It's beginning to look like taxes -- whose tax cuts are best -- will be the central theme of the next election. But, Lawrence Martin writes, if the central theme is integrity, the Harperites will be toast:
So let’s say an audit is being done on you or your organization and that the audit could land you in deep trouble. It could possibly lead to criminal charges. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just order up changes to the audit? How about having the offending paragraphs deleted?But even if you could, you wouldn’t want to take the risk. If you got caught, you would be in worse trouble, your credibility and integrity shattered.Which brings us to the Prime Minister’s Office. If we are to believe the evidence, this is in fact what top officials in the highest office in the land did in handling the Senate expenses’ controversy. They took an extreme risk and are now getting caught. As for impact on integrity, time will tell and will probably spell hell.
Moreover, the Harperite propensity for telling lies is well documented:
In terms of breach of the public trust, falsifying audits ranks high. The Harper Tories have been caught at it before. There was a case involving former cabinet minister Bev Oda altering a document for CIDA funding. In another they went so far as to distort a report by former auditor-general Sheila Fraser. They used her words to make it look like she was crediting their party with prudent financial management when in fact she was crediting the Liberals.
Which suggests that they will continue to tell lies as long as they can get away with them. And, unless integrity becomes a central focus of the next election, they will continue to lie -- as they continue to destroy this country's democratic institutions.
