RCMP affidavit increases the heat on Prime Minister Stephen Harper

by Charlie Smith on November 20th, 2013 at 10:17 AM

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The latest revelations out of Ottawa will likely ensure the Senate scandal remains on Parliament's front burner—thereby jeopardizing the Conservatives' reelection chances.

The RCMP's lead investigator, Cpl. Greg Horton, reportedly swore an affidavit alleging he has "reasonable grounds to believe" that Sen. Mike Duffy and Stephen Harper's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, violated the Criminal Code of Canada—specifically, the sections dealing with bribery, fraud on the government, and breach of trust.

(Click downloads tab above to read Cpl. Horton's affidavit.)

Wright has issued a statement through his lawyer to the Toronto Star declaring that his "intention was always to secure repayment of funds owed to taxpayers".

Wright also claimed that he "acted within the scope of my duties and remain confident that my actions were lawful". It concerns Wright's $90,000 repayment of Duffy's housing expenses.

The RCMP allegations were for the purpose of obtaining a production order; none of the officer's claims have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

The problem for Harper, however, is that Cpl. Horton has alleged that Wright believed that Duffy should not have filed claims for housing expenses.

Duffy allegedly only agreed to repay the expenses through his lawyer "based on conditions or demands made of the PMO by Senator Duffy".

This suggests that Duffy may have been telling the truth when he stood up in the Senate and discussed how he negotiated the arrangment with the prime minister's office.

All of this will give the opposition parties more ammunition to call for a public inquiry.

Public inquiries and RCMP investigations have derailed numerous politicians in the past, including:

• With then–prime minister Paul Martin as leader, the Liberal party plummeted in the polls during the 2006 election campaign after the RCMP revealed it was investigating an alleged leak of information regarding income trusts. Martin's government also suffered severe damage from the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship scandal.

• Former B.C. premier Glen Clark was finished after a Global TV crew filmed the RCMP showing up at his home with a search warrant. Clark was later acquitted on charges relating to the awarding of a casino licence.

• Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has never fully recovered his reputation after a public inquiry into cash payments he received from lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber. The allegations about Schreiber's lobbying on behalf of Airbus Industries helped bring down the Conservatives in the 1993 election.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford may also be toast after police conducted a lengthy investigation into him consorting with criminals and using illegal drugs.

Harper likes to present himself as Mr. Clean, but that will be a hard image to maintain with the Mounties asking uncomfortable questions of current and former staff members. Harper is also dogged by the robocall scandal, in which party members tricked voters into showing up at the wrong polling stations on election day.

The Senate scandal goes straight to the prime minister's office. Based on past history, this suggests that Harper's party will suffer severe consequences in the 2015 election.

Of course, there's one option that could save the day for the Conservatives.

They could rise up and dump Harper as leader.

With Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney at the helm, Conservatives could claim that they've found a new Mr. Clean to lead them into the next election.

This tactic worked for the British Conservatives.

In 1990, they tossed aside Margaret Thatcher, clearing the deck for John Major to become prime minister. He won the 1992 election, giving the Conservatives five more years in power.

Comments

17 Comments

boris moris

Nov 20, 2013 at 11:14am

If Wright implicates Harper in the bribe the Con Party are toast no matter which bloated buffoon they chose as leader. Local party darling, James Moore, is often mentioned as a Harper replacement. Obviously standards for being a ConParty leader are abysmally low. Kenney may be the least buffoonish of this bunch of retrograde fascists but he still has enough baggage to sink a fleet of Titanics. For Con supporters this matters little. For the 70% of Canadians who are appalled at this clusterfuck , aka: the Harper Government, no fatted neofascist calf in a suit will change their minds. Now if this 70% will just get off their stupid butts and vote for a change....

Kendall

Nov 20, 2013 at 12:41pm

Harper has to go. This micro manager can't convince me he didn't know what was going on right under his nose in the PMO. Regardless, if he didn't know then he shouldn't be there. The Party started with Harper/McKay lies and it's still full of lies. A leader sets the level for honesty, transparency and integrity. He has to lead by example. Harper has to go and the sooner the better.

e.a.f.

Nov 20, 2013 at 1:00pm

James Moore, Jason Kenney, and others who are starting to "explore" their options, might include looking for a job outside of politics. There is enough mud stuck to the Cons, that it has affected all of them. They were in cabinet with Harper while it was all going on. Not one of them took a principled position.

The other parties can simply run a campaign around, it was a "crime syndicate" and they are all guilty, or something to that effect. It just might work. The Cons love to use that line about you stand with ..... or you stand with the bad guys. Another take on that is, you stood with the bad guys and now you are part of the bad guys group. How can we expect you to be clean if you stayed in the hideout cabin with the "criminals".

As much as they want to throw dirty at "the kid" it just may not stick and people may just be tired of it. Mulcair has distinguished himself in the House of Commons, question period. People may decide he looks good as a prosecutor of Con crimes.

good old bob

Nov 20, 2013 at 1:16pm

From the unprecedented vote suppression assault to this, Harper and his tea party cabal have weakened Canada terribly. They have poisoned Canada with cynicism. Don't forget what happened here. Don't ever forget.

Budd

Nov 20, 2013 at 1:35pm

I would.think that if these ever burgeoning scandals stick to this C.R.A.P Government the resulting storm will leave this Harper Canada behind the P.Q in seat numbers! This would be a suitable reward for the damage they have inflicted on Canadians since they were first elected, Perhaps a decade in the political wildernesses is a suitable reward for their Subtrafuge as a governing!

Forward Thinker

Nov 20, 2013 at 1:43pm

From my reading of Corp. Horton's affidavit, Harper is already implicated as he approved the plan of action according to wright's memo quoted by Horton

Nonesense

Nov 20, 2013 at 4:37pm

In a year's time when the next Federal election rolls around Harper and his cronies will be re-elected. The lunatic fringe of the rabid right wing will vote for him in droves and the rest of cynical Canada will either not vote at all or split the vote between the three other parties. We can look forward to a long, long reign of the Reform Party in Canada, until there is nothing left of Canada.