07.22.2013 03:36 PM

Trudeau 1, Harper 0

Nice ending to an affair that I always found rather suspicious.

Will assorted Conservative (and conservative) critics now apologize to Trudeau for their attacks on him?

Of course not.

25 Comments

  1. J.A. says:

    thanks very much for pointing out this report. i am betting that the “new” CBC wont cover it.

  2. Kelly Edgar says:

    Most Cons don’t even know how to spell apologize. You don’t really expect any of them to try and give one, do you? No, I didn’t think so…

  3. Ottawa Civil Servant says:

    Who cares who “outed” Trudeau? Taking $20k from a seniors’ charity to give a speech, while a sitting member of the HoC is bad politics, bad optics and, just plain bad.

    Did he talk about his dad, his hair, his time as a substitute teacher? Or was it as a MP, for which he was already receiving a healthy salary?

    You want a night with an connected Ottawa insider, a member of Parkiament? Seems $20K is the going rate.

    It’s just poor judgement, again.

    • Kevin T. says:

      In other words: waaaaaa!!!

      Better polish those tear ducts, 2015 will be pretty brutal for you Cons.

    • GPAlta says:

      Conservative Senators Demers and Smith also are paid public speakers, and 60% of all MPs are paid to do something other than serve their constituents. What makes Trudeau different? That he’s a party leader? he gave up his speaking work before becoming leader. that he missed votes? Mulcair and Harper both missed more votes. The only reason there are bad optics is because Harper said there are bad optics. Demers and Smith both sold their services to charities without it being ‘just plain bad’

    • davidray says:

      chirp chirp chirp, squat. drop pile of troll dung.
      rinse and repeat.
      chirp chirp chirp, squat. drop pile of troll dung.
      rinse and repeat.
      chirp chirp chirp, squat. drop pile of troll dung.
      rinse and repeat.
      chirp chirp chirp, squat. drop pile of troll dung.
      ad nauseum

    • smelter rat says:

      Perhaps you’d like some cheese with that whine?

  4. Geoffrey L. says:

    Hey Ottawa Civil Servant, how stupid do you think that people here are? Charities solicited the speakers bureau that Trudeau was a member of and willingly offered to pay the fee.

    2013-06-20 W. Brett Wilson: A charity that should be out of business

    http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/06/20/w-brett-wilson-a-charity-that-should-be-out-of-business/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

    • Kaspar Juul says:

      I want to see if he can make a silk purse of the sow’s ear of a comment he left.

      • Ottawa Civil Servant says:

        Well reasoned article expressing support for Trudeau’s taking of $20K from the seniors’ group for a speech, and the decrying his decision to return the money because it undermines the market value of the speakers tours. OK, I get that.

        But it doesn’t address my only criticism of Trudeau: A sitting member of Parliament speaks to Canadians in the non-profit industry and pockets $20K. Now, what if it was the oil industry or a big-ass telco paying an MP from the Tories or a union paying an NDP member thousands? But they can’t contribute to their campaigns.

        There’s just so many layers of wrong to this story, and the backing down of the seniors’ association makes no difference what so ever.

  5. Brent says:

    Unfortunately for Trudeau and the LPC the attacks will continue, not only from the CPC but also from the NDP in due course.

    Just because the organizations don’t want the money back, that doesn’t justify the fact that Justin enriched himself for services of little to no value while taking advantage of his privileged position.

    The money was obviously political “schmergelder”, to gain position and advantage. It was an investment for future considerations. The other parties will use this situation during the 2015 election and nothing will stop it. Not only bad optic, it stinks and can’t be covered up so easily.

    Justin should have not just volunteered to return the money, he should have written cheques and sent the money back — sort of like Nigel’s $90K paying for Duffy’s expenses back to the taxpayer.

  6. The Dude says:

    Who would pay Harper to be a motivational speaker? I mean besides Republicans that listened to Harper trash his own country. Is Harper the first PM to actually hate most of the people in his own country? After all, if you disagree with him you are an “enemy”. Speech! Speech!

  7. MCBellecourt says:

    So Trudeau’s agency gets him a gig, at the behest of the charity in question, and the Cons tried to swiftboat him. Funny…I always thought that the Cons were all for the well-monied making even more money while the rest of us fight over scraps. Since when did they get all communist? Perhaps the Ottawa “Civil” Servant can answer that one for us here?

  8. Lynn says:

    To all the cons out there. I believe part of the mantra is “business is business, what the market will bear, supply and demand” and assorted other sound bite drivel, so STFU when a young man with potential, personality and a story that people apparently want to hear makes the best of it and makes some serious cash as a result. More power to him and those like him. This whole affair stunk of Steve and Conbots from day one digging desperately for dirt to fling. God knows that no one will be paying big bucks to hear that con “up and comer” Skippy Pipsqueak speak anywhere, he is hardly tolerable in the House, finger on mute button when he opens his mouth. And does anyone have any figures on Mike “The trough” Duffy?, his greed is endless and I cannot imagine him not making cash speaking when not out stumping for his overlord on our money.

