Friday, August 15, 2014

Not Just One Bad Apple

                                                               nigelroberson.blogspot.ca


So Michael Sona is guilty of election fraud, even though the crown prosecutor and the judge both agree that he did not act alone. The Harperites will continue to insist that Sona was just one bad apple. But that meme has become the punchline of a national joke. Michael Den Tandt writes:

There was the “in and out” affair in 2007, related to spending-limit violations in the 2006 election, which the Conservatives minimized for years but to which the party ultimately pleaded guilty.

In-and-out amounted to a series of money transfers in which central campaign ad dollars were routed through accounts belonging to dozens of MP candidates. Elections Canada’s investigation, Mr. McGregor and Mr. Maher later reported, cost taxpayers more than $2-million.

There was former intergovernmental affairs minister Peter Penashue, who was found to have overspent and accepted illegal contributions in his winning 2011 campaign in Labrador. Mr. Penashue eventually resigned his seat, sought re-election, and lost in a 2013 byelection to Liberal Yvonne Jones.

There’s Dean Del Mastro, formerly Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary secretary and a key player for the Conservatives on the Commons floor, now an independent on trial for exceeding spending and donation limits, and filing a false return. Mr. Del Mastro has pleaded not guilty. Closing arguments are expected in September.

The Harper Party rode into Ottawa full of sound and fury, outraged by the Adscam affair. However, all this putrefaction makes Adscam look like small potatoes.

Mr. McGregor and Mr. Mahar -- rest assured -- will keep digging. And Senator Duffy will be hell bent on revenge. There are all kinds of rotten apples in the Tory silo.


7 comments:

Unknown said...

Rotten apples that smell like rotten eggs.

Owen Gray said...

And the smell keeps getting stronger, Mogs.

Anonymous said...

The putrefaction is widespread now, Owen.

Look at what happened today. StatsCan has just "Harperised" its job numbers for last month and, surprise, surprise, it has been revised upwards from a mere 200 jobs created to over 42,000. I almost fell out of my chair laughing .... I had expected them to update it to 20,000 (which seemed to have been the consensus) but they seem to have outdone even themselves.

I immediately thought that we now have our own Harperised version of the infamous Twain/Disraeli quip: "there are lies, damn lies, statistics and then there is Statistics Canada".

Wayne Smith, the Chief Statistician, and a Harper appointee, can rest assured that his job and bonus are safe.

The stench emanating from anything that has anything to do with the Harper government is overwhelming now.

Owen Gray said...

Jim Stanford has a comment at the Progressive Economic Forum, Anon. We keep losing full time jobs and replacing them with part time ones.

The labour market is stalled -- unlike what is happening in the U.S.

Owen Gray said...

Ordinary Canadians are struggling, Anon, while the Harperites keep insisting that they've done nothing wrong.

Anonymous said...

I doubt Sona will ever see the inside of a prison. Harper will get him off as he did Nigel Wright. Sona is a first time offender and I'm sure he will get off easy. Harper may even send Sona to his degenerate dumping ground in the U.K. Gordon Campbell was sent there, quite some time ago. Nigel Wright was also sent to the U.K.

Same with the Duff. How can they charge Duffy and let Wright off, scot free. Besides which, the Duff has a very bad heart and, I am waiting for that excuse. Bruce Carson escaped prison because, he supposedly has cancer.

Harper has Canada as, a total cesspool of corruption. You should hear the lying going on regarding, Imperial Metals Mount Polley disaster. This is just not a breach as the mine barons and the government have it. This is a catastrophic disaster. This also can't be cleaned up.

Safety standards are deregulated. Environment standards are deregulated. Resource Barons are, permitted to operate with, acute shortages of staff. Resource Barons demand cheap foreign labor. Foreigners don't know the language well enough. No-one wants to work with them, it's just too dangerous. Some were killed in the oil patch. Environment Ministry has been stripped of funding. The mine Barons are, just as greedy as Harper's oil and gas Barons.

Harper his mine Barons and the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals wear this one. This atrocious dam failure is because of, out and out blatant greed by, every damned one of them, as usual. This stink is smelled right up, to the space station.

Owen Gray said...

It's all about making the world safe for capital, Anon.