Monday, October 21, 2013

Will Wallin And Duffy Sink The Ship?



Pam Wallin says she will challenge her suspension from the Senate. Mike Duffy has a doctor's note to cover his absence. But several sources have reported that he is very unhappy.

Over the years, Stephen Harper has cut lots of people loose -- Garth Turner, Bill Casey, Bruce Carson and Tom Flanagan. He dumped Helena Geurgis and sent the RCMP after for her, looking for malfeasance. They found none.

But they seem to have a lot on Senator Duffy and the PMO. And that raises an interesting question: Could the prime minister, who demands loyalty but shows none, have come up against an immovable object -- one that a grudge will not remove?

Paul Wells writes that Harper can carry a grudge for eternity:

He can carry a grudge. “He will refer to things that were said in Conservative caucus when he was first an MP, when he was first elected as a backbencher, and will use that as a basis for judging that person forever. If he forms a negative impression of someone, he retains it more than a decade after the fact, even if it’s based on a trivial encounter.”

And the intensity of those grudges is perhaps best illustrated by his banishment of his old mentor, Tom Flanagan:

Since Tom Flanagan wrote his book spilling many of the secrets of the early Harper years, Harper has continued his grudge against him. He probably won’t change his mind on that. More than two years later, Flanagan turned up at a Calgary Stampede event at which Harper was to address the crowd. While he was speaking, the Prime Minister caught a glimpse of his former chief of staff. Later, in the “green room” set aside for Harper’s use a short distance from the main event, he was livid. “Who the f–k let him in?”

But it's one of life's well worn axioms that what goes around comes around. It could well be that the media stars the prime minister chose to drum his message across the country have had a belly full of Mr. Harper. Both Wallin and Duffy may want to challenge his veracity under oath.

If they did that, the results could sail the ship of state into the perfect storm.


4 comments:

e.a.f. said...

Now wouldn't that be nice! Harper sunk by the people he used.

Much has been made of Wallin and Duffy's expenses, which they have now paid back. Given some of these expenses were incurred while fund raising for the federal Conservatives, will Harper and the Conservatives give back the money Duffy and Wallin raised for them. It only seems fair.

Owen Gray said...

I agree, e.a.f. It only seems fair.

I must say, after watching Duffy's lawyer before the cameras today, Mr. Harper may be caught in his own web.

The Mound of Sound said...

If Duffy can prove what his lawyer claims, he was extorted into accepting an unlawful gift of money on the threat that if he didn't comply he would lose his seat in the Senate. Imagine, a politican being extorted to accept a bribe!

Owen Gray said...

Being forced to accept a bribe. On the surface, it seems incredible, Mound. But we're familiar by now with Harper's PMO. It's entirely credible.