If I were a member of the Conservative Party, I would be rushing to publicly burn my membership card.
This was supposed to be the government of ethics and accountability. Stephen Harper personally campaigned as the leader who would clean up Ottawa.
He promised he would reform the Senate. He promised those who broke the rules would be brought to justice.
Back in 2005, at the height of the Liberal sponsorship scandal, the then-opposition leader rightfully said: "It's all part of the pattern. This is a story of scandal and corruption, investigations, refusals to take responsibility. If this government continues in office, this will continue."
Funny-and by funny I mean horrifically discouraging-how even more applicable Harper's opinion of the former Liberals is to his own party today.
It's not enough that three Senators he personally appointed--who never should have been appointed because Harper committed to only appointing elected senators-have been embroiled in scandal over expense entitlements. Last week the corruption reached the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) itself.
On Monday, Nigel Wright, the PM's top advisor stepped down after cutting Mike Duffy a personal cheque to pay back $90,000 in ill-begotten living expenses.
While Senator Patrick Brazeau was kicked out of the Conservative caucus on an unrelated criminal charge, Duffy and Saskatchewan Senator Pamela Wallin have "resigned," presumedly to spare the party further embarrassment.
Earlier this year, an unknown staffer was scapegoated for a robo-call scandal that attempted to gerrymander Saskatchewan electoral boundaries.
Now, Wright has fallen on his sword and the question being asked is: How much did Harper know and when?
Personally, I could not care less how much, when or even if he knew. This is the Prime Minister who was supposed to be unimpeachable. This is the man who prides himself on being in control of everything.
Accountability is not something to be sloughed off by passing the buck. The PM must be accountable not just for his own actions, but for the corruption that happens on his watch.
But let's put the ethical questions, as disgusting as they are, aside for a moment. This is, after all, a crime column.
On May 20, Charlie Angus, Opposition ethics critic, called for a full RCMP investigation.
I am already on record as saying I believe the initial act of improperly claiming expenses, should, at the very least be investigated for criminality. It fits the description of fraud in the Criminal Code.
This latest act, though, especially after it came out that Duffy may have been asked to keep quiet about alleged irregularities in the supposedly independent audit by Deloitte, just simply does not pass the smell test, even for most Conservatives.
Angus believes the payment may violate the bribery provisions of the Criminal Code and the conflict of interest section in the Parliament of Canada Act. I would further suggest that if Harper, or anyone else in the PMO knew about it, that conspiracy charges are in order.
Of course, perhaps partially because politicians make the rules, they, and those close to them, almost always go unpunished when they break them. The list is long. Brian Mulroney supposedly didn't know it was wrong to take a bag full of cash from a lobbyist. Jean Chrétien apparently thought nothing of his staffers misdirecting millions of dollars to Liberal cronies.
Both got away free and clear and Stephen Harper likely will too.
The only thing we can do is keep crushing these parties in the next election until we finally get a government that is serious about ethics and shutting down the legal double standard for Parliamentarians.