  9. adam says:

    I don’t think our Harpercon masters have played their cards that well, actually. From the article:

    a) “The Grace Foundation has also cut ties with several board members, including one blamed for leaking a “private” letter about the issue to the federal Conservatives.

    The moves come weeks after the foundation, which supports an 80-bed nursing home in Saint John, said it was “deeply distressed” the issue had become fodder for partisan attacks.


    The Grace Foundation board has said it did not give Baxter or anyone else permission to approach Moore “or any other political person” to champion the organization’s request for a refund.”

    Well done, Harper! You have badly damaged badly the social positions and reputations of some key local Conservative movers and shakers. A great many people in New Brunswick are not going to trust association with local Tories, even if they think that they have access to the PMO, since it is clear that they will burn you as quickly as they will help you.”

    b) “Seniors’ organizations and municipal politicians in Saint John have said it is “sad” the Grace Foundation got dragged into a political melee, and that the organization isn’t partisan but supports an important nursing home in the community.”

    Warren, you are the expert, but is it ever a good thing for a party if “local seniors’ organizations and municipal politicians” are sad that you dragged a foundation and important community nursing home “into a political melee?” I doubt very much that the memory of this event will last long in the rest of Canada, but I wouldn’t be surprised if “local seniors” both remember and resent the undermining of an important local nursing home. And after all, local seniors have a tendency to vote. I also expect that it is a good idea not to attract the anger of municipal politicians, who can be helpful for channeling support.

    The supposed strategic genius of Harper and co looks a lot less brilliant every day.

    • Ottawa Civil Servant says:

      Tim, from your earlier posts you obviously have a hard time uncerstanding comparisons. What Duffy did was wrong, what Trudeau did was wrong, what Harb did was wrong: Comparing any of that to some other issue, like poorly tracked security expenses that the AG said were lawfully spent but impossible to assign to a specific line on the balance sheet is completely different.

      On topic, The moment he became an MP, he doubled his fees to $20K. JT is a greedy little millionaire with a poor judgement and he has stopped his bad behaviour. Kinda like Anthony Weiner in New York.

      • adam says:

        What on earth does that have to do with “understanding comparisons,” Ottawa Civil Servant?

        Let us try comparing:

        a) What Duffy is accused of doing, billing the senate for hours spent campaigning for the Tories, and on vacation, the confusion with his residences, etc, come under the category of fraud, and indeed has attracted the attention of the RCMP. So has the 90,000 gift from the PMO.

        b) Harb was judged by the senate to have incorrectly claimed expenses. He repaid those expenses, but “under protest.”

        c) You are free to think that what Trudeau did was “wrong,” but he broke no laws or rules of any sort. He may well have been greedy, although I might note that, back in the early days of the Reform/Alliance, Harper’s party considered it a point of pride that its MPs did not leave their old jobs when they became MPs. This was the origin of the famous Rahim Jaffer impersonation scandal, since he had to be at his coffee shop at the same time that he was asked to give an interview.

        d) So, what Duffy did is alleged to have been fraudulent; what Harb did broke Senate rules (although he has repaid); and what Trudeau is judged by some to have been wrong, but violated no rules and was in no way illegal.

    • Adam says:

      Indeed, Tim. The Harpercons are saying in a loud and clear voice to all of New Brunswick, “We will screw you if it will give us short-term political gain. If we shake your hand, count your fingers afterwards.” I see why charities and non-profits want politically connected people on their boards, but I think the assumption always is that the politically connected people will help the charity or non-profit, and not damage their reputations in order to smear the opposition.

      My relatives in New Brunswick aren’t voting for the Harpercons anyway, but I cannot imagine that this is winning them any support, and I would be surprised if it doesn’t lose them quite a bit. In other words, not only is shameful, but it also sounds really stupid to me. And it isn’t as if St. John is so safely blue that they can afford to act like assholes. And in the rest of Canada, a pseudo-scandal of this sort will hurt Trudeau’s reputation only with those people who weren’t going to vote for the Liberals anyway.

      As you said, Trudeau acted properly through the whole incident. Even a smelly New Democrat like myself is forced to admit that.

  10. DanielX says:

    Trudeau: “Show me the money!”

  11. Ottawa Civil Servant says:

    He charged $10K to speak, based on his hair and name.

    He DOUBLED it to $20K when he became an MP ! Other MPs earn money, but JT has actually demanded and received his $20K while participating in a discussion panel with other MPs (all unpaid) while discussing parliamentary affairs and representing the Liberal Party of Canada.

    Change the hair, make it a tabacco, oil or big pharma event, and make the MP a Tory, and Liberals would be screaming.

    On the bright side, at least we now know that it costs $20K to get something out of him. Maybe we can pay him to release a policy idea soon.

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