The Capital’s Crisis
The Capital’s Crisis
by Kenneth Bagnell
On May 16, 2013, a senior member of the RCMP, Superintendent Biage Carrese, wrote a calm letter to the clerk of the Canadian Senate. It concerned certain issues. The second paragraph has an ominous beginning: “In order to make a determination as to whether there are grounds to commence a criminal investigation, the RCMP is requesting a copy of ….” It listed several policy documents it required all dealing with Senate travel guidelines and living expenses. (It asked for all versions over a ten year period.) The RCMP thereby opened the door on a matter that began as an embarrassment but has become a major crisis. (For that reason, I’ve taken the liberty, suggested by some readers, of adding some new recipients of my twice-a-month blog – those interested in ethical issues. If, for any reason, you wish to unsubscribe just let me know.)
First, a modest preface: as scandals go, this is not, in history’s context, a major one. The country has had several of more consequence. To name but one: the 1872 uproar over the bidding process to make the country’s CPR rail system national. At election time, many MPs were revealed to have been bribed by the CPR (which wanted to build it) and the Prime Minister of the day, John A. MacDonald was said to have sent this telegram to the CPR’s head: “I must have another $10,000 … do not fail me….” The telegram became public, setting off a huge crisis, but was subsequently exposed as fake thus revealing how broad, as well as deep, the corruption was in the public culture of that long ago day.
That said, the RCMP intervention is ominous, understandable and justified. It also holds huge potential harm. I mean not just the ruination-by-association of reputable men and women Senators but the Senate’s very existence. It does matter. But the Senate needs to reveal collective integrity and thereby be what it’s supposed to be: an Honorable Chamber of Second Thought. After all, it has (or has had) many deeply thoughtful and very productive members – from Hugh Segal (the guaranteed annual income) to David Croll (the commission on poverty) to Keith Davey (the media in Canada) – all men of insight and integrity. To shut it down because of the misconduct of a roguish handful would be wrong- headed. That said, what’s happening in Ottawa as I write, is profoundly worrying, so much so that I’m reliably told by both journalists and parliamentarians, that some Senators prefer not be addressed by the honorific title: Senator.
The RCMP intervention, on balance, is valid and imperative; but not without major qualification. As for the justification it needs but one example: the Senate’s own internal expense committee reported as I write, that one member under scrutiny, claims over 40 days of expenses for Ottawa activity, while in fact he was not in Ottawa. (Deloitte tracked his whereabouts. There’s more but that suffices for our purpose in this space.) Still, while the RCMP investigation should proceed, there’s an important qualification: the public shouldn’t relax with a proverbial sigh of relief. We must sit up, not back, mindful of the esteemed Christian statesman of the 18th century British House of Commons, Edmund Burke, and his admonition that nothing assures the rise of evil more than the inattention of good people. That applies now, very deeply including especially those we too often regard as a nuisance: the honest and competent members of the Ottawa press gallery.
There’s more: the people who seek elected office have more responsibility than they exhibit: they and we can’t avoid some accountability for what’s happened. Why? Because its roots have been around a very long time. Yesterday’s broad political culture often had “a wink and a nod” when it came to integrity. In other words, politics -– especially but not entirely when I was very young — was about looking out for number one and after that family and helpful friends. (I was once a minister next door to a national park where, when a new government was elected, pretty well everyone except professional engineers or accountants, lost his job.) Obviously, to stress what I’ve already said, in public life there have always been good men and women who do good things. I’ve known some in high places including John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson and Robert Stanfield, each of high integrity at least in my experience.
That aside, there are far too many others who – given my life experience - who simply don’t have the personal “gene” in which integrity resides. It’s not there. Worse, such people are drawn to politics as a moth to a flame. It’s almost their addiction and it’s a huge issue. Every man or woman who aspires to political office should actively keep them at arm’s length, outside the “inner circle” or best still, well beyond it. If they don’t, dubious characters slip into “backrooms” moving us ever closer to what Jeffrey Simpson, the Globe’s longtime Ottawa columnist, calls, almost shockingly, “a thugocracy.” Shocking indeed. (For Simpson’s considered judgment, click here. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/amid-the-political-morality-tales-some-serve-us-with-distinction/article12108508/.
It all got worse late yesterday afternoon, as evening fell and the CBC revealed that years ago, apparently back in 2009, Senator Duffy was quietly seeking a Cabinet post and other perks, not just questionable but so excessive they reach venality. Manitoba’s very able MP Ralph Goodale is restrained when he asked on television last evening where the Prime Minister was in the years when all this was happening. When asked last night if it’s true that the PM once expressed regret about aspects of Duffy’s appointment, a columnist from the conservative National Post, John Ivison, replied: “I can’t remember him expressing regret about anything.” (Strong words from a conservative writer.)
Anyway we take truth at truth’s value. Finally, where do we go now? The public dismay is deepening almost by the hour. Its level was fairly measured about a week ago by historian Michael Bliss who said that while it’s not as bad as past scandals, it’s so shocking that all Canadians — as proven by the deeply sober faces of Conservative MPs in the Commons — that it can’t be sidetracked. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, with his concise and precise questions will see to that. He’s emerging as a highly capable opposition leader. His spare, verbal style reveals it, one example of which must suffice: “Is it true that that Mr. Duffy was asked by the PMO to keep quiet?”
As for pure politics this crisis is a gift given to the opposition as if on a gilded platter. That’s why a representative of the highly astute public affairs firm Hill & Knowlton could say so crisply on TV: “Thomas Mulcair is driving this story.” Not to diminish what the PR man said, but let’s also include the most basic elements of the story in itself: Corruption. Celebrities. Scandal. A Government in Peril. The level of seriousness was made vivid by one of the government’s own MPs, Michelle Rempel of Calgary, on the CBC, recalling how she felt rising to speak to caucus colleagues: “It was very difficult for me to stand before them and speak about this matter.” Last evening, Ms. Rempel actually seemed on the verge of tears saying current revelations make her feel almost humiliated. That much we understand. For now.
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May 30, 2013.
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