When Justice Charles Vaillancourt cleared Senator Mike Duffy of 31 criminal charges Thursday, he levelled some of his harshest criticism on staffers in the office of former prime minister Stephen Harper.
Vaillancourt said he accepted the defence鈥檚 argument that Duffy was 鈥渏ust another piece on the chessboard鈥� in the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office鈥檚 larger strategy of managing the public relations fallout of Duffy鈥檚 residency and expense claim scandal.
He slammed the actions of PMO senior staff as 鈥渟hocking鈥� and 鈥渦nacceptable in a democratic society.鈥�
As Robert Fife, the host of CTV鈥檚 Question Period, told CTV鈥檚 Canada AM Friday: 鈥淛ustice Vaillancourt resoundingly acquitted Sen. Duffy, but he convicted Stephen Harper鈥檚 prime minister鈥檚 office.鈥�
Here鈥檚 a look at some of Vaillancourt鈥檚 most scathing assessments of the Harper PMO:
1. 鈥淚f anyone was under the impression that this organization was a benign group of bureaucrats taking care of the day -to-day tasks associated with the prime minister, they would be mistaken.鈥�
2. 鈥淚n the case of Senator Duffy鈥檚 situation, the common theme was to get it done. The 鈥渋t鈥� refers to the political storm created by Senator Duffy鈥檚 residency and expense issues. The goal was to calm that storm. As the evidence will reveal, the methods employed to achieve a successful outcome to the problem seemed to have known no bounds. 鈥�
3. 鈥淲as Nigel Wright actually ordering senior members of the Senate around as if they were mere pawns on a chessboard? Were those same senior members of the Senate meekly acquiescing to Mr. Wright鈥檚 orders? Were those same senior members of the Senate robotically marching forth to recite their provided scripted lines?... The answers to the aforementioned questions are: YES; YES; YES; YES; YES; and YES!!!!!鈥�
4. 鈥淭he political, covert, relentless, unfolding of events is mindboggling and shocking. The precision and planning of the exercise would make any military commander proud. However, in the context of a democratic society, the plotting as revealed in the emails can only be described as unacceptable.鈥�
5. 鈥淚 have included the emails earlier in this judgment to highlight the unbelievable lengths that Mr. Wright and his crew went to in order to deal with the quote 鈥淒uffy Problem鈥�. Could Hollywood match such creativity? To say that the circumstances of this case are unusual amounts to gross understatement.鈥�
6. 鈥淭he PMO employed a two-pronged approach to deal with Senator Duffy. The primary approach involved the use of a steady stream of threats and pressure being applied from all quarters. These have been well documented throughout this judgment. The other approach involved using the 鈥渄o the right thing鈥� message. It is interesting that no one ever suggested doing 鈥渢he legal thing鈥�. The message was always to 鈥榙o the right thing鈥�.鈥�
7. 鈥淚 find that the 鈥渄o the right thing鈥� message had only one meaning. Senator Duffy was to do the politically right thing by admitting 鈥渉is mistake鈥� and repaying back the accrued living expenses.鈥�
8. 鈥淚 agree that this entire 'Scenario' was not for the benefit of Senate Duffy but rather, it was for the benefit of the government and the PMO. This was damage control at its finest.鈥�
