# Liberal Senator in hot water...



## Remius (21 Nov 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/colin-kenny-liberal-senator-faces-sexual-harassment-complaint-1.2433264


I'll be curious to see:

1.  How the media will handle this.

2.  How JT will handle it and how fast.

3. The CPC's reaction.

Given the senate circus I'm sure this will just add more to the whole moral debate on politician these days.  He may not be guilty (until proven otherwise) but it will be telling how all quarters deal with this.


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## PuckChaser (21 Nov 2013)

I want to know when Trudeau and the Liberal party knew about this, and why the covered it up if/when they found out.... but I'm sure we won't see those grilling questions to JT as we saw from the Tories senator scandal.


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## Kat Stevens (21 Nov 2013)

Jail the works of them, dismantle the Senate, burn down the building and salt the ground it stood on.  So tired of hearing about these assholes.


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## Fishbone Jones (21 Nov 2013)

The comments on how this was all engineered by the PM are hilarious.


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## Remius (22 Nov 2013)

recceguy said:
			
		

> The comments on how this was all engineered by the PM are hilarious.



Of course it was.  He probably planted those girls years ago as a sort of entrapment so he would have a card to play when his plan to have Mike Duffy destroyed finally unravelled.  But all of this is a smoke screen to screw Quebec's cheese industry.  CETA is the REAL story here... :Tin-Foil-Hat:.

But on a more serious note, we can see by those comments that blind faith isn't limited to Ford nation.  ALL sides have them.  At any rate, the sad thing is that this guy is eligible for a pension and I suspect the moment the screws tighten he'll just up and leave and this story will be buried...


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## dapaterson (22 Nov 2013)

Just like they revealed Mike Duffy's desperate yearning to be a senator, and the fact that Mark Tewksbury was gay, and were sued by both, Frank magazine in its prime wrote about this ardent heterosexualist.  

No one in the parliamentary press gallery is surprised by this, but their code of _omerta_, to protect access to their sources, prevented them from reporting on this.

That _omerta_ protects folks on both sides of the aisle.


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## vonGarvin (22 Nov 2013)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> ...Frank magazine in its prime wrote about this ardent *heterosexualist*.



Is that the new term for "sexual predator"?  ???


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## dapaterson (22 Nov 2013)

Technoviking said:
			
		

> Is that the new term for "sexual predator"?  ???



It was a Frank-ism.


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## vonGarvin (22 Nov 2013)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> It was a Frank-ism.


;D

Thanks!


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## a_majoor (22 Nov 2013)

Crantor said:
			
		

> http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/colin-kenny-liberal-senator-faces-sexual-harassment-complaint-1.2433264
> 
> 
> I'll be curious to see:
> ...



1. Crickets

2. See 1; If he isn't pressed then he doesn't have to say anything. And I think _everyone_ is aware of the dangers of letting the Young Dauphin speak...

3. The PM at least will wait until the investigation is completed before making any comments, and I expect the caucus will follow the lead of the PM, regardless of how grating or unfair it may seem. This occupation of the moral high ground is good, and there are plenty of CPC partisans willing to sling as many electrons as possible to see how many stick to the LPC, so the caucus can show clean hands, at least.


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## Edward Campbell (22 Nov 2013)

The Liberals have reacted quickly, and correctly, just as Prime Minister Harper did with Duffy, Wallin _et al_. Sen Kenny is out of the caucus; M Trudeau's office issued a terse statement suggesting Sen Kenny left the caucus without being pushed.


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## George Wallace (22 Nov 2013)

Unlike the three Conservative Senators, these Liberal Senators being caught up in the various scandals have enough time in their chairs to simply walk away with a full pension and disappear from Public view.


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## PPCLI Guy (22 Nov 2013)

I have occasionally wondered what Schadenfreude looks like.


Now I know.


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## OldSolduer (22 Nov 2013)

This story is buried in The Winnipeg Free Press on page A22. I would wonder where it would be if a Conservative senator were accuse of the same.....


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## Navy_Pete (22 Nov 2013)

In a senate related note, the three kicked out may now have an argument if criminal charges are brought, that because the senate is a semi judicial body, they have already been punished by the law for their frauds (ie the 'double jeopardy' scenario.)

Odd that one wasn't considered when they were debating the suspension, I'm sure a few smart cookies realized it.

