Dean Del Mastro and Mike Duffy Tell an Interesting Story

Since Stephen Harper does not allow his MPs to speak on the national stage, confining them to local events and media sources, I'm bringing them kicking and screaming into the national story.

Dean Del Mastro, the Reform Conservative MP for Peterborough, always likes to throw in his two cents worth, and in compiling a profile of the man in preparation for the next election, I came across something quite interesting.

The possibility of collusion?

In December of 2007, there was kind of a mini scandal, involving a Liberal MP, Pablo Rodriguez, and a CBC reporter who fed him a question to ask during the Mulroney/Schreiber hearings.

She was exposed and dealt with by her bosses, but not before Del Mastro had his hissy fit. He fired off this press release.

Conservatives demand answers from the CBC over the alleged collusion with the Liberal Party. Today former Liberal Party cabinet minister and current TVA journalist Jean Lapierre made shocking allegations about strategic collusion between journalists at the CBC and Liberal members of Parliament at the House of Commons Ethics Committee. According to Lapierre Liberals asked Brian Mulroney questions that were written by CBC journalists ... If proven true, these allegations would mark a major third case of orchestrated anti-Conservative bias from a broadcaster that is financed by all Canadians.

Now it was a serious matter, but possibly something that was not necessarily an unusual thing.

In fact, according to the site Proud to be Canadian, a home for right of right-wing journalists, one Mike Duffy all but admitted that he may have also engaged in this type of activity.

Now this was before Duffy was appointed senator by Stephen Harper, or Dean may not have been so quick to make accusations.

... a former Liberal Party MP, cabinet minister, and currently a media broadcaster, has made a serious allegation on CTV Newsnet just now, while speaking to the CTV’s Mike Duffy ... the topic being the effort by another Liberal to try to swing the Mulroney/Schreiber hearings into a new area ...

Jean Lapierre: Well, Mike, I will surprise you, but last night I knew all about those questions. They were written by the CBC and provided to the Liberal Members of Parliament and the questions that [Liberal MP and committee questioner] Pablo Rodriguez asked were written by the CBC ...

Mike Duffy: Well I would say that’s uh libelous or defamatory so we’ll have to uh put a caveat on that—far be it from us to ever suggest they were ever doing anything…

Duffy then strangely appears to be admit that he, too, suggested questions be asked, but issues forth a plausible explanation: Duffy: ...when I was uh you know in telling MPs what questions to ask I was raising it with you really more on the point ...

You could argue, as Del Mastro did, that the CBC is a public broadcaster who should not be partisan (not that it was really a partisan question), but it brings us to the matter of ethics, Mike Duffy and the Conservative Party of Canada.

During the 2008 election campaign, when the Liberals were starting to show a significant gain in the polls, leader Stephane Dion was interviewed by Steve Murphy on CTV in the Maritimes. We all know what happened next. Murphy asked a convoluted question, that even English scholars couldn't decipher, and Mr. Dion subsequently had several false starts.

He was assured at the time, that CTV would not air those. However, they went back on their word. Murphy would later be charged with ethics violations, but scored an interview with Harper during the first Parliamentary crisis.

But Mike Duffy, not happy to simply let it go at that, ran an entire show on Dion's difficulties, suggesting that the problem was his comprehension of the language. Mr. Duffy was also charged with ethics violations, because he failed to show that the Liberal leader, once the question was presented properly, gave a very good answer.

After the clearly partisan program, the Liberals tanked in the polls and were never able to turn things around. Duffy feigned innocence, but it was pretty clear he may have been auditioning for something.

MacLean's Scott Feschuk agrees. In discussing Duffy's comedy tour (my description):

For some reason, he started talking about how he’d never had any interest in being appointed to the Senate. No interest in the Senate? Mike Duffy?? Come now. Mike Duffy was not interested in the Senate the way Kirstie Alley is not interested in whether you’re going to finish that burrito.

The final three years of Duffy’s television show were so blatant an audition for a Senate appointment that he practically held up a sign saying, “Will work for sinecure.”

Then Duffy made the claim that he’d wanted to go into the upper chamber not as a Conservative but as an Independent. And man, he was soooo passionately devoted to the principle of serving as an Independent that he completely and utterly resisted being a Conservative right up until the moment Stephen Harper politely asked him ... Over the past several months, the allegedly Independent Duffy has become so hyper-partisan that his 2009 tax return will have to list the Prime Minister’s posterior as the common-law spouse of his lips ...

And even Don Martin questioned Duffy's motives, after the senator called NDP Peter Stoffer, a faker:

...Now, Duffy calling someone a faker equals pot calling the kettle black. This is the same Duffy who, as host of his own politics show, presented himself for decades as journalistically neutral, then accepted Harper's $130,000 appointment ten months ago and now devotes his energies to shamelessly shilling for the Conservatives.

That's the definition of fakery for you, particularly given he was appointed after airing that infamous CTV interview with then-Liberal leader Stephane Dion, a bumbling performance credited by some as the turning point of the 2008 election campaign for Stephen Harper.

So the next time Dean Del Mastro calls the Liberals corrupt or suggests that CBC has no journalistic integrity, remind him of this. I would say a journalist (now on our payroll) who allegedly engineered election results, far outweighs one providing a question to ask at committee, don't you?

