It may be uncharitable of me to bring up former Senator Joyce Fairbairn, given that she had to retire from the Senate because she was suffering from dementia, a fact en passant the Liberals tried to keep under wraps until it became public. IOW, they seemed willing to allow her to continue sitting as a senator despite her debilitated condition.

Ms. Fairbairn’s career path is interesting.
“Fairbairn worked as a journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa before being hired as a legislative assistant to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970. In 1981, she became Communications Coordinator in the Prime Minister’s Office. On June 29, 1984, just prior to leaving office, Trudeau recommended her for appointment as a Liberal senator for Alberta, her home province.” [Wiki article]
Sounds a lot like Mike Duffy’s career path, with her working full time in Ottawa, doesn’t it? Where did Sen. Fairbairn have her primary residence? Was it actually in the province she represented? Did she file living expense claims once she became a senator? I don’t know. All I’m saying is that if Mike Duffy’s living expenses claims were inappropriate, as apparently they were since it was agreed those amounts had to be paid back, then I hope Senator Fairbairn’s living expense claims, if she made any, received the same kind of scrutiny.

What about Senator Dallaire? He is listed as representing the Gulf Senate division, “defined in the Consolidated Statutes of Canada (1859) as “The Counties of Gaspé, Bonaventure and Rimouski.” [Wiki] Does the Senator actually live in that division? Is his “primary residence” located in that division? I’m not implying anything, I’m just asking questions, questions that hopefully occurred to investigative reporters nosing around. Or was their nosing around limited only to Conservative senators?

And what about Thomas Mulcair? Just another example of “do as I say, not as I do”, demanding transparency and answers from others but doing the proverbial clamming up when he’s the one being questioned.

Will the media join their Trudeau/Mulcair in Quebec for Quebec from the ROC? They have too, since the media have devoted most of their time protecting these two from us outsiders of Quebec.

True, current events don’t inspire much confidence in politicians. I may not trust many politicians but that distrust is matched by an equal distrust of many in the media. Why? Because they seem to derive an inordinate degree of pleasure in destroying people’s reputations.

So CTV has succeeded in bringing down Mike Duffy. They’re not finished yet, their sights set on Pamela Wallin. Having recused herself from the Conservative caucus, she’s now behind a self-imposed wall of silence, so that CTV can make all the allegations their sweaty little palms can rub together.

Talk about entitlement. Journalists think they’re entitled to scrutinize practically every facet of a politician’s life while they themselves are immune from such scrutiny. They may think they’re providing a public service by shining a light on the peccadilloes or malfeasance of politicians but all they’re doing, IMO, is eroding the general public’s trust even more. They demand transparency from politicians but seldom show any themselves, usually relying on anonymous and unverifiable “senior sources”. If their stories turn out to be untrue or inaccurate, rarely is an apology extracted from them. They just move on to the next dumpster to see what rot they can dig up.

So maybe the dictum “Put not your trust in princes, nor politicians” should include “parliamentary press”.

Don’t take this personally, Mr. Lilley. The above are generalizations … well, OK, CBC & CTV are pretty scummy, IMO.

We have much to learn before we can outguess the BC voter again! Just hammering the HST is too simplistic for my taste.
I’m sure happy about the election outcome, though!…

Ziggy