Book review: Duffy balloon goes up in spring

Nooo... Not that balloon of the infamously venal Senator from Kanata, former BFF of Canuck Prime Minister Steve Harper. That one was launched in July 2013 by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to protest the Puffster's (allegedly) fraudulent expense claims.

Did the porcine solon really defraud the Senate (thus Canadian taxpayers) when he billed them for per diem allowances while he was sunning his ample self on the beaches of Florida or for travel expenses for which he had already been paid by Conservative candidates during the 2011 election? These are just a couple of the allegations made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust which will come to trial in the spring.

Last month "Old Duff" (as he likes to be known) had his first day in court on said charges, and waived the preliminary hearing which normally precedes a trial on indictable offences. That means the cases will go straight to trial, beginning on 7 April 2015. 41 days have been set aside for the hearing, in two parts: April 7th to May 12th, then June 1st through 19th. Apparently unwilling to take his chances with a jury, Mr. Duffy (as Steve now calls him) elected trial by judge alone.

The trial is a potentially huge embarrassment for Prime Minister Harpoon and his alleged government, starting a short six months before a federal election, scheduled under Canada's new American-style fixed-date election law for mid-October. The Puffster threatens to take the stand in his own defence -- "I am not a crook!" -- and promises to name names, possibly even calling Steve as a witness. And Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff and the man who gave Duffy a cheque for >$90,000 to pay back his ill-gotten gains and STFU, will likely be the star witness for... wait for it... the Crown!

All this is explained in a new(ish) book, Duffy: Stardom to Senate to Scandal, by journalist Dan Leger, who from time to time covered the same Parliament Hill beat as the Puffster. Mr. Leger recounts Duffy's unlikely rise to lamestream news media stardom. When he writes that Duffy liked to "suck up and kick down", he is quoting someone else. His account of Old Duff's appointment to the Senate and subsequent suspension is similarly fair and straightforward, including lots of self-serving quotes from Duffy himself, some of which were given in the course of an interview for the purposes of the book.

The only problem with Duffy, in Walt's opinion, is that it was published to soon. In the rush to be first onto the bookshelves, Mr. Leger and his publishers (Nimbus Publishing) have been forced to draw a line under the story, which ends following Duffy's suspension from the Senate (along with "former" Tory Senators Wallin and Brazeau) in October of 2013.

But the best part of the story is yet to come. Will the globular senator be not just suspended but dismissed? Will he be convicted of financial wrongdoing? Will the connection between Duffy and Wright prove to have been known to (and perhaps instigated) by Harper Himself?The denouement of the sordid affair is bound to be even more exciting [Politics exciting? Ed.] than the lead-up to it. Walt encourages Dan Leger to write a second edition as soon as the dust settles.

That is not to say that Canuck political junkies shouldn't buy or borrow Mr. Leger's book. It will be a useful backgrounder for the trial next spring. Ya can't tell the players without a programme, and Duffy: Stardom to Senate to Scandal is a fine summary of what happened in the previous episodes.