, but has had his security clearance stripped.
  • Norman’s defence team wants to call Scott Brison and Peter MacKay as witnesses. The Crown wants the case focused on Norman’s deeds rather than motives.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada struck down mandatory victims surcharges from criminal sentences as “cruel and unusual punishment.”
  • The Coast Guard received an “interim” icebreaker to be named CGCS Captain Molly Kool, after the first woman to get a captain’s licence in North America.
  • Liberal MP Randeep Sarai demanded the government remove the headline about Sikh extremism in the Public Safety annual threat report; Goodale ordered a review.
  • Here’s a look at the challenges Jagmeet Singh is facing in the coming year.
  • Former Conservative MP Steven Fletcher is having his leadership of the Manitoba Party challenged in court.
  • Kevin Carmichael is having none of Pierre Poilievre’s lies and dystopian rhetoric around the economy, nor Bill Morneau’s candy-coated assurances.
  • Colby Cosh nods approvingly at the arguments contained in yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling (somewhat to his own surprise).
  • Martin Partiquin thinks that Alberta ginning up a threat of separation will get them federal dollars. Erm, but they’re already the richest province. Seriously.
  • Andrew Coyne says that Canada and its allies should call out China for kidnapping our nationals in retaliation for the Huawei CFO arrest.
  • My weekend column calls attention to the places in the Senate where inexperienced independents making up the majority can go wrong.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a candid radio interview with Senator Simons about Bill C-69.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.