Harper's PMO Lawyer Spills The Beans At Duffy Trial - Harper Ignored Legal Advice And Named Senators Who Did Not Qualify - The Stinky Senate Scandal Started At That Moment
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s closest aides developed a secret plan in February 2013 to protect Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and other Conservative senators from questions about their eligibility to represent specific provinces in the upper chamber, according to documents tabled in Duffy’s criminal trial Thursday.
Harper, however, worried that delving into Senate residency rules would open a can of worms, and insisted that owning property in a province was a sufficient qualification for senators to hold their seats.
"Had I known we were going down this road, I would have shut it down long before," Harper wrote to a senior aide. "As long as they maintain a residency in their province, as per tradition, we will deem that as sufficient for this purpose … i.e. the property requirement = residence."
But the PMO’s top lawyer privately argued that Harper’s simple definition could be wrong given that the Constitution lists owning property in a province and being "resident" in a province as two distinct criteria for serving as a senator from that province."
The Ottawa Citizen
Oh and for the record:
-this blog contributed in February 2013 to the voices critical of naming individuals as Senators who clearly did not meet the residency requirement.
-And the Right leaning Regina Leader-Post contributed to the voices of support for Harper's inappropriate naming of individuals who did not meet the residency requirements.
(.. just sayin')
