Does Harper still like Breaking Bad?
On Aug. 5, a day after launching t he Conservatives’ illfated quest for re- election, then- Prime Minister Stephen Harper posted a muchparodied campaign video in which he declared that “I love movies and TV shows,” of which, “One of my all-time favourites is Breaking Bad.” For those who ( still) haven’t seen the Emmy- winning series that wrapped in 2013, it features an initially mildmannered high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, who after being diagnosed with lung cancer, gradually morphs into a murderous, psychopathic meth lord.
Over the course of five seasons, hundreds of bodies pile up thanks to Walt’s crimes and manipulation. Walt justifies it all by his devotion to his family, whom he does not want to leave penniless when he dies — even after it becomes apparent that he’s embraced his new life of crime, which has become a form of twisted one- upmanship against his former business partners.
The irony of Harper’s affection for Breaking Bad hit home this week, as Breaching Trust, otherwise known as the expense fraud trial of Sen. Mike Duffy, aired its penultimate episodes, er, court days. Duffy himself took the stand, railing against his former boss and associates, er, Prime Minister’s Office staff, whom he claims forced him into paying back Senate expenses he did not owe, to maintain the Conservative party’s reputation, and also into publicly “confessing” his guilt on various television programs. To hear Duffy tell it, he was trying to oppose this plan, but fell victim to a terrible blackmail scheme that took a toll on his health, reputation, and family.
“Why would I want to put a stain on my name, my wife, my kids and grandchildren, who are going to hear, ‘ Oh, that’s your granddad, the cheat?’ I’m not a cheat ? I don’t break the rules,” Duffy told the court, near tears.
“And I was not going to embrace this kind of process and I was pleading with them to show some decency. All these born- again Christians are throwing me to the lions? They’re the ones who insisted I claim from the beginning, the very first claim before I was sworn in. This is on them? It’s politics at its most despicable. And after all I’ve been through, why would anyone want to get involved with these kinds of people?”
In the final season of Breaking Bad, in a video entitled “Confession,” Walt makes a similar speech. Only it isn’t a confession at all, but a monologue that pins all his crimes on his Drug Enforcement Administration brother- in- law, Hank, who has learned of Walt’s double life and is on the verge of turning him in. In a tearful performance, Walt paints Hank as the mastermind of the meth operation, who forced poor cancer-ridden Walt into cooking meth, keeping quiet and even paying Hank’s medical bills. It’s the druglab equivalent of “Harper and the PMO made me do it” and it’s all an elaborate, self-serving lie.
Is Duffy t he political equivalent of Walter White? Spinning a story to save his own hide, when he was ac-
IS DUFFY AKIN TO WALTER
WHITE? SPINNING A STORY TO SAVE HIS OWN HIDE, WHEN HE WAS
ACTUALLY COMPLICIT IN
THE PLOT?
tually complicit in the plot? Or does that title belong to Harper? There were certainly enough bodies piled up under the Conservative government bus over the years, all in the name of remaining in power. Substitute the words “party” for family and “votes” for drug money, and it’s easy to see how political interests came before any other, requiring the maintaining of support at all costs, even as that support slipped through the party’s fingers much like Walt’s illgotten gains slipped through his.
Regardless of the truth, as in Walt’s situation, both Duffy and Harper seem destined to eke out merely Pyhrric victories in the end. In Duffy’s case, his attacks arguably contributed to bringing down Harper’s government, though that won’t help the senator much if he ends up in jail. In Harper’s case, he was defeated by his worst nightmare, Justin Trudeau, whose rising tide of red ink and broken promises may eventually make Harper look a whole lot better.
But in the meantime, just like in Walt’s case, both men have lost their empires. And they stand athwart history, alone.