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THE LEN LESSER REPORT  

THE LEN LESSER REPORT

 

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PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER DIDN’T DO RIGHT BY NIGEL WRIGHT AND WILL LOSE THE ELECTION

With all of the media sensational reporting on Nigel Wright I had to ask myself who he was before he agreed to serve in the Prime Minister’s Office in 2010. Prime Minister Harper, who was an old friend asked him to serve as his chief of staff for 18-24 months.

As a managing director of Onex Corporation that is Canada’s largest employer his salary and bonuses where estimated at twenty million dollars a year. Nigel’s new salary working for the government would not exceed $300,000 per year. Harper’s call to serve his country he felt he could not refuse. He was so gracious that he never even charged up travel/living expenses to the government. Nigel enjoyed picking up the tab amounting to many tens of thousands of dollars to pay for dinners/ rewards to those who worked in the PMO’ office opting against seeking reimbursement

Let’s look at the background of Nigel, he was the son of an engineering technician but was able to attend Harvard University and graduate with a Master’s degree in Law.

After graduating he worked for Davies, Philip Vineberg one of Canada’s most prestigious law firm. Onyx Corporation who had Nigel work on their behalf to acquire a multi billion air craft company who were very impressed with his work that they hired him.

Nigel is the epitome of a man who is very hard working, loyal honest and honorable to a fault. His work ethic is legendry: eighty to ninety-hour work days are routine.

Religion is his second anchor. As a young man he contemplated joining the Anglican priesthood. He is a Subdeacon at St Thomas’s Anglican Church in Toronto.

Despite these commitments he found time for three major charities. "Loft Community Services" which provides housing for people in need." " Out of the cold , a multi-denomination program for the homeless and Camp Oochigeas that runs a program for children with cancer in Muskoka Ontario.

Since his father died he is a wonderful son and brother to his family. He seems to have not an enemy in the world with everyone who has had the pleasure to be with him extol his many virtues.

So you may ask why did Harper throw him under the bus? Harper being the ultimate stern headmaster needed someone to take the blame for the cheque in the amount of $90,000 for Duffys’s residence fees in Ottawa.

Harper and his advisors always knew that Duffy’s principal residence when he was chosen for the senate was Ottawa. Sure, he lived in Prince Edward Island when he was a youth and owned a cottage on the Island. Duffy has the same claim to being an Islander as the fictitious Anne of Green Gables.

Senate regulations for residency are quite loose with minimum property values set at $5000.00. Duffy carried an Ontario Hospital Card and drivers licence based in Ottawa Ontario. When Harper offered him the Senate seat for PEI Duffy asked to be sworn in as a Ontario Senator but that was not to be. Believe it or not all expenses of the senators are based on the honour role system. Duffy, the new senator from PEI, kept his cottage but for the most part lived and worked in Ottawa.

To-day August the 13th we have learned that Harper’s ‘good to go’ was not about the $90,000 go-ahead for action for the Mike Duffy affair but rather how to handle the cover-up in the PMO’s office with the faint hope that the ugly affair would disappear over time.

The question we have to ask is not complex. After the death of Mike Flaherty, John Baird’s sudden departure to a very lucrative career in the corporate sector, Peter McCabe choosing to go home to Nova Scotia: why does Harper want to seek a fourth mandate as Prime Minister of Canada?

In my humble opinion it is not about the six figure salary. I feel Harper who is a very far right Christian sees his role as PM as a form of his power and his ultimate destiny to lead. He refuses to see the writing on the wall that he has stayed too long and doesn’t have the approval rating of the vast majority of Canadians.

If you would have asked me to wager on the slim chance that the Conservatives under Jim Prentice, as the Conservative leader in Alberta leader, would lose to the NDP I would have not wagered a hundred dollars to one dollar that he would lose. I was wrong.

Harper will also lose the election and will resign his seat in the House of Commons and return home to Alberta never to be seen again in the media.

It would be refreshing to have a minority government led by Mulcair of the NDP with Justin waiting in the wings for his time to govern.

Len Lesser

Len Lesser posts a report every week

You can email Len at lenlesser@hotmail.com