From Dale Smith, Press Gallery Journalist:
It’s a sad day in Canadian politics when the centre of democracy can’t fulfil some of the most basic constitutional tenets, such as innocent until proven guilty, getting your day in court, and a fair process. Why deal with due process when expediency demands that you declare guilt and mete out punishment immediately, and any delay for the sake of process is surely sign that you are only trying to protect the alleged wrongdoers? Process? Who cares about process? We can make up the rules as we go along so long as it suits our current purposes! (Apparently nobody reminded the people at the centre of this farcical process that democracy is process).
Best of all, now that they have been suspended without pay, Harper can declare for the cameras that justice was done, that these Senators are facing the consequences of misusing taxpayer dollars, and oh by the way, there’s an ongoing RCMP investigation so I can’t comment on anything. Because that’s what this has done. The Liberals in the Senate were not keen to have this declared over with because it means they can’t continue to ask questions about just what happened, and consider it to be little more than participation in a cover-up. They’re not entirely wrong either, considering that the “we can’t comment” message is going to be the new standard response going forward.
H/T: Brigitte Pellerin.
