Mr. Justice Charles Vaillancourt understood how Stephen Harper's PMO worked. And he didn't mince words:
“Damage control at its finest,” administered with “ruthless efficiency,” he called it. “The political, covert, relentless unfolding of events is mindboggling and shocking. The precision and planning of the exercise would make any military commander proud.”
They ran up quite a score -- 0 to 31. No runs, no hits, and one error after another. But, in pronouncing judgement on Harper's PMO, Vaillancourt was also passing judgement on Stephen Harper. Michael Harris writes:
Up until yesterday, Stephen Harper and PMO had escaped scot-free from Duffygate — though their role in the affair was obvious, disgraceful, and (with the exception of the 2015 election results) completely unpunished. Consider the actions of the former PM.
Donald Trump might have called Harper ‘Lyin’ Steve’ for the multiple versions of the facts he gave about Duffygate — none of them true. The former PM insisted that the whole affair had unfolded between Wright and Duffy. In fact, more than a dozen people in his office worked on the file, pressuring Duffy to do the deal or risk losing his Senate seat.
Harper’s PMO staff also sought and obtained changes to Senate reports and breached the confidentiality of an independent audit commissioned by the Senate.
Harper claimed Wright resigned. Then he said he was fired.
Stephen Harper denied knowing about the details of Wright’s scheme to repay Duffy’s housing expenses — as incredible a statement as any Canadian politician has ever uttered.
Harper's prime directive has always been to get even. That's what the Duffy trial was all about. Mr. Justice Vaillancourt understood that. And Stephen Harper, like the emperor in the fable, stands naked before Canadians.
Image: speakaboos.com
13 comments:
Without a doubt the best thing to come out of this whole sorry affair: a top justice calling the harper government what it was and this indeed, was just the tip of the iceberg on how he operated the PMO. This kind of behaviour ought to get him a top job at such fine corporations as SNC. Hope Duffy launches a civil suit against harper, wright and all the others who colluded to deceive the public and waste, yet again, millions of precious scarce funds.
After ten years of malicious hot air, Justice Vaillancourt has set the record straight, waterboy.
I don't know if the record on the specifics of the Duffy episode will ever be set straight until such time as the RCMP is compelled to reveal why the charges against Duffy were laid in the first place and how the Ottawa Crown Prosecutors Office came to approve them.
That's the deeper story here.
I agree, Dana. Both the Crown and the Mounties come out of this affair looking incompetent.
And/or corrupt.
Harper corrupted everything he touched, Dana. That's an observation that may be quite accurate.
Once again Owen, our courts have come through. With Duffy, people can love him or hate him or something in between, but the man was literally used as a scapegoat, by the PM of Canada. The PMO, the senate, the Mounties and the Crown all did Harpers bidding. It took a judge. a man of integrity to say no and to name what was behind the smear campaign to destroy Duffy. From the beginning when the Senate abandoned due process to Suspend Duffy as a Senator, to the laying of false charges by the RCMP and the Crown, to the trial, and finally to the verdict, we witnessed a Prime Minister and his allies attempt to subvert our justice system in order to destroy another human being.All roads to this subversion lead to Harper. His PMO and other sychophants carried out Harpers deepest desires. Harper wanted to do away with the democratic rule of law and it's judicial system along with the charter. The courts and their judges who are in someways the vanguards of law, stopped him at every turn, including in the Duffy trial. Canadians rights under the law are safe for now.
I agree, Pam. No matter how his minions try to spin it, in this matter, all roads lead to Harper.
In reading the judgement I was struck by the number of times that the Judge said that the Crown failed to cross examine Duffy and failed to produce witnesses to refute his version of events. I think that says it all, and so apparently did the judge!
You get the impression, Rural, that the Crown's heart wasn't in this case. Orders had come down from above and the lawyers were following them -- relunctantly.
There are 458 factual mistakes in the bible yet people still believe it was not written by Constanitine. Harper will be our Nixon forever, replacing Deinfecucker, who would not sing.
Harper not only corrupted everything he touched, he got no results. Lyn Brian for all his flaws at least produced.
Those familiar with American history cannot but be struck by the Nixonian parallels, Steve. And it's interesting to note the bad blood between Harper and Mulroney.
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