Conservatives in the News

[jollyjacktar]

Fantino is one MP in particular I am very pleased is no longer an MP.  What an O2 thief.

 

[Lightguns]

And here's why there are third parties to complain to about your ATIP request results -- shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) ... ...* - That means the law was broken.

Harper made some very poor HR choices, this was one of them.  Caledonia's favourite cop was not high on the list of possible conservative candidates given his love of serving the OLP. 

 

[The Bread Guy]

Harper made some very poor HR choices ...

Another example ...

An Ontario Court judge has imposed $50,000 in fines on Bruce Carson, a former Stephen Harper confidant convicted of illegal lobbying.

Although Carson’s lawyer, Patrick McCann, argued that his client was on the verge of bankruptcy and unable to pay, Ontario Court Justice Catherine Kehoe said Carson remains employable, calling the fine a necessary deterrent to others.

The Crown had asked for a $50,000 penalty.

Carson was found guilty in September on three counts under the Lobbying Act over work he did on a national energy strategy while director of the Canada School of Energy and Environment and later as the vice-chair of the Energy Policy Institute of Canada.

The judge determined he had contact with ministers and deputy ministers at Industry Canada and Environment Canada, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office, while he was employed at the institute even though he was under a five-year prohibition from lobbying public office holders because he had worked in the PMO until February 2009.

The court was told that, between 2009 and 2011, Carson was paid about $600,000 for his lobbying work.

There have only been two previous convictions under the Lobbying Act, which resulted in fines of $7,500 and $20,000, Crown prosecutor Robert Zsigo told the judge.

In her sentencing ruling, Kehoe said the gravity of the offence could not be more serious and that Carson had decided to simply ignore the prohibitions against lobbying.

"It is necessary to impose a significant fine to deter Mr. Carson and others who would engage in lobbying and ignore the law, which goes to the heart of the integrity of government and public trust of government," she wrote ...

 

[The Bread Guy]

Oopsie ...

Patrick Brown's office misled the Toronto Star about compensation to a former MPP who quit his seat for the Progressive Conservative leader, imposing a gag order at a time when the secret contract could make the Tories look bad, internal emails show.

Documents obtained by the Star reveal Conservative officials were scrambling after Garfield Dunlop stepped down in Simcoe North so the new PC leader could run in a byelection on Sept. 3, 2015.

Mindful the governing Liberals were under investigation for allegations of bribery, senior party officials were emailing about how to keep under wraps potentially embarrassing details of how the Tories compensated Dunlop.

In one email, a key Brown aide overruled a lawyer from the party who suggested full disclosure, telling him that she had already denied any payments and intended to feign ignorance if asked again.

She also ordered all other staff and PC activists to abide by her edict.

The circumstances surrounding Dunlop's departure are in the headlines again because of the Sudbury byelection bribery charges against Patricia Sorbara, Premier Kathleen Wynne's former deputy chief of staff.

When the Tories hammer the Liberals on the Sorbara matter in the legislature's daily question period, the government counters by pointing to how the PC leader secured his Orillia-area seat.

Last year, Brown publicly said Dunlop — who earned $129,000 in 2014 as an MPP and vice-chair of a legislative committee — was serving as his part-time volunteer education adviser and received no compensation for giving up the riding.

In an emailed statement Monday, his office reiterated that "no employment arrangements were either promised or offered at the time, nor at any time before he resigned his seat on Aug. 1, 2015, nor at any time before the byelection was held on Sept. 3, 2015." ...

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I think one of the issues is that Government and Business work very differently and for good reason. In business it's expected to build a relationship with your client, doing things for them, that's how you build a business. In government it is all very rigid and process and you can't have that same client relationship. I seen a lot of business people fail to make that leap or understand the differences and why they are different.   

 

[The Bread Guy]

And this appears to be still dragging on ...

Almost a full year after Sen. Mike Duffy was acquitted on 31 charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, the man who paid him $90,000 remains under investigation by the federal ethics watchdog.