Just saying they may want to look at letting the legal system run it's course before doing anything.  If the allegations are true, he shouldn't just be suspended without pay.


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## dapaterson (22 Nov 2013)

Jim Seggie said:
			
		

> This story is buried in The Winnipeg Free Press on page A22. I would wonder where it would be if a Conservative senator were accuse of the same.....



The story broke late on Thursday; most papers were already set for the night, with details coming out after their deadlines.


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## Lightguns (22 Nov 2013)

Imagine that, a womanizer in the Trudeau PMO.  :sarcasm:


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## GAP (22 Nov 2013)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> The story broke late on Thursday; most papers were already set for the night, with details coming out after their deadlines.



The story was out weeks ago. The media did nothing with it.

Trudeau knew about sexual allegations against Liberal senator for over 3 months
November 22, 2013
http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/trudeau-knew-about-sexual-allegations-against-liberal-senator-for-over-3-months/

Well, well…turns out Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was given the sexual harassment complaint (see here) from the female assistant of Senator Colin Kenny back in the summer:

She outlined her allegations against Kenny to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in August (see here)

Did any journos know about these charges and remained silent also?

I find it hard to believe Kenny had sexual harassment allegations levelled against him over 3 months ago and not one reporter heard about it.

Update: The Liberals are now trying to lay this off as an email problem

The Liberal Party of Canada is under fire after questions about when the Liberal Leader’s office first learned about a former staffer’s allegations of sexual harassment against Sen. Colin Kenny.

According to the office, as a result, the email “was triaged into a bulk folder of the Senate reform emails and was not seen by our office.”


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## pbi (23 Nov 2013)

The CBC is saying that the allegations from the staffer and the former tanning salon employees were not the only ones (but they're quite bad enough...!!!) According to the CBC news website yesterday, Kenney was the object of written complaints in 2001 from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, to which he was a Canadian delegate. That was 12 years ago, and it seems nothing was done at the time. 

(Lesson #1: never hide a serious problem. It won't go away: it will just fester and then burst in a big spray of poo when you least want it to...)

ww.cbc.ca/news/politics/colin-kenny-liberal-senator-faces-sexual-harassment-complaint-1.2433264

Essentially it's more of the same sort of behaviour. Given the dispersal in time, place, and nature of the various complainants, it will be very, very difficult for Liberal partisans to dismiss this as a Tory smear campaign.

Again, a well known, and some would say successful political figure. I kind of liked him when he was on the touring defence committee a few years back ( I was in 38 CBG in the "Peg then). If these allegations should be proven true, (always assuming innocence until proof of guilt is shown) I refer to my question on another thread: does character matter?


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## Kirkhill (23 Nov 2013)

pbi said:
			
		

> .... I refer to my question on another thread: does character matter?





> Ford Nation still standing strong despite scandals as mayor's approval rating hits 42%


  Link

Patently, not.


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## FJAG (23 Nov 2013)

Navy_Pete said:
			
		

> In a senate related note, the three kicked out may now have an argument if criminal charges are brought, that because the senate is a semi judicial body, they have already been punished by the law for their frauds (ie the 'double jeopardy' scenario.)



I don't think one can say that the Senate has either judicial or quasi-judicial powers. (True the Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords which until reforms in 2005 had Law Lords which were in effect the Supreme Court of the UK but that was a concept which was never introduced in Canada - further aside: until 1949, appeals from Canada's Supreme Court were available to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the UK which was composed of Law Lords from the UK House of Lords)

The Senate does have power in some committees to make inquiries and has the power to enforce its internal rules and procedures but one shouldn't confuse an administrative function that involves investigation and the power to order financial repayment or even suspension from office as a "semi judicial", or more properly "quasi-judicial", function which would invoke a right for a successful double jeopardy defence to a criminal charge of fraud. (note I didn't say "claim a defence"; lawyers frequently make claims and arguments that are later found without merit. - I would expect that any order by the Senate [or a committee thereof] for repayment of unearned entitlements or suspension from office would be given consideration by a criminal trial judge as to sentencing and restitution that he might order on conviction)

 :cheers:


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## a_majoor (23 Nov 2013)

Character does matter in the end,

We have seen very smart and totally ruthless characters on the stage of history who were in it for their own ends (in literary terms, they were like Achilles, who's entire reason for existence is _Kleos_ [eternal renown or glory]), and who left a trail of misery and devastation in their wakes. Small time politicians like city councilors or mayors, or even Canadian Senators may not do as much damage as a would be Napoleon or Alexander III, but they are still taking time and resources away from the rest of us, time and resources that you or I could use for ends of _our own_ choosing. And while collectively an individual Senator's expenses, legal bills etc. might cost each Canadian only a few dollars, add it up over each politician (at every level) and over your lifetime and you see that these characters cost us a considerable amount in the end (and this is without compound interest being factored in).

