Does the woman even care that reality might actually slap her silly? I guess not -
Marjory LeBreton, speaking to reporters in the Senate foyer, said, "
It's ridiculous. The idea that the prime minister or anyone would pass
over elected members of the House of Commons and name Mike Duffy as a
minister? It's so ridiculous it's not even funny. It's totally bizarre.
Who knows, who knows, but when I read it, when I read it — I don't know
who the recipient of the email was — but when I read it I went, like,
there isn't a chance of a snowball in hell of this ever happening, and
I never spoke to him about it."
OK, I know 2006 was a whole seven years ago, but really, have you forgotten this guy?
Here's a hint: he was one of yours. You know, an unelected Senator. And - brace yourself, Marjory - the prime minister (that would be harper, mam) passed
over elected members of the House of Commons and named him Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Neat trick, that. I'm surprised you don't remember, considering this:
2 comments:
I had the same reaction as you when I first heard her say that. I mean really, especially when Fortier was Harper's Quebec bagman and then appointed to run pork central, the heart of the sponsorship scandal, Public Works and be unaccountable to the House because of his position as Senator. I mean really, I was stunned when he did this because of how blatant an example of corruption this was, I could on the Senate appointment (and inclusion to a junior position in Cabinet) have maybe bought the need for Cabinet representation from the Greater Montreal region, but making him Minister of Public Works was such a slap in the face of the public and the Accountability platform he ran on it still amazes me that anyone takes him at all seriously whenever he talks about accountability and integrity. For LeBreton to be acting like this idea of Duffy's was so outlandish despite such recent history seems more than a little delusional to me, and I must add that she went this route instead of any others makes me also wonder if she was rattled by fear regarding these revelations for herself, because lets face it this was truly a weird way to try and deal with this revelation.
While Duffy's arrogance and sense of self importance is stunning to behold, the request itself being seen as serious with some basis for believing it being possible was clearly understandable given Harper's prior actions as PM prior to his appointment of Duffy to the Senate. While I clearly am appalled by Duffy's mentality here given the clear importance Harper placed on having him working for his party and for his rise to becoming a majority PM in terms of fundraising and media profile during his perpetual electioneering it is not hard to understand why Duffy thought this was a reasonable request. I mean when Harper appointed Duffy mere weeks after Duffy had abused his position at CTV to torpedo Dion in the last few days of the election it was clearly as a reward for bad behaviour and his high media and public imagery as a "just folks" sort of Canadian let alone Conservative. Once it became clear to Duffy just how much the PM planned on having him as a core element of his election strategy why shouldn't Duffy have thought he should be paid the appropriate (in his mind) compensation? After all Duffy had already shown by his open campaigning and accepting of a Senate seat that he was willing to whore himself out politically speaking, why then shouldn't he try to get the best price he could?
That Harper thought (and he clearly did) that Duffy was appropriate for the Senate and a close member of his caucus and campaigning/fundraising team until only the past week(s) underscores just how corrupt Harper is, but it also demonstrates just how indifferent he was to the warning signs regarding Duffy so long as he got what he wanted out of it. The warning signs on Duffy's greed were there long before the appointment, yet it appears Harper felt he was worth more to protect than the integrity of the system and even his own office was (because I don't accept Harper's claims of ignorance regarding the Wright deal, I would not be able to do that with any PM let alone one as controlling as this one has proven to be) concerned. So for LeBreton to come out with the idiocy she did today on these latest revelations of Duffy's conduct from the beginning of his days as a Senator not only rings really falsely and poorly it does leave on to wonder why this rattled her so badly as to be this moronic, especially given how far we are already into major scandal territory BEFORE these documents appeared?
Got to wonder...
"While Duffy's arrogance and sense of self importance is stunning to behold, the request itself being seen as serious with some basis for believing it being possible was clearly understandable given Harper's prior actions as PM prior to his appointment of Duffy to the Senate."
Exactly what I think, and why harper is responsible. He - as you say - doesn't care about integrity in his appointments, only servitude to his will, and he sets the tone in which Duffy and others feel that such abuse of position and public funds are just fine as long as they continue to be rabidly partisan.
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