Nigel Wright broke ethics rules during Mike Duffy affair: watchdog

[cye]

Whatever "relatively few" translates to, Harper sat silently in his seat for almost a year before disappearing from Ottawa in continuing silence. Diefenbaker was famously vocal after being replaced, but none of the other PMs since have been as 'modest' as Harper about their plans, purposes and achievements in office, or their continued but more distant interest in policy. Harper was uniquely uninvolved as a continuing MP.

Still, if you want to call it a 'slap', I won't argue. But it's well- enough earned and far from gratuitous in my opinion.

Nigel Wright foolishly took a bullet for the team. Harper pushed him into the bullet's path and put the lie to the notion that he was ever concerned with honour or core values. His cynical use of the dog whistle was so offensive that the country had had enough. Canadians may not have found the right direction in Trudeau but it was clear Harper was the wrong choice to lead.

 

[oldjones]

You know the answer to that..... They did it because they thought they would get away with it.


I was not contesting that the Ethics Commissioner is totally useless, but if that office has no ability to change things or put policies in place, do you not see a problem with that?

While I don't disagree with this statement [But in the end, as you say, it was and is obvious that he and they were crooked] it seems like just another attempt to shit on Harper because you don't like him while minimizing the issue of a Senator taking advance of a system that seems to have been built for people to take advantage of it without repercussions.

No I shit on him because he did nothing to fix the obvious flaws in the system, some of which you pointed out, and everything possible to exploit them. Instead of blaming him and his henchman who did not make the laws but did do the evil deeds, you point your finger at the Ethics Commissioner.

Ethics are not laws but commonly-held principles and standards which members of a community or institution, such as Parliament are expected to share, uphold and abide by. Officials, like the Commissioner, or Medical Ethicists, appointed by Hospitals and Universities are there to answer enquiries, give advice, and if need be to make rulings when there are disputes. They are teachers and arbiters, not cops. The the burden is on those privileged to belong to that community to behave as if they deserved to belong. Their institution, their ethics.

The ones who committed offences, were Harper, the CoS he appointed and defended and the Senators who he broke his solemn word to appoint (with the scantest regard for their legal qualification) and then colluded with and exploited so Senate funds could finance CPoC after dinner speakers.

We'll leave aside any thought that the Commissioner he appointed might have thought to wait until all that crap was well-composted under the carpet before reporting, and restrict her observations to Nigel alone. But the more you try to say the real problem is that she had no punishment power, the more it looks like you're trying — and failing — to distract from the real malefactors.

Nigel was dirty, the Boss he did it for and who did nothing to stop him was dirty, the unqualified Senators he appointed to fund-raise for his party were dirty (and not "made whole" just because restitution was made). And that entire discreditable list were Canada's lawmakers. And Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau still are.

Yet you say the Commissioner, empowered only to report, the one person who actually who did her proper job, is useless. Like ignoring the nightclub suicide bombing to blame the doorman for not being armed.