Tim Harper: Senate turmoil could be millstone for PM in fall election,
OTTAWA—“One of my major Senate visionary objectives is to encourage development of national strategies for overcoming the alienation of our young people and preparing them for significant family, community and leadership roles.”
Thus proclaimed the newly minted Conservative senator Don Meredith when Prime Minister Stephen Harper summoned him in 2010.
The pastor vowed he would continue his work which was “focused on initiatives involving youth.’’ He claimed to be developing a National Youth Strategy.
That his tenure should come crashing down after published allegations that he carried on an inappropriate intimate relationship with a young woman beginning when she was 16 is perhaps most notable for this — through all its myriad scandals, expulsions, indignities, criminal charges, RCMP investigations, suspensions, expense paybacks, coverup allegations and overarching embarrassment, the Canadian Senate can still shock.
The tawdry Meredith tale, as reported by the Star’s Kevin Donovan, is more than an account of repugnant behaviour from a figure in a position of trust.
It is one more reason that the future of the Senate will barge its way onto the agenda in this autumn’s election campaign.
It will allow NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair to beat the abolition drums even more loudly now, even if he is courting unneeded confrontation with provinces if he continues down that road during the campaign.
It will give more oxygen to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s package of electoral reforms unveiled earlier this week.
It is one more drip in an upper chamber water torture visited upon Harper, who has now endured two years of Senate grief — and counting — since the Mike Duffy-Nigel Wright affair was first revealed by CTV News in May 2013.
Harper, the one-time Senate reformer, is now in full sprint, running from the Senate and his appointments, but the Senate continues to chase him and it is gaining ground.
He avoided questions at a Toronto funding announcement Thursday, but his judgment in packing the Senate with those who ultimately embarrass him and the institution will be repeatedly raised by his political opponents.
After last week’s damning report by auditor general Michael Ferguson, 30 more senators are under RCMP review. Their numbers include the Senate leadership.
One of the worst offenders flagged by Ferguson was Harper appointee Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, a defender of victims’ rights, who left the Conservative caucus and whose expense claims have been referred to the RCMP.
He had already been investigated by the Senate ethics officer over contracts and living expenses involving his political assistant with whom he was romantically involved.
Harper appointee Mike Duffy is in a nearby courtroom facing 31 charges of fraud and breach of trust.
Wright, Harper’s former chief of staff, will take the witness stand when the trial reconvenes Aug. 11.
Harper appointee Patrick Brazeau has been suspended and faces sexual assault charges. He was last seen being body slammed through a table by Hannibal “The Death Dealer” as he refereed a wrestling match.
Harper appointee Pamela Wallin remains under police investigation.
Yes, a Pierre Trudeau appointee, Colin Kenny, dodged one sexual harassment complaint and has had his spending referred to the police and a Jean Chrétien appointee, former senator Mac Harb, has been charged with fraud and breach of trust.
The largest amount unpaid belongs to a Liberal, Rod Zimmer of Manitoba, also under police investigation.
If lives were not affected by this behaviour, it would be almost comical.
It raises this question — can you vet Senate candidates for future sleaze or misbehaviour? In some cases, the answer is a tentative yes.
Personal questions were already swirling around Brazeau, concerns ignored by the Prime Minister’s Office. Provincial Progressive Conservatives, as the Star’s Rob Benzie reports, rejected Meredith as a potential candidate. Duffy was abusing expenses before he actually sat in his Senate seat.
Meredith was already facing allegations of workplace harassment and bullying and landed in trouble for improperly using the honorific of “doctor” before his name.
He will also be remembered for spending $1,401 for return business class trip flights between Ottawa and Toronto. Business class from Ottawa to Toronto? The flight is a yo-yo, there isn’t enough time to recline your business class seat properly before you’re being told to put your table trays in the upright position for landing.
You would only fly business class between Toronto and Ottawa if you were doing it on the taxpayers’ dime and didn’t have the respect or common sense to save the public purse a couple of bucks.
But if you’re exploiting a young girl, what’s a few bucks for first-class travel? Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter:@nutgraf1