Senate should be independent of PMO

The importance of the Sen. Mike Duffy trial, to date, has been less about Duffy’s behaviour than the malfeasance of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Politics and partisanship aside, the Senate should be an independent body from the PMO. Instead, we have the prime minister’s right-hand man providing a senator a $90,000 gift. Surely Duffy would be indebted to the PMO for this. How could he ever be expected to act in an independent manner, to do his job as senator as opposed to always considering his debt to the PMO?

Of course, Duffy has clearly been a cheerleader and fundraiser for the PMO, payment notwithstanding. A robust ethical standard might be the consideration of the effect of a behaviour generalized to others. What would result if everyone threw garbage in a ditch? Or ran a stop sign? In Duffy’s case, what would be the result of such payments to every senator? A farcical, utterly ineffective joke of a Senate.

Clearly, this payment, excuses and spin aside, was unethical and inappropriate.

The Duffy trial also highlighted the attempts of the PMO to deceive the electorate, with fanciful stories and half-truths used to explain the $90,000 reimbursement. We are to believe the reimbursement was honourable, Wright’s action Biblical in decency and selflessness.

Finally, we see the PMO attempt to influence an independent audit, and to whitewash a report on the Senate.

I am much less concerned by any transgressions by Duffy than I am about what appears to be the unethical, dishonest and calculating actions of the Prime Minister’s Office.