Duffy Finally Going to Trial

Whispering in the Wind (WITW 37) July 23, 2014

The RCMP has concluded its investigation into the Mike Duffy affair and last week charged Mike Duffy with 31 counts of breach of trust, bribery and fraud.  The charges relate to Mr. Duffy’s actions while he functioned as Senator in good standing, province of Prince Edward Island (a four year timeframe).  In a television interview and just after the RCMP charges commented that he welcomed the opportunity to clear his name in a court of law and was confident that the 31 charges would be proven to be unfounded and unwarranted.  Mr. Duffy will formally respond to the charges on September 16, 2014.  In one respect the RCMP charges against the “suspended” Senator brings some resolution to one major element in what has been labeled the Senate Expenses Scandal – a scandal involving numerous administrative issues in the Red Chamber and numerous sitting Senators and their feeling of entitlement.  For Mr. Duffy, it is now up to the judicial process to determine fact from fiction; political intrigue from political conspiracy and yes, the very real possibility of high stakes political cover ups.  For the moment little can be added to the RCMP allegations other than it’s going to take a long time to be assessed, judged and juried.  From my perspective and it is only a gut feeling, I feel that the results of the Mike Duffy trial will have major impacts and consequences on how Canadians will be governed in the future.  Two issues jump out as needing immediate comment:

The 31 Charges Framed by the RCMP

The 31 charges laid by the RCMP are understandably wrapped in legal jargon but in essence it comes down to Mike Duffy being charged with:  One count each of fraud and breach of trust related to his residency expenses (2 counts).  Nine counts of fraud and nine counts of breach of trust for expenses unrelated to Senate business (18 counts).  Four counts of fraud and four counts of breach of trust related to the awarding of consulting contracts (8 counts).  One count each of bribery, fraud on the government and breach of trust related to a $90,000 payment to Mr. Duffy from Mr. Wright.

What is confusing about the 31 charge; two thirds (20 of the 31 charges) relate to expense judgements made by Mr. Duffy regarding residency and unrelated business expenses, these expenses should have been rejected, (or at least flagged) by the appropriate administrative body within the Senate that deals with reviewing Senator expenses.  Many, many months ago Mr. Duffy indicated that the expenses he claimed followed the acceptable rules of play in the Senate at the time the expenses were incurred – to apply a new set of rules to his historical expenses is unjustified and unacceptable protocol. In the end I do not think the issue of expenses will become a major factor in any judgement for or against Mr. Duffy – if Mr. Duffy is found guilty of the expense related charges a good number of other Senators will have to be charged as well. 

Regarding the charges of fraud and breach of trust for hiring outside consultants, very little information is known as to the nature of the consultancy work undertaken, so at this point in time no further comment is necessary. 

As to the bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges related to the $90,000 cheque to Mike Duffy from Nigel Wright (then chief of staff to Prime Minister Harper) is, in my view, the king pin issue in the Duffy charges that involves Prime Minister Harper himself and a number of his handlers.  The first question posed by many observers:  Why is Nigel Wright exempt from charges for writing the $90,000 check, while Mr. Duffy is being charged for accepting it?  For the moment legal experts are discussing two different federal laws – Section 119 and 121 of the Criminal Code of Canada which indicates that it is an offence to accept funds for a benefit and the Parliament of Canada Act which makes it an offence to give money to a senator. 

Mr. Duffy has speculated that the trial will begin in the spring of 2015 and he will be able to discount all charges and identify the real circumstances and culprits. 

The Next Federal Election

There was never a doubt in my mind that the next federal election was take place in October, 2015.  Nevertheless, a couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a good friend living in eastern Canada where he described a rumor circulating about the possibility of a federal election being called earlier than originally scheduled – largely because of the anticipated rejection of the Keystone pipeline proposal to ship Alberta bitumen to Texas and a general downturn in the Canadian economy.  With Mr. Duffy being as confident as he is to show his innocence, the real circumstances of the scandal and the real culprits – so an earlier, spring  2015 election is in the cards and would be most beneficial for Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. Who knows?