Friday, May 15, 2015

His Legacy -- A Pigsty

                                                     http://www.forbes.com/

During the 2006 leaders debate, Stephen Harper asked Paul Martin, “Will you tell us, Mr. Martin, how many criminal investigations are going on in your government?” The answer was "two." Harper rode one of those investigations -- the Gomery Commission -- all the way to power.

In the next leaders debate, Michael Harris writes, it would be interesting to hear Harper answer the same question:

If someone were to ask Steve the same question during the 2015 debate, he wouldn’t have enough fingers on both hands to compute the response. By my count, the Harper team has been the subject of at least 15 investigations.

 The public record keeps getting longer:

The Conservatives cheated in the 2006 election. Criminal charges of improper election spending were dropped in March 2012 as part of a plea deal. The CPC pleaded guilty to exceeding election spending limits and submitting fraudulent election records. They chequebooked their way out of the slime — paying a $52,000 fine and then repaying a further $230,198.

The PM’s former parliamentary secretary, Dean Del Mastro, has been convicted on three counts of election fraud arising out of the 2008 election. He is now facing the possibility of jail time. His cousin, David Del Mastro, is also facing charges related to the 2008 election.

What about the conviction of Guelph Conservative party worker Michael Sona? Although the robocall case has faded from view, it remains an unsolved crime — because although the existence of a conspiracy was acknowledged by two judges, the conspirators themselves remain unknown. Now that Elections Canada has been castrated by the ‘Fair Elections Act’, their identities probably will never be known.

Peter Penashue, former minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, had to step down after it was alleged that corporations had made illegal contributions to his 2011 campaign. He paid back $47,000 to Elections Canada.

Those investigations dealt with election fraud. But there are a host of other appointments which suggest Harper makes poor personnel choices:

And then there’s the little matter of Harper’s Senate appointments. Senator Mike Duffy has been charged with 31 offences related to Senate spending. If convicted he faces financial ruin, probably jail time. The prime minister is on record as saying he knew nothing about the secret $90,000 payment from his chief of staff to Duffy.

Is there anyone beyond his immediate family (and possibly Paul Calandra) who still believes that?

Suspended Senator Patrick Brazeau, who now manages a strip club, will be guest referee at a Great North Wrestling match in Ottawa scheduled for May 30, starring ‘Hannibal The Death Dealer’ and ‘Soa (Spirit of Allah) Amin’. Another personal choice of the PM.

Brazeau is facing two trials on personal matters: for assault and sexual assault, and for assault, threats and possession of cocaine. A framed photo of Brazeau, the PM and the alleged victim in this case has been entered into evidence at Brazeau’s ongoing sexual assault trial. The court has set aside 12 days in June for a preliminary trial on Brazeau’s Senate expense charges — the very day that Duffy’s trial is scheduled to resume. That trial could easily run into the fall election.

And then there are the cases of Arthur Porter and Bruce Carson, who face legal problems over the way they handled their affairs. Harris rightly observes that the man who road into Ottawa claiming he would clean up the place has turned it into a pigsty.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

And YET, about 30% of the population is too ignorant to understand these issues and a horde of people will continue to vote for the Cons, likely bringing them to another majority in the fall.
Sad. Really, really sad.

Owen Gray said...

I agree, Anon. What's really sad is that a minority of Canadians have let Harper leave his mess behind him.

Mogs Moglio said...

Where I formerly lived I was in red neck country BC. I mentioned to a neighbor once about the criminal wrong doings of Harper and his cohorts. He got very upset and yelled at me "Oh leave Harper alone he is doing a damn fine job as Prime Minister." My jaw dropped to the ground and I vowed never to ever tell him about Harper's trespasses again. If he is to sloth minded to break away from the MSM and do his own research he is beyond help.

But 'The Winds of Change' are blowing even the MSM is openly criticizing Harper and his cons. Hah I wonder if this is cracking my left behind neighbor's point of view?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ

Ah change is in the air and it is refreshing.

Cheers,
Mogs

Owen Gray said...

Thanks for the clip, Mogs. Let's hope it's the kind of change we need and not the kind of change we deserve.

Mogs Moglio said...

Ya Owen I never really cared for the band 'Scorpions' as they were 'Heavy Metal' which I was not to fond of. But what gets me is they first wrote and recorded this ballad in 1982 before 'The Berlin Wall' and 'The Iron Curtain' came down.

They were on to something big in history. And I believe we are collectively either orange crushing the phoney CPC or electing an all independent parliament. I feel it it is time for a change. The winds are blowing in that direction. People are fed up [Oh how cliche] now definitely becoming apparent in the even the MSM who are judging the Harper-cons for all their trespasses against us thank goodness for that eh?

Me I am in favor of all independent MP's and senators. Actually on second sober thought we should allow the Provinces and Territorial governments to appoint their own senator to have their voice heard in the federal theater. Then we would only need 13 senators saving us all a hell of a lot of money And $90.000.00 bailouts eh?

Keep up the good journalism Owen,
Cheers,
Mogs..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

ron wilton said...

Dealing with harper and his supporters is a lot like going through the five stages of grief and loss.If you want to retain or regain your sanity you have to go through the emotions.
The 'grief and the loss' is that harper got elected at all let alone somehow 'achieved' what we wrongly admit, a majority, and now we have no choice but to accept against our sense of fairness that it happened and we have not been able to stop him from doing us harm.
If he 'wins' again I predict there will be endless turmoil in the land we used to love and cherish before he darkened our doors.

Owen Gray said...

I believe you're right, ron. And, from what I read, Mel Hurtig -- who loves this country dearly -- agrees with you, too.