Mike Duffy must be cut loose | Full Comment | National Post
Point- For those in need of money - Just ask the PM's Chief of Staff for a gift.
For a moment there, it looked like Mike Duffy might have escaped any lasting damage over his improper Senate expenses. But then CTV News, his former professional home, came along and put another torpedo into his side. Contrary to the Senator’s claims that he had shown honest leadership when he repaid what he’d wrongly taken, it’s now been revealed that Sen. Duffy had plenty of help paying us all back. And from the very top of the federal government, no less.
Sen. Duffy, who was an Ottawa journalist with CTV for decades, has lived in that city for many years. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to the Senate, to represent P.E.I., in 2008, Sen. Duffy declared a cottage on Prince Edward Island to be his primary residence. He then claimed the $22,000 annual expense for senators whose primary residences are more than 100 kilometres from the capital. The expense is offered to cover what is an oddity of the senate — you’re required by law to live in one place while working in another, perhaps thousands of miles away.
But claiming expenses didn’t make much sense in Sen. Duffy’s particular case: He already had a home in Ottawa. He’d lived there for years. And his cottage — sorry, “primary residence” — is mortgage-free, requiring only upkeep and property taxes. Surely Senators are paid well enough to pay for their own cottage’s hydro bill?
Charging the taxpayers $22,000 a year to pay for the house he already lives in wasn’t a justifiable expense related to his performing his government duties. It gave every appearance of Sen. Duffy gouging the taxpayers for $22,000 a year he wasn’t entitled to and didn’t need to do his job.
Stephen Harper’s chief of staff wrote personal cheque to cover Mike Duffy’s senate expenses: report | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post
“Mr. Duffy agreed to repay the expenses because it was the right thing to do. However, Mr. Duffy was unable to make a timely repayment,” Harper’s spokesman Andrew MacDougall told the CBC.
“Mr. Wright therefore wrote a cheque from his personal account for the full amount owing so that Mr. Duffy could repay the outstanding amount.”
The CTV story says Wright and Duffy made a deal that involved the senator paying back the money he owed in exchange for some financial assistance and “a promise from the government to go easy on him.”
A government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Wright and Duffy are friends and that Wright offered the money as a gift rather than a loan.
Point- For those in need of money - Just ask the PM's Chief of Staff for a gift.
For a moment there, it looked like Mike Duffy might have escaped any lasting damage over his improper Senate expenses. But then CTV News, his former professional home, came along and put another torpedo into his side. Contrary to the Senator’s claims that he had shown honest leadership when he repaid what he’d wrongly taken, it’s now been revealed that Sen. Duffy had plenty of help paying us all back. And from the very top of the federal government, no less.
Sen. Duffy, who was an Ottawa journalist with CTV for decades, has lived in that city for many years. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to the Senate, to represent P.E.I., in 2008, Sen. Duffy declared a cottage on Prince Edward Island to be his primary residence. He then claimed the $22,000 annual expense for senators whose primary residences are more than 100 kilometres from the capital. The expense is offered to cover what is an oddity of the senate — you’re required by law to live in one place while working in another, perhaps thousands of miles away.
But claiming expenses didn’t make much sense in Sen. Duffy’s particular case: He already had a home in Ottawa. He’d lived there for years. And his cottage — sorry, “primary residence” — is mortgage-free, requiring only upkeep and property taxes. Surely Senators are paid well enough to pay for their own cottage’s hydro bill?
Charging the taxpayers $22,000 a year to pay for the house he already lives in wasn’t a justifiable expense related to his performing his government duties. It gave every appearance of Sen. Duffy gouging the taxpayers for $22,000 a year he wasn’t entitled to and didn’t need to do his job.
Stephen Harper’s chief of staff wrote personal cheque to cover Mike Duffy’s senate expenses: report | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post
“Mr. Duffy agreed to repay the expenses because it was the right thing to do. However, Mr. Duffy was unable to make a timely repayment,” Harper’s spokesman Andrew MacDougall told the CBC.
“Mr. Wright therefore wrote a cheque from his personal account for the full amount owing so that Mr. Duffy could repay the outstanding amount.”
The CTV story says Wright and Duffy made a deal that involved the senator paying back the money he owed in exchange for some financial assistance and “a promise from the government to go easy on him.”
A government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Wright and Duffy are friends and that Wright offered the money as a gift rather than a loan.