Ethics commissioner Mary Dawson has revealed that she continues to examine the conduct of Nigel Wright, former prime minister Stephen Harper's one-time chief of staff.

Wright personally paid Duffy $90,000 to enable the senator to reimburse the Senate for his disputed living expense claims.

Dawson initiated an investigation into Wright's conduct in May 2013, but suspended it a month later once an RCMP investigation was begun.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus, who had urged Dawson to investigate Wright, says the ethics watchdog recently informed him that she resumed her investigation last May after the Crown decided not to appeal Duffy's acquittal.

Her investigation is ongoing and Dawson told Angus her final report on the matter will be made public ...

 

[The Bread Guy]

Harper made some very poor HR choices ...

Oh yeah ...

Conservative Yukon Senator Daniel Lang and his policy adviser are facing allegations of workplace harassment, multiple senior Senate sources tell CBC News.

After a complaint about his behaviour earlier this year, an internal investigation was launched by Senate officials into the senator's treatment of a parliamentary staffer.

The Senate would not confirm the review, or identify the nature of the complaint.

"The integrity of any complaint-based human resources process is dependent on confidentiality being maintained. For this reason, the Senate does not disclose information of this nature," Senate spokesperson Jacqui Delaney said.

This is the second complaint against Lang and his policy adviser, Naresh Raghubeer. The first complainant withdrew the accusation after quietly being transferred to another job on Parliament Hill, CBC News has learned.

Senate officials privately describe the complaints as being about bullying and intimidation, including screaming and belittling in front of other senators and staff.

The sources spoke to CBC on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters and/or they feared retribution from their superiors.

Lang, appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2009, declined requests for an interview but Raghubeer provided a statement on the senator's behalf.

"I don't know where you heard this, but neither my office nor I are currently subject to any administrative review," the senator said in the statement ...

We'll see ...

 

[PuckChaser]

Clearly he's guilty before the investigation is complete.

 

[The Bread Guy]

:tsktsk: ...

Canada’s former public safety minister has had his wrist slapped by the federal ethics commissioner for violating conflict of interest rules — and a democracy watchdog wants the Canadian Judicial Council to review the matter.

Vic Toews, who is now a judge in Manitoba, violated the Conflict of Interest Act twice in the months following his departure from politics in 2013 by working for two First Nations with which he had direct dealings during his time in office.

Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson released her report Friday, two years after initial complaints were made about Toews’ post-cabinet activities.

The 41-page report finds Toews was hired to do lobbying and consulting work on behalf of two First Nations in Manitoba in the months after he left office. The contracts violated two different aspects of the Conflict of Interest Act ...

 

[The Bread Guy]

On Senator Don Meredith, Senate Ethics Officer says ....

... As set out above, I have concluded that Senator Meredith breached subsections 7.1(1) and 7.1(2) of the Code in the circumstances surrounding the relationship he had with a teenager, Ms. M.

Where I have made a finding that a Senator has breached his or her obligations under the Code, as I have here, subsection 48(14) of the Code requires me to indicate whether remedial measures to my satisfaction have been agreed to by the Senator, whether the Senator did not agree to remedial measures that would have been to my satisfaction and what those measures were, or whether remedial measures were either not necessary or not available.

Following Senator Meredith’s first interview, his counsel indicated to me that he was interested in exploring remedial measures to address Senator Meredith’s conduct. I explained to counsel that I did not see how remedial measures could be appropriate if I accepted the facts as described by Ms. M, but that I remained open to receiving and considering submissions on this issue. I again invited submissions from Senator Meredith on this issue when I provided him the partial draft of this review for his comment.

In a letter dated March 7, 2017 (copy attached) Senator Meredith proposed remedial measures. I have concluded that while they may have some salutary effects and may help prevent further breaches of this nature by Senator Meredith, the remedial measures he has proposed do not remedy the harm that his actions have caused to the office of Senator and the institution of the Senate. Consideration of this issue has led me to the further conclusion that for the purposes of subsection 48(14), remedial measures are not available in relation to the kinds of breaches of the Code engaged in by Senator Meredith.

