the Walnut Diary

Quite a few comments in the many articles on National Newswatch today are calling for an RCMP investigation of Duffy’s corruption and the Senate and the PMO in general. But we have to remember that the RCMP is hardly a neutral observer of the Harper Government. Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli set the tone for the relationship with Harper in a raid on the offices of Paul Martin’s Minister of Finance during the closing days of the election campaign in 2006. The raid produced nothing, but the electoral tide was turned when, fearing another sponsorship scandal, Canadian voters turned en masse away from Martin’s Liberals.

Duffy’s tactical contribution to the 2008 campaign was in picking deleted tape of an interview with Stephane Dion off the cutting room floor and showing it on CTV. The interviewer had promised Dion the out-takes would not be shown, but Duffy saw his opportunity to destroy Dion’s credibility, and he took it. A grateful Harper rewarded Duffy with a senate seat for the betrayal.

This CBC panel is too good to miss. Jennifer Ditchburn, one of the finest of the new generation of Ottawa investigative journalists, gets her chance.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV+Shows/The+National/At+Issue/ID/2385688013/