Duffy? Mac Harb should have taken the spotlight!

[cybercoma]

In politics, a leader's character is not always a good signal of skill. Chretien raised CPP/RRQ contributions to 10%, reduced government spending and kept Canada out of Iraq. Mulroney may have loved Gucci shoes but he negotiated free trade with the US, and created/passed the GST.

What will Harper's legacy be?

[On Guard for Thee]

I doubt he will have much of a legacy. He will be voted out next election, and forgotten. If he is talked about it will be with reference to; maddeningly repetitive talking points, muzzling scientist's, how he ducked and dodged the senate scandal, drove the deficit out of sight, and my favourite, the bazzillion or so times he got to his feet in the house and said "let me be very clear about this" and then proceeded to be anything but.

[Keepitsimple]

In October 2007, Harb sold 99.99 per cent of the ownership of the Cobden home to Magdalene Teo, then the Brunei high commissioner to Canada, according to the report. Harb maintained a 0.01 per cent of the stake in the property but still claimed it as his primary residence, the report said.

Just getting back on topic, the above quote is just too juicy to be ignored - but it is.....why is that? Why aren't the "investigative reporters" at the CBC and Star all over this like a cheap suit? Where is that guy Terry Milewski - the CBC henchman who took great pride in the Duffy story for days and weeks on end? All I know is that Magdalene Teo is not answering any questions. Was there an affair going on? Why would the high commissioner agree to such a deal? Think about the intrigue in that! And yet - we hear nothing. Odd, don't you think? Or not - after all, Harb is not a Conservative.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Keepitsimple

[The_Squid]

What makes you think that they aren't all over it? Why are you so obsessed with a media conspiracy. It's a self fulfilling prophecy for you...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/26/pol-senator-mac-harb-rcmp-residence-affidavit.html

[bleeding heart]

Jeez. Every single time someone posts about the "leftist" media ignoring this or that....another poster comes along and breezily proves it incorrect. Irrefutably.

How often can a person be demonstrably mistaken before getting bored with it?

[Keepitsimple]

What makes you think that they aren't all over it? Why are you so obsessed with a media conspiracy. It's a self fulfilling prophecy for you...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/07/26/pol-senator-mac-harb-rcmp-residence-affidavit.html

Squid - big deal - they reported it for a day or two....that's how I know about it. But my point is where is the follow-up? Do you not recall how they were all over Duffy for weeks - looking in every crack. It's not a conspriracy - it's overt - right out there. Absolutely no effort to dig into Harb's background - especially with the High Commissioner. C'mon guys - this should be a big story - a really big story.....and partisanship aside (if that's possible), I'd really like to know how it all evolved - there's got to be a substantial back-story to Harb.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Keepitsimple

[Smallc]

Because what happened with Duffy is a far bigger deal! It isn't just about misappropriated funds. It's about influence peddling, fraud, and yes, misappropriated funds. Hell, there are even questions about his legitimacy as a PEI Senator. Mac Harb should face justice for what he's done, but Duffy is far beyond that.

[PIK]

So what did chretien and his team know about harv's fraud. How did he sell 99.99% of a house and still be able to claim it? How was it allowed thru the process? So IMO chretien should be brought in for questioning about what he knew and when he knew it.

[Keepitsimple]

Other than Liberal Raymond Lavigne, now imprisoned for fraud.....it's pretty apparent that Harb is the worst offender of the Fab Four. His housing scam with the Brunei Ambassador seems nothing short of a clear, calculated case of genuine fraud - with no element of "confusion", oversights or "rule changes" that could mitigate the crime.

.....and of course he resigned so that he could keep his pension. If convicted while a sitting senator, he would lose it all. Honourable fellow, eh?

[PIK]

Mean while the media keeps the harper and ford on the front page so nothing get out about real scandals.

[Topaz]

Mean while the media keeps the harper and ford on the front page so nothing get out about real scandals.

What REAL scandals are you talking about?

[PIK]

What REAL scandals are you talking about?

ONTARIO LIBERAL GOVERNMENT. Real scandals that affect real people. And it is working.

[eyeball]

What about the left wing media conspiracy or is it just too vast to do anything about?

[bleeding heart]

What about the left wing media conspiracy or is it just too vast to do anything about?

Yes, well, that subject is so vast and all-encompassing that not a single institutional study with such a thesis has even been discussed. There's no point, since institutional studies themselves are part of the Leftist "narrative."

