Ottawa

Rob Ford and Mike Duffy: Where is rock bottom?

Tease the day: Five staffers in one week … a new per diem that should not have been claimed

Devaan Ingraham/CP

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has lost five staffers in a week, and he can’t go a day without an anonymous source leaking something damaging to a local newspaper. Senator Mike Duffy has seen his star fall on Parliament Hill, and he can’t go a day without reporters digging up a new per diem he never should have claimed. Both men have, day after day, sunk deeper into the quagmire.

Yesterday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne expressed concerns about the situation at Toronto’s city hall. She said the province, “as appropriately, will be involved.” She didn’t elaborate, but even those remarks would have been unthinkable just three weeks ago. Meanwhile, CBC News found an email from Duffy wherein he mused with another Conservative about requesting a cabinet post and other job perks. Any other senator, and any other month, and that story would fade into the background.

Ford and Duffy aren’t saying much, these days. Both have only made basic public statements of late—Ford: “Everything’s fine, and it’s business as usual”; Duffy: “I have a story to tell, and I can explain everything”—and no one believes them anymore. They hold onto their jobs because they can. Senators and Toronto mayors, everyone has learned, are mostly insulated from removal.

Their refusal to budge only gives reporters more time. And you can bet that, before the week is out, both Ford and Duffy will have found a new rock bottom to call their own.


What’s above the fold this morning?

The Globe and Mail leads with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s concerns about events at Toronto’s city hall. The National Post fronts Lebanon President Michel Suleiman’s calls to Hezbollah to pull out of the Syrian conflict. The Toronto Star goes above the fold with Wynne’s concerns, as Ford lost two more staffers. The Ottawa Citizen leads with Senator Mike Duffy’s apparent request for a cabinet posting and more job perks, a story first reported by CBC News. iPolitics fronts Duffy’s political survivabilityCBC.ca leads with Duffy’s apparent requests. CTV News leads with a poll suggesting only 13 per cent of Canadians think Prime Minister Stephen Harper was unaware of the cheque his former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, delivered to Duffy. National Newswatch showcases the same CTV News story.


Stories that will be (mostly) missed

1. Cluster bombs. A government bill that would limit Canada’s use of cluster munitions—per an international treaty banning the weapons—is full of exemptions that defeat its purpose, say critics. 2. Mining. Protesters in Kyrgyzstan called for the nationalization of a mine run by Canadian miners Centerra. The company has suspended operations as the Kyrgyz cabinet debates the situation.
3. Bre-X. The remaining class action suits meant to recover money from the Bre-X scandal—a multi-billion dollar fraud—were settled in an Alberta court in the amount of $5.2 million. 4. U.S. students. While Canadian universities are attracting huge numbers of international students, just over 12,000 are Americans—about 4.5 per cent of total foreign students in 2012.

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