The judge in the Mike Duffy corruption and bribery trial has dismissed all 31 charges against the senator. The justice, Charles Vaillancourt, offered rather colourful criticism of the Prime Minister’s Office even though the PMO had nothing to do with charges being laid. Clearly, Stephen Harper did not want this matter in court. Vaillancourt seems to feel that the PMO’s effort to limit political damage with respect to expenses was wrong and outrageous. Still, the charges arose from the Crown Attorney’s office based on evidence collected by the RCMP. The charge of bribery in particular was seen immediately by most lawyers to be without foundation. Nonetheless the Crown pressed ahead with the accusation that money which was intended to pay back the government was somehow a personal benefit for an illicit purpose (a bribe) to Duffy. In the end, Justice Vaillancourt concluded that there was nothing to any of the charges. This, by the way, does not mean that Duffy might not have paid back the money, but rather that he was not guilty of a crime by not doing so. In the end, the furore has proven to be about essentially nothing. The political fodder was sensational but unrelated to anything criminal. CBC Quelle Surprise says Margaret Wente