In other words ...

In a historic move, the Senate's ethics committee is recommending Senator Don Meredith be expelled from the Red Chamber and his seat be declared vacant ...

 

[jollyjacktar]

Someone who makes Duffy look like a paragon of virtue.  I hope they kick the chickenhawk out.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Someone who makes Duffy look like a paragon of virtue. 

Ouch!

 

[The Bread Guy]

Someone who makes Duffy look like a paragon of virtue.  I hope they kick the chickenhawk out.

Not quite, but ...

Disgraced Sen. Don Meredith is resigning from the Senate rather than wait to see if his colleagues expel him for engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl.

The Senate was poised to vote as early as Wednesday on a Senate ethics committee report, which last week concluded that Meredith is unfit to serve as a senator and recommended that the upper house take the unprecedented step of expelling him.

But in a statement today, Meredith says he recognizes that the Senate is more important than his "moral failings." ...

 

[jollyjacktar]

Not quite as satisfying as their version of a dishonourable discharge, but it will do.  Too bad they couldn't forfeit his pension on him as he leaves.  With any luck the missus will take him to the mat instead.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

If it's egregious enough to get booted from the Senate, does it not stand to reason that he broke the law?

Why has he not been charged?

If what he did is not considered illegal and he's not charged, he shouldn't have been punted.
:2c:

 

[brihard]

If it's egregious enough to get booted from the Senate, does it not stand to reason that he broke the law?

Why has he not been charged?

If what he did is not considered illegal and he's not charged, he shouldn't have been punted.
:2c:

Surely you're not suggesting a perfect overlap between morality and legality? A lot of things can be morally or ethically questionable or even disgusting, yet aren't quite illegal. I have no problem with the senate punting someone who appears to have a sexually predatory streak aimed at young girls. His conduct brings the upper house into disrepute in the eyes of the public. That should suffice. After all, we don't get to vote him out.

 

[dapaterson]

If he, as is alleged, exploited a position of power for sexual purposes with someone under 18, then he has committed an offense that should be condemned through the judicial system.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

After all, we don't get to vote him out.

We didn't even get a chance to vote him in!  :nod:

 

[Rocky Mountains]

The only disqualifying provision related to behavior - "31(4) If he is attainted of Treason or convicted of Felony or of any infamous Crime;"

Clearly he was not convicted of a crime.

There is one other provision that makes it a matter for the Senate to decide - "33. If any Question arises respecting the Qualification of a Senator or a Vacancy in the Senate the same shall be heard and determined by the Senate."

I do have a suspicion that the Supreme Court would step in to prevent the Senate from calling an apple an orange to justify their action.

If legally boning a 16 year old is so awful, why are 12 year olds legally allowed to have sex under the Criminal Code.  Seems to be a bit of a disconnect.  It was only a few years ago the age of consent was raised from 14 and Harper had a serious fight to get it through Parliament.

 

[jollyjacktar]

The only disqualifying provision related to behavior - "31(4) If he is attainted of Treason or convicted of Felony or of any infamous Crime;"

Clearly he was not convicted of a crime.

There is one other provision that makes it a matter for the Senate to decide - "33. If any Question arises respecting the Qualification of a Senator or a Vacancy in the Senate the same shall be heard and determined by the Senate."

I do have a suspicion that the Supreme Court would step in to prevent the Senate from calling an apple an orange to justify their action.

If legally boning a 16 year old is so awful, why are 12 year olds legally allowed to have sex under the Criminal Code.  Seems to be a bit of a disconnect.  It was only a few years ago the age of consent was raised from 14 and Harper had a serious fight to get it through Parliament.

If you're cool with him being a chickenhawk,  that's up to you.  I don't think it's behaviour I want to see by someone on the Hill.