So, the old Duff as he is wont to call himself, has received notice that Dean Del Mastro wants to have him as a witness at the Mulroney focused Ethics Committee.Duffy expressed disbelief and a bit of discomfort as he read the message off his BB and frankly I can't blame him.
Del Mastro's motive is clear. It's a Conservative move to pummel the CBC and of course the Liberals.
This is about Krista Erickson's transfer and the accusation that she gave Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez a question to ask at committee.
I think Del Mastro's motion will be voted down, but it's odd that he would call Duffy. From the start, he's said that this is common practice. He laughed off the accusations on the first day that Del Mastro raised them. Tonight the conservative columnist Gregg Weston also laughed it off. (I think it's the first time I've seen that guy smile. Sort of smile. Grin maybe.)
At any rate, Duffy is this government's best friend. I'm not sure what they are trying to accomplish because in a unique set of events, Duffy does not support their effort.
If Rodriguez took Erickson's question and posed it verbatim, he's an idiot. I suggest he's not the first, but still, that is foolish. That she has been made yet another scapegoat, is also wrong. She was good and deserved to be in Ottawa.
Perhaps the Con's feel that by taking down Linda Keen, they can now focus on one more 'liberal' entity as they perceive it. That would be the CBC of course. Bit by bit, they are chipping at what makes Canada great. The CBC is not the be all and end all, but it's certainly not what the Con's portray it to be.
Duffy, if he's honest and is actually called will say this is ridiculous and if he doesn't there is tape to prove it. The dimwitted Del Mastro calling a witness that may speak against the con point is a demonstration of how inept this government is. He, Duff, was one of the saviour's in media the Con's had.
Lib's, I beg you don't vote against this. Allow the Con's to show their stupidity. That's a joke of course, because the committee should not waste it's time with this, but it's tempting.
Irony abounds.
13 comments:
What the heck does he want Duffy to testify about?
I wonder if the conservatives see a difference between a journalist suggesting questions and a government conveniently "leaking" scoops to the same network, over and over again...
I'll bet the "old Duff" sees the parallel.
Ooohhkkaaay...
I have got to admit, this move takes me totally by surprise and I have no idea off the top of my head how to read this. That doesn't happen much with me with governments generally that I pay attention to whatever their party/philosophy. If the CPC claims it doesn't know about MP's on committees being fed the odd question from a journalist (especially when that area of questioning has been blocked by other means, which with this government is standard operating protocol to not just media but fellow MPs despite our tradition) and tries to pressure Duffy about this sort of thing I bet he knows of many CA/CPC MPS while in opposition who took and asked questions (I'd bet good money on Adscam at the very minimum) from his and those who work for him at CTV.
If he is going after the CBC does he expect that since they are business competitors/professional rivals Duffy will go along with their attempt to turn this into some sort of Liberal journalistic bias crisis at the CBC and the tip of some big pattern/"conspiracy" against the CPC within the CBC itself? IF so I suspect the government might get a shock, while I am not impressed with Duffy much these days I don't see him selling out his profession like this especially since it would claiming the "Liberal" media bias/conspiracy in the press is real something I am sure Duffy knows is a myth/crock myth of CPCers, especially given his senior status within it and his particular niche.
This is just plain weird, I wonder if we will get to find out what is behind this or not, I hope we do this is very confusing to me and I don't like being confused.
If the old Duffster does or doesn't waffle will he too be fired?
Duffy worked at CBC himself at one time.
Perhaps Duffy should rethink his wink wink nudge nudge type of journalism - it's coming back to haunt him.
Weston laughed and looked angry at the same time.
This whole thing might go right back in Del Mastro's face because the journalistic world is not all that pleased with Harper these days.
Is this Del Mastro guy for real? He's Peterborough's MP and he's done letters to the editor on this CBC thing.
Del Mastro - bringing the apple to the teacher (Harper) and sucking up and not realizing he's being used by Harper to do the idiot stuff - what a loser.
I think Krista Erickson would make a great LIBERAL candidate as dion said he is looking for more women.....she definitely looks like a woman.
Isn't it general knowledge that journalists at CBC, maybe others were feeding the Neo-Cons questions for the sponsorship scandal inquiry? CBC journalist from what I read a few weeks ago said they did and couldn't understand the fuss all of a sudden because it didn't occur with the neo-conservatives when they were receiving questions.
gayle, imo, this government sees what it wants through a prism that suits their own needs, period.
If such a parallel is pointed out, they defy reality and say that in fact, it's the exact opposite. Bizzare.
Scotian, yes it's pretty weird.
One explanation could be that Dal Mastro did get this cleared with anyone. He doesn't strike me as the brightest bulb in the package.
Another, pure protection and attacking the enemy. Rodriguez's question was trying to link Mulroney to Harpers, remember.
What's odd though is Duffy's record on the subject. Unless Dal Mastro and those around him live under a rock, they must know his postion, so he's not a witness for them.
Unless...if they know that none of the newly minted CPC MP's have never done it and they can continue their, "see how clean we are and how sleazy they are" routine.
Sandi, I'd say you have Del Mastro pegged!
anon@9:54, tough to tell if your serious or not, but when this was first reported, Robert Fife said she was very close to someone in the conservative party.
Which makes this story a bit weirder actually or maybe it just shows how commonplace it is.
I don't know Jay. I don't remember reading too much about it.
Now that I think of how the Con's reacted to Rodriguez asking a question in QP the other day, I guess this move has been in the work's for a while and they are going to milk it for all it's worth.
Everyone seems to be dancing around the real issues here: that Pablo Rodriguez flat-out lied (on national TV *and* in the House of Commons) about accepting questions from the CBC, and that the CBC is a Canadian government funded national broadcaster, and as such they have no right to pursue any political agenda. I refuse to allow my tax dollars to be abused this way...
Post a Comment