Canada PoliticsLiberals ask ethics commissioner to resume Mike Duffy, Nigel Wright investigation
In Ottawa — in the aftermath of the Mike Duffy charges — things are playing out like we might have expected: The opposition parties have ratchet up their efforts to tie Stephen Harper to the scandal while the Tories are trying to distance themselves.
On Wednesday morning, Liberal MP Geoff Regan sent a letter to Parliament's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Mary Dawson, asking her to re-start her investigation into the $90,000 cheque given to Duffy by Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff.
In June 2013, you temporarily suspended your investigation into this matter when the RCMP announced that it was launching its own criminal investigation. Given that the RCMP investigation has now culminated in 31 charges against Mike Duffy, it would seem that there is no longer any impediment to the resumption of your original investigation.
I would ask that you please detail any plans to resume your ethics investigation, including for those public office holders who are not under criminal indictment.
The RCMP’s Information to Obtain (ITO) that was filed on November 15, 2013, documents a very detailed alleged scheme: first, to have the audit into Mike Duffy’s expenses stopped; and a subsequent plan to have a Senate report altered to be more favorable to Mike Duffy.
Participants in the purported scheme, as cited by the RCMP, included: Senators David Tkachuk, Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Marjory LeBreton, and Irving Gerstein; Conservative Party officials Dan Hilton and Arthur Hamilton; and, critically, given your role, high-level public office holders including Nigel Wright, Benjamin Perrin, Patrick Rogers, Chris Woodcock, David van Hemmen, and Ray Novak.
The RCMP documents allege that many of these public office holders clearly had knowledge of the $90,172.24 cheque, which led to Mike Duffy being charged under the Criminal Code’s bribery of judicial officers section.
Last week, the RCMP announced that Duffy will face a total of 31 charges. The counts include breach of trust, bribery and fraud. His first court appearance will be on September 16th.
Dawson's office didn't immediately reply to an email from Yahoo Canada News asking about the status of the investigation.
[ Related: Duffy charges could give senators some sleepless nights ahead of auditor general’s report ]
The request is a shrewd move by the Liberals who have seen there dominance in the opinion polls erode over the past few months.
Believe it or not, the Tories had effectively changed the channel on the Senate scandal.
"Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are at an 11 month high in terms of the percentage of Canadians who would consider voting for those parties," notes the latest Nanos Research weekly tracking report.
"Harper and Trudeau remain gripped in very tight race on the preferred Prime Minister front (30.8 percent prefer Harper, 30.5 percent prefer Trudeau)."
The Liberals want the Canadian public to believe that the scandal is part of a bigger Conservative Party ethics problem emanating from the prime minster's office.
[ Related: Five outstanding questions about the charges against Mike Duffy and his pending trial ]
Meanwhile, the Tories are trying to push a very different narrative.
On Tuesday evening, the PMO put out a statement claiming that Harper has no intention of appearing as a witness at Duffy's trial, if asked to do so.
"We have responded fully and freely to every request for assistance from the RCMP," PMO spokesperson Jason Macdonald said in a statement, according to Postmedia News.
"The RCMP have noted this and, after a thorough investigation, have made it clear who they believe is guilty of wrongdoing: Mike Duffy. They have also made clear that they do not believe the Prime Minister had any knowledge of Mr. Duffy’s wrongdoing. Given this, it is difficult to imagine that the Prime Minister would have any information that could be relevant to Mr. Duffy’s defence."
Are you a politics junkie?
Follow@ politicalpoints on Twitter!