[PIK]

What about the left wing media conspiracy or is it just too vast to do anything about?

Like I said real scandals that effect real people and the red energy plan of thiers has hurt alot of people and business. And it will continue for 20 years. I don't think people realize how much damge has been done by this government or just don't want to know.

[Keepitsimple]

Take a peek at this article from today.....at least the Sun is reporting something....it should be a huge story with speculation on the relationship between the Brunei Ambassador and Harb. Will this be Front page news in The Star? Don't hold your breath.

Link: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/01/10/mac-harb-committed-mortgage-fraud-rcmp-alleges-in-docs

[cybercoma]

What, you mean like this?

http://read.thestar.com/?origref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F#!/article/52d0337dec06911d580002d9-mounties-suspicions-over-mac-harb-mortgages-backed-by-bank

[Keepitsimple]

The Star article on Harb was a page 6 side-column. Remember how Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau were each front-page news - for days on end?.....and yet the Harb story is not one of bilking the system through taking advantage of loose expense rules - it's one of pre-planned fraud with a juicy relationship with an ambassador. I mean c'mon - why wouldn't the media be all over this? It just really seems odd to say the least.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Keepitsimple

[overthere]

I don't think Canadians care much about the party the senator is from,on this topic. IF he did something wrong than he's as wrong as Duffy and the others. The reason for the Tory senators are singled out is all about Harper's "open and accountability" that only is in play, when he has the advantage. I don't know how long its going to take the Conservative supporters to wake up and smell something rotten in this party but hopeful they will be as smart as the Liberals supporters, and vote them out in the next election.

LOL X 2

"Canadians don't care what political stripe the offender comes under when he or she rips us off."

I agree that the majority of Canadians don't care about the political stripe.

The problem here, which the OP has pointed out, is that the minority who apparently do care about the political stripe are members of the media who pick and choose pretty carefully based on their hate for Harper. Their ongoing eagerness to abandon even a faint pretence of objectivity is not surprising to some of us, and apparently of no concern whatsoever to others.

[bleeding heart]

Since these claims about media bias are declarative sentences, they can plainly be proven....using robust methods of institutional analysis (I mean as opposed to selective picking through for salient examples, a method I once used for illustrative purposes to "prove" that the CBC was profoundly in support of the Iraq war).

In fact, this is a retread of the "leftwing media bias" theme, cribbed from (similarly unproven) allegations about the American news media.

So far--decades along now!--the "evidence" remains underwhelming, to put it generously. Hell, even right-leaning think tanks, who have money and time and access to professional scholars, have remained unable to present a robust institutional analysis on such an important theme, even as they have routinely engaged in the unproven claims on the subject.

[Keepitsimple]

Finally - the Star starts to catch up - on the inside pages of the Sunday version.....of the 4 senators under investigation, Harb's is the juiciest story - yet it has gotten very little attention - this stuff was all known months ago. Duffy and Wallin were all over the fron pages - for weeks on end....but here we have planned fraud, romantic trysts (maybe), mortgage fraud, and a foreign ambassador and we've been hearing......crickets?

Parts of the Teo mystery unravel in Cpl. Greg Horton’s sworn affidavit to obtain documents in the Harb investigation.

In a curious series of transactions, investigators say Harb took out a $177,000 mortgage loan in 2007 against a Cobden, Ont., house he bought in 2003 after becoming a senator. He claimed Cobden as his primary residence to support claims for expenses related to commuting to work and living at a secondary residence in Ottawa. But two hours after getting that mortgage, he transferred 99.99 per cent ownership of the Cobden property to his friend from Brunei.

According to the affidavit, Teo said Harb covered the mortgage payments and operating costs as “rent” between 2007 and 2011; that their arrangement was all legally documented. The RCMP say the house was continually under renovation or construction, uninhabitable and apparently empty most of the time. “Without further details, this explanation lacks credibility,” says Cpl. Horton.
In 2010, Harb declared the Cobden home as a solely-owned asset to back another mortgage loan for different property he bought in Westmeath, also outside the national capital region. RBC officials told RCMP Harb never advised them Teo was the main owner of the Cobden property.

Link: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/26/the_mystery_diplomat_at_the_heart_of_mac_harbs_case.html

Edited January 26, 2014 by Keepitsimple

[Spiderfish]

Looks like Harb and Brazeau will be formally charged today.

Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau To Be Charged By RCMP.

So much for enjoying retirement.