Dan Leger - Duffy: Stardom to Senate to Scandal

By even the most jaded standard, 2013 represented a low-water mark in Canadian politics. It wasnt something new; conditions had been deteriorating for a decade.

The federal sponsorship scandal incinerated thirteen years of Liberal government, scandals in the legislatures of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador had exposed elected politicians stealing from the public, and parliamentary debate had morphed into talking points and attack ads. Even with all of that, 2013 seemed particularly sordid. An inquiry was uncovering new outrages in the Quebec corruption case, tainting twenty-seven mayors. Toronto City Council, the countrys largest, was a laughingstock over the bizarre antics of its mayor, Rob Ford. On Parliament Hill, a raging scandal involving senators, expenses, and a high-level cover-up posed a tangible threat to the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It would result in the condemnation and suspension of three of his senators: Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, and Patrick Brazeau, and the hurried resignation of Liberal Mac Harb.

This book was written as the rot was ripening. It started out as a column I had written in May for the Halifax Chronicle Herald about the troubles of Senator Mike Duffy. I had known Duffy since 1981, when I was a junior wire-service reporter and he was already a television star. Even back then, Duffy was a personality whose self-created identity was the Old DuffParliament Hills man in the know.

Duffy lived in Ottawa but made forays back to the Maritimes for election campaign stops, conferences, or prime ministerial visits. Wherever he went, people wanted to shake his hand, get a free opinion on politics, and trade a joke. Duffy had the patter down: a little bird had passed on some gossip or he had chatted up a certain person close to someone high up. It was all part of the shtick, but I had no reason to doubt his sources back then, and mostly I still dont. Duffy knew people, and people love to talk.

It would be that way for decades. Duffy went from radio to television and then to individual stardom, all the while cultivating his image as an insider and political character. The Old Duff became the stage persona of the ambitious Mike Duffy, a Prince Edward Island boy who had done well for himself. Duffy let people think he knew where the bodies are buried, but he wouldnt tell all, as if revealing more would devalue his insider currency. Some colleagues thought that if he wasnt reporting everything, maybe he wasnt such a great journalist after all; reporters are paid to reveal secrets, not keep them. It was only after going into politics, and with his back to the wall, that Duffy started to tell everything he knew, with devastating results.

In 1984, I was posted to the Canadian Press bureau in Ottawa, where I was thrilled to run with the famed Hill media pack, work in Parliaments historic buildings, and cover great events in national politics. I thought of it as an honour, but it was also fun. I got to write about the Hills cast of vivid characters: a larger-than-life prime minister in Brian Mulroney, parliamentarians of every stripe, and the supporting cast of fixers, bag men, hangers-on, and hacks. And journalistic heavy hitters like Mike Duffy.