Canadians skeptical that Harper didn’t know about expense scandal
Posted May 31, 2013 1:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is having a tough time convincing Canadians he’s telling the truth about the senate expense scandal and his knowledge of a $90,000 cheque given to senator Mike Duffy.
Harper said he had no previous knowledge of this secret deal between Duffy and the the prime minister’s chief of staff at the time, but only one in 10 Canadians believe him.
“This is the most serious difficulty that the prime minister’s faced since probably the attempt by the coalition to take him down a few years ago,” Darrell Bricker with Ipsos Reid said. “It’s a very serious issue.”
Only 13 per cent of people surveyed believe Harper is telling the truth when he says he didn’t know about this secret deal.
Forty-two per cent think Harper knew the whole time while 44 per cent just aren’t sure.
It’s clear that more needs to be done to get to the bottom of this. Three quarters of Canadians are calling for the RCMP to launch a formal investigation or for the government to call a judicial inquiry. Only six per cent believe the Senate is doing just fine policing itself.
