Here's Brucey.........

Harper regime in ethical tailspin
Posted on March 17, 2011

The Harper regime’s ethical tailspin continues to spin out of control after the Prime Minister was forced to call in the RCMP to investigate allegations of influence peddling by Bruce Carson, a key advisor in his inner circle, Liberal House Leader David McGuinty said today.

“It’s unprecedented to see a government face two RCMP investigations in the space of a week,” said Mr. McGuinty. “This Conservative regime is in an ethical tailspin – facing charges of breaking election laws, allegations of misleading Parliament and hiding costs from Canadians, and now an RCMP investigation into allegations of selling access to the PMO.”

Bruce Carson is Stephen Harper’s former Legislative Assistant and former Acting Chief of Staff. After travelling with the Prime Minister in his role as Senior Advisor during the 2008 election campaign, he was appointed Executive Director of the Canada School of Energy and the Environment. The CSEE is the direct recipient of large amounts of federal money.

This is not the first time Mr. Carson has been in trouble. In July 1981, Carson was disbarred by the Law Society of Upper Canada after “forging clients’ signatures and ‘misappropriating’ almost $24,000 of his clients’ money” (Ottawa Citizen, 21 July, 1981). In December 1982, he pled guilty to two counts of theft and was sentenced to 18 months in jail for misappropriating this money from his former clients.

“This isn’t just anyone who is being investigated,” said Mr. McGuinty. “This is one of Harper’s closest advisors – and another member of his inner circle under a cloud of suspicion. Once again, we see allegations of Conservative insiders doling out privileged access to the Prime Minister.”

This latest bombshell comes as multiple scandals engulf the Harper regime. This is the second time in the last week that the RCMP has been called in to investigate top Harper operatives, and just two weeks ago, four other members of Harper’s inner circle were accused of breaking Canada’s election laws and face jail time if convicted.

“Conservatives think that the Government of Canada is there to serve them and their partisan purposes. They’re wrong. Canadians are tired of the scandal, abuse, and reckless waste of their taxpayer dollars,” Mr. McGuinty concluded.