Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy tossed aside after helping Stephen Harper's Conservatives win election

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      Last night on CBC Radio's As It Happens show, host Carol Off interrogated Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary about a little-discussed aspect of the mess in the Senate.

      Off repeatedly asked Paul Callandra if the Conservative Party of Canada would take responsibility for an expenses scandal that threatens the Senate careers of former broadcasters Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin.

      Callandra responded by condemning the two senators for violating the rules.

      According to a Globe and Mail article earlier this year, Duffy campaigned for 17 Conservative candidates in the 2011 election campaign, including Harper.

      Duffy also reportedly claimed per diems from the Senate while doing political work for the governing party.

      Wallin helped Conservative candidates in Saskatchewan. But there was no evidence, according to the Globe and Mail, that she billed taxpayers for these activities.

      The Conservatives captured 166 seats, 13 more than necessary to win a majority.

      In addition, Duffy and Wallin were exceedingly useful on the party's fundraising circuit, a point emphasized by Off.

      Keep in mind that neither Duffy nor Wallin comes to the table with clean hands after charging taxpayers massive sums in expenses in violation of Senate rules.

      It's difficult to feel much sympathy for them in light of this.

      But it doesn't take away from the central point made on As It Happens: the Conservatives benefited enormously from the two of them, and now the prime minister is more than prepared to throw them overboard now that he has his majority government.

      Comments

      24 Comments

      John Pinney

      Oct 26, 2013 at 4:45pm

      A long time Tory, I am ashamed of our Prime Minister. He has adopted the image of a Judas. He,in my opinion,
      knew the 2 Senators, Wallin and Duffy were using taxpayers money to help with his parties efforts during the election campaign. Only when they got caught did he adopt an indignant pose. He now seeks to muzzle them to prevent the facts to become public. He didn't throw them under the bus, he is assassinating them by directing the Leader of the Senate to pull the trigger. I beg all Senators to remember why they are there, to serve the people, not the PM.

      Alan F Ellis

      Oct 26, 2013 at 5:17pm

      Although Messrs Duffy and Wallin have made grave errors in their approach to allowable expenses, they should not be made scape goats. It is Senator LeBreton who needs to be dismissed. Mr. Harper is far from guilt-less. Messrs Duffy and Walluin deserve their right to a legal hearing and NOT a KANGAROO COURT. After voting Conservative all my life it is now time to end this farce and get the Liberals back into power,as bad as they may be. At least they are not a dictatorship like the Tories have become. Mr. Harper needs to do something for Canadians and not for Mr. Harper.

      A.F. Ellis
      Vancouver, B.C.

      R Bogdan

      Oct 26, 2013 at 6:56pm

      Oh please. Enough is enough. They broke the "Law"/"Rules" which equals "Guilty". Harpers sayes "pay it back". You don't do it, then pay the consequences. In our real world, people lose their jobs for less reasons than that. And the comments of "feel sorry for me as how do I pay for my heart medication or it's not fair to a previous cancer survivor". Give us a break, you move on and deal with it, as we all have when life throws you curves. At least we didn't make it happen by stealing from our employer. I totally support our Prime Minister as he is being honest and fair to the people of Canada who "elected" him/hired him. Thanks Mr. Harper

      Hazlit

      Oct 26, 2013 at 8:36pm

      Conservatives have always had funny notions of loyalty.

      Raymond Tomlin

      Oct 26, 2013 at 9:09pm

      That's politics, Charlie. It's a dirty business.

      No matter what party you're talking about.

      rr

      Oct 26, 2013 at 10:22pm

      Are you suggesting that said senators contribution to the PMs campaign warrants anything less than removal from the senate? What an absurd and daft commentary.

      Laurence Brown

      Oct 26, 2013 at 11:48pm

      The `central point' skewered the Parliamentary Secretary.
      Bravo Carol Off.
      The pathetic squeaking that followed from said secretary was too much to bear. :)

      canadian

      Oct 27, 2013 at 8:50am

      my thinking is we should become canadians again remove the man harper from office,he obviously does not no what he is doing we, ontarions are now stuck with 1.1 billion dollar bill to pay thanks to our misguided mistakes we should bill the librals for their b.s.

      heboric21

      Oct 27, 2013 at 9:23am

      I heard that interview. He was hopping about like startled fawn, trying to stay on his talking points. His master will not be pleased he was unable to fool us.

      Someone is going to write a tell-all book about this Nixon- ...er, I mean, Harper Government. And I will buy one.

      @ RTomlin.... "That's politics"? Only because too many people let it be so. But with an entire generation of youth out of work and with time
      on their hands, ya know they are paying closer attention to this political skullduggery than their parents could.

      Change is coming.

      Alan Layton

      Oct 27, 2013 at 10:31am

      A pointless article on a slow news day. I've noticed that increasing forum comment numbers seems to be the new paradigm for The Georgia Straight. I thought Trolling was only for commenters?