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA? IS DEAN DEL MASTRO REALLY THE BEST CHOICE FOR PETERBOROUGH?

The Conservatives Have Gone Too Far. It's Time to Call in the Ethics Commissioner - Again

Oh wait. We can't can we? Harper has shut everything down. However, I think we are entering a crisis zone here, because this government is out of control.

In an attempt to change the narrative from war crimes and the lobbying scandal, they have actually posted on the Justice Department website that they are only able to get their damn un-Canadian crime bills passed by stacking the senate.

This is an official GOVERNMENT website. OUR website. It is not for partisan propaganda. I think the Governor general needs to step in here.

Here are some facts:

1. Most of these bills were sabotaged by Harper himself.

2. Canada's crime rate is the lowest it's been in 30 years. We did not need these bills in the first place.

3. They were presented to the senate without costing. When they asked for a dollar figure they were told by the Conservatives that it was a cabinet secret. I understand that Kevin Page, our parliamentary budget office, is currently attaching a price tag that is believed to be in the billions.

This is from the website and if there are any constitutional lawyers out there, I hope someone comes forward. I have never seen anything like this in my life.

NEW SENATORS TO HELP END OPPOSITION OBSTRUCTION OF LAW-AND-ORDER BILLS

OTTAWA, January 29, 2010 – The Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, today celebrated the appointment of five new members of the Senate of Canada. They were joined by two of the five: Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu and Senator Bob Runciman.

“Moments ago it was announced that the Prime Minister has appointed five outstanding Canadians to fill vacancies in the Senate,” said Minister Nicholson.“The Prime Minister’s action has not only brought additional talent and expertise to the Senate; it has greatly strengthened our efforts to move forward on our tackling-crime agenda.”

The opposition has obstructed that agenda in the Senate, most notably by gutting Bill C-15 – a bill proposing mandatory jail time for serious drug offences, and a key part of the government’s efforts to fight organized crime ....

Is Tom Clark Really That Out of Touch?

I didn't catch all of the Liberal Convention coverage live, but did see journalist Tom Clark's interview with Martha Hall Findlay and Scott Brison. Now I don't as a rule, criticize the media, or at least try not to, liking it to blaming referees; but I can't let this one go.

Admittedly, Clark has been out of the country, covering American politics, but did he not have access to Canadian news, or keep up to date on our own political scene? Surely he has researchers who do background before he would get caught asking misinformed questions? Apparently not.

In his excitement, Mr. Brison did refer to the current recession as the 'Conservative recession', which is misleading, and Mr. Clark's smirk was justified, when he asked Mr. Brison if he really thought that the Conservative government caused the global recession.

Ms Hall-Findlay picked up the ball, and clarified that they did not cause it but did lay the treasury bare with mismanagement. They also reminded us that Flaherty has yet to tell us where the money went, making it difficult for the Liberals to create a platform, when they have no idea what our current financial situation is.

One thing has become clear, with the body language and facial expressions of the man who will take over for Mike Duffey. Nothing will change, and Clark will simply pick up where Duffey left off. Is he jockeying for a senate position too?

Arrogance aside, when chuckling at the notion of Harper causing a global recession, Mr. Brison was not off the mark. It may not have been the fault of the Conservative party of Canada, but was definitely created by the new Right Wing conservative movement, spear headed by George W. Bush and the anti-Christian religious right.

Too much money was spent on trying to create a Muslim holocaust, and move forward an ideological agenda, while allowing the markets to spin out of control.

Now maybe Tom Clark's forte is not economics, and as an economist Stephen Harper makes a great shoe salesman, but it was not this part of the interview that made me shake my head.

It was his insinuation that went something like "but come on, you did try to form a coalition with the Bloc...". Has he been living under a rock? I find it mind boggling whenever I discover there are still Canadian citizens this much in the dark, but he's a journalist hoping to run a political debate program. Shouldn't he at least pretend to know what happened back in December?

As stated thousands upon thousands of times, the coalition was between the NDP and the Liberals, with the Bloc only supporting confidence motions for a year and a half. The only federal coalition in recent times that included the Bloc was the one that Stephen Harper engineered in 2004 to topple the Paul Martin government. That one was signed by Gilles Duceppe, Stephen Harper and Jack Layton.

It's inexcusable for a Canadian journalist not to know that. Maybe journalism today really is just cut and paste, and reporters are no longer required to research a story before airing it. How sad.

Steve Murphy may have proven that media ethics is an oxymoron, while Clark just removed the oxy.

More Postings on the Coalition:

1. Harper Forms Coalition with Duceppe and Layton

2. The Green Party, the Economy and Why we Need a Coalition

3. Is This a Good Time For a Coalition Government?

4. Harper Vows no More Coalitions with Bloc Like he Had in 2004

5. Stephen Harper Found in Bed With Separatists

6. Why we Need the Left to Unite, Formally or Informally

7. Look up 'Hypocrite' in the Dictionary: It Says 'See Stephen Harper'

8. New Poll Confirms That Stephen Harper is Unfreakinbelievable!!!

9. Harper and More Coalition Threat Nonsense

10. Harper Still Lying About Coalition to Achieve a Majority

11. The Coalition Unveiled: What Went on Behind the Scenes

12. Is This a Good Time to Unite the Left?

13. Harper Insider Admits That he Perpetrated a Fraud