scribblet

I'm not sure that we should abolish the Senate, I would rather see a triple E. Meanwhile the gov't initiative referring questions to the S.C. has not been answered. Until then they can't go ahead with change. They could however, change the laws about residency. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Residency+requirements+senators+impossible+position/8390598/story.html

PM Harper needs to initiate a residency review of ALL the Senators. More to the point, the Prime Minister should take the lead and announce that he will be putting forward a constitutional amendment to require all Senators to be principally resident in the provinces of their appointment. If the Media Party wants to impose new rules on Conservative Senators which the Conservatives themselves want to follow, then it is proper that steps be taken to formally change the law.

I guess enlarging the font makes it right... More BS about Clement and you know full well he showed up in your riding and toured the flood areas and has offered help. No doubt you are also aware that process of Federal flood assistance cannot be provided until requested by the Province. This would be done after the province assesses the situation then makes the request. Mr. Clement has said he will support the request. http://www.tonyclement.ca/?p=2552 http://www.muskokatodaily.com/?p=14848 http://www.muskokatodaily.com/?p=15009

Well said Rue... Show me the money !!! (proof) Funny tho, The Star endorsed Smitherman who was an admitted drug addict for 5 years. (and he was a health minister). As Ms. Corbella says, http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/Corbella+Mayor+Ford+afforded+compassion+disease/8403530/story.html

Except that he didn't. This is another gotcha story based on 'anonymous sources' and not verified before printing. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/05/20130517-092603.html

Cute... Thought I'd post this 'cos I think it's pretty good and worth reading the whole thing. It's by a a former Star editor on journalist ethics. http://j-source.ca/article/opinion-crackgate-stars-rush-publish-alleged-rob-ford-crack-cocaine-story-unsatisfactory

Okay than. I disagree about the venom too, haven't seen any, in fact most venom I see doesn't come from Harper. Not sure if this is the right thread, but it is time to look a triple E senate. If we were to abolish the Senate, then our H of C whose membership is based on population, would be dominated by Southern Ontario and St. Lawrence Valley Note that the US Senate elects just two senators per state and it's system of checks and balances has served it well. The worst excesses have come when the House, the Senate and the presidency are all controlled by the same party. In theory the Senate is supposed to safeguard the interests of the regions from the overwhelming vote of the large population centres which is why the old Reform Party was so keen on Senate reforms that would make it elected, equal and effective. Without even our democratically crippled Senate there would be no voice or backstop for the West, Atlantica or the hinterlands.

How much has this even been mentioned recently. Check out the Toronto Star's search result for any mention of this in the Toronto Star - http://www.thestar.com/search.html?q=mulcair+bribe&contenttype=articles,videos,slideshows you got it - zip - nada

Does the PM vet them all himself? Duffy has always been a respected journalist and also Pamela Wallin, I don't think anyone saw this coming. Cheating on expenses is hardly government corruption, but it would be a good time now bring up the Constitution and address major changes.

Thanks for posting this, it's worth watching. I watched most of that live and was favourably impressed. His answer to the health care question should put to rest the lies about him (PM Harper) wanting to do away with it, those lies don't wash. (among others). It should be required watching for anyone who cares about Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/story/2013/05/16/mtl-ndp-leader-thomas-mulcair-met-with-gilles-vaillancourt.html Is the CBC biased ? I never said there was a media conspiracy to destroy Duffy, but it's obvious that when it's the opposition, it's not given the same coverage.

I've never apologized for Rob Ford and am not now so please don't impute words and thoughts that do not exist. Ford's career will be over if this is true, so I will wait until I see a video that has been verified unedited before passing judgement. How do we know it's crack btw ? If we don't have the evidence we are taking the word of anonymous drug dealers, a gossip site and a newspaper on a personal vendetta/ witch hunt. Verification would be nice before crucifying someone. If and when someone does make a payment surely the police would be there to grab the drug dealers. -

He didn't report it to the police until years afterwards and chose this week to dump it when he knew it would be buried. see post #6 Scott me up beamy...

shocking I say, shocking !! Mr. Mulcair kept his firsthand knowledge of corruption from the public for two more years, before choosing to dump it today, when he felt the media would be distracted by other stories. This presents some difficult questions for Mr. Mulcair: 1. Why did he protect Gilles Vaillancourt and cover up this alleged criminal activity for 17 years? 2. Why did it take a public inquiry into the biggest corruption scandal in Canadian history for Thomas Mulcair to finally come clean with Canadians? 3. Why did Thomas Mulcair lie and say he was never offered any money by Gilles Vaillancourt? 4. Will he agree to appear if called to testify under oath before the Charbonneau Commission?

zzzzz yawn

That one was today, I read one yesterday.

I didn't and am not. If he did buy illegal drugs and that is him, then he sure is dumb. The Star is on a vendetta, it's more than simply reporting news. If it is never proven and no video surfaces, I would vote for Ford again just to watch heads explode, especially the Star heads.

Meanwhile, there's a not a lot being said about Mulcair lying and covering up an attempted bribe. He only talked to the police in 2011 years after it happened. Imagine if this had been - say Duffy... oh the headlines. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/05/20130516-133047.html

True. I doubt he'll leave especially if he's having financial difficulties. I think it's time the committee and ethics commissioners did a full investigation into ALL Senators going back at least 10 years.

Some people have a pathological obsession with smearing himn at any cost. The Star hasn't admitted it could be a fake and a scam, just because they won't pony up doesn't mean they are admitting it's fake. They know if they throw enough unsubstantiated mud it will stick, they don't have to prove it, they've done their dirty work now. I'm not particularly a Rob Ford fan and I can't vote for him. The Star is using carefully crafted words e.g. 'U.S.Website alleges' ... Why didn't they report illegal activity to the police instead of sitting on it. Heard on the radio earlier that one reporter was offered the video for $20,000.00. I think they can afford that. Their big mistake is reporting this without the actual evidence.

Well said..

I wonder why the media and pundits are ignoring the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. This committee is formed under Section 19.1 of the Parliament of Canada Act and is charged with ensuring the rules of the Senate are followed including allowances paid to Senators. Where has this Committee been hiding? How have these alleged abuses been allowed and by how many. If the committee has acted with due diligence, there would be no scandals. If the committee has not acted with due diligence, taxpayers have the right to know why not and to have the committee made to perform the functions it is required by law to undertake. Maybe because the media and their servile pundits are ignoring this Committee because it’s irrelevant to their self-imposed mission to destroy the party in power and the PM along with it — or vice-versa. The so-called scandal is being whipped by the CBC in particular but it has lots of help from the rest of the Press gallery goons. Mike Duffy used to be one of the media, a journalist who did the unforgivable: he went over to the dark conservative side. Worse, he accepted an appointment to the Senate. The pillorying of the Duffster must be viciously satisfying indeed. Bonus for them if they could nail the PM in their gotcha game, a game in which the residency and housing claims of past Liberal senators will not even get so much as a thought.

The Star’s pathological obsession with bringing Ford down have sunk them to the level of the National Enquirer. If the video is factual I suppose it will bring him down.

Not sure about that.. these things are always over hyped and speculated on, the media tends to turn a minor issue into a mega one. I hope we get a report from the ethics commissioner. Meanwhile Duffy should step aside until we get all the information. I wonder about the Liberals being so quiet on this too, I suspect that if a full audit is done on all Senators there will be some issues.

No surprise that someone would come back with that. Can't have the Tories doing something good ya know !!