So getting rid of people like Kenney, the "three amigos" and whoever else turns up in the Senate Audit is a good start, but the collective *we* also need to start setting and enforcing standards at all levels and to ensure that double standards are not being applied; if we say that *we* will not tolerate illegal drug  use or creative accounting among the political class, then _every_ politician who does so needs to be ushered out, no exceptions.

Perhaps the one "good" thing that is coming out of this confluence of events (Senate and municipal corruption scandals, and of course the enormous scandals that follow the Liberal government of Ontario) is that it has strained most voter's patience to the breaking point, and *we* may actually see some action taken to flush out the stables.


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## Kat Stevens (23 Nov 2013)

Hope in one hand, crap in the other and see which fills up first.  Burn. It. Down.


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## pbi (24 Nov 2013)

Thucydides said:
			
		

> Character does matter in the end...
> 
> ...So getting rid of people like Kenney, the "three amigos" and whoever else turns up in the Senate Audit is a good start, but the collective *we* also need to start setting and enforcing standards at all levels and to ensure that double standards are not being applied; if we say that *we* will not tolerate illegal drug  use or creative accounting among the political class, then _every_ politician who does so needs to be ushered out, no exceptions.
> 
> Perhaps the one "good" thing that is coming out of this confluence of events (Senate and municipal corruption scandals, and of course the enormous scandals that follow the Liberal government of Ontario) is that it has strained most voter's patience to the breaking point, and *we* may actually see some action taken to flush out the stables.



I agree with you.

And, I think, this is what I have been trying to get at with my original question. It was also the source of my concerns about Ford, and certainly about these disgusting people in the Senate. As voters we will get more or less what we are willing to tolerate, or what we fail to deal with by choosing not to vote. (Acknowledging the currently un-elected nature of the Senate)

 If we tacitly or overtly say a behaviour is "_OK because everyone does it_", or the offender is actually acceptable because "_well, look at all the great stuff he does, blah blah blah_", things can only get worse, and the idea of public virtue will become only that: an idea, and probably a forgotten one at that.

What was it Cromwell said to the Rump Parliament? "_Begone then, in God's name, for what good you have ever done_" (or something like that..?.). IMHO That is what the electorate needs to say to all political dirtbags, Left, Centre or Right.

Perhaps it is unrealistic and naive to look for the "statesman" (especially at the municipal level)  but that is what I'm thinking about.

May be we should form a political party. But I'm sorry, Thucydides, that you would not be allowed to pick the name. Lest it be called the "Right Wing Anarchists" or the "Left Wing Fascists" >


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## pbi (24 Nov 2013)

Here is Cromwell:



> It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,
> which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.
> 
> Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.
> ...



Maybe we should call our party "The New Model Army"....


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## a_majoor (24 Nov 2013)

My philosophy and party already has a name: Libertarian. (although in practical terms, "party" is something of an overstatement)

Perhaps more technically, I could sue the Young Dauphin to take back the _real_ name of this philoisophy: Liberalism (the classical Liberal philosophy of the enlightenment; not the current transactive political party using the name).

You know; _Transformative Liberal_ does have a ring to it......


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## Kirkhill (24 Nov 2013)

pbi said:
			
		

> Here is Cromwell:
> 
> Maybe we should call our party "The New Model Army"....



Thanks for posting the full text of Cromwell's "Model Rant".  A rant to which one can aspire.  ;D

I agree with both you and Thucycides that character should matter.   And I prefer to associate with people that have character - at least professionally.   Socially it is enough that associates ARE characters.

My comment on Ford was occasioned by my belief  that in the modern world of Infotainment most folks are electing characters rather than people with character.

In Ford's case I think his popularity stems from that portion of society that just wants to poke the establishment in the eye.  Fortunately for the establishment, and unfortunately for Ford, I believe, that portion of society is the least likely to turn up at the ballot box - but they do occasionally surprise.


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