Brazeau and Harb to be charged by the RCMP

[Remius]

If the accusations against them prove true i hope the book is thrown at them.  Must be making a few other people lose sleep as well...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-expenses-patrick-brazeau-mac-harb-to-be-charged-by-rcmp-1.2522431

 

[George Wallace]

Indeed.  I am sure there are a lot more Senators, Liberal and Conservative, who are tossing in their sleep these days.  Good on the RCMP to have expedited the investigation so quickly.  The OPP should take a few pointers from them in their investigations of Ontario's political scandals.

 

[SMG III]

I sure hope we see a lot more of this.

 

[Journeyman]

I sure hope we see a lot more of this.

I hope we don't.  I'd like to think that the bad apples are few and far between, rather than the majority of serving politicians.

 

[SMG III]

I hope we don't.  I'd like to think that the bad apples are few and far between, rather than the majority of serving politicians.

That is a good point. I'd rather NOT see much of this, but for the bad apples out there, more of them should be in this situation.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I hope we don't.  I'd like to think that the bad apples are few and far between, rather than the majority of serving politicians.

I'm with you, all the way, but I'm afraid there is more to come: Sens Duffy and Wallin are also going to be charged, I suspect.

I'm also guessing that Sens Brazeau, Duffy, Harb and Wallin didn't just decide to play the system out of the blue; I think they did what a lot of others were doing, too, and what other senators and Senate staffers told them was 'normal' practice. The Auditor General's report is likely to be unpleasant reading for all of us who hope as you do.

 

[a_majoor]

Interesting to contemplate the fallout of this.

The CPC and Prime Minister Harper could use the "New Broom Sweeps Clean" approach to restock the Senate with (hopefully) better Senators, but I suspect they will try to use this as a means to bring Senate reform front and centre for the election. Since this is one of the PM's pet projects, this might provide the push needed to bring about some form of Senate reform and an elected or at least term limited Senate.

Not sure how the "Big Flush" will affect the LPC. The pre emptive dismissal of Liberal Senators from the caucus "might" save the LPC from the damaging effects, but the fact the Liberal Senators have essentially stood firm on their identity as Liberals isn't going to provide as much separation as the Young Dauphin's handlers might want.

Of course since the NDP is all for Senate reform (abolition), they can be counted on to provide some support for cleaning the mess, just their solution isn't going to fly in the courts.