Sunday, November 30, 2008

No Shame

"A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said there was nothing unethical about covertly listening in to the private NDP deliberations, taping those discussions and releasing them to the media." - NDP considers legal action after Tories tape private meeting (Globe & Mail)

Maybe it wasn't illegal, but it damn well was unethical.

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5 comments:

penlan said...

I think using the word "covertly" in his statement would make it lean towards being illegal.

Covertly means hidden, secretive. We shall see what plays out here.

Anonymous said...

"A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said there was nothing unethical about covertly listening in to the private NDP deliberations, taping those discussions and releasing them to the media."

Ah... listening in to the private conversation is bad manners. Taping a private conversation when those in the conversation did not know they had 'an outsider listening in and recording' may be illegal. But we're not lawyers and no facts have been established in a court.

We need a trial to protect the public interest of security of the person.

cls said...

These guys have no perspective, no sense of the big picture beyond winning. Why would the average person want a party in office that seems oblivious to what the grown up, if not ethical, choice would be regarding private telephone conversations?
The longer they're in office, the more unfit to govern they appear. And in less than 3 years!

Beijing York said...

I really think leaving this story in the media will only benefit Harper.

Here's why:

Harper is better equipped at handling accusations of scandal than those of ineptness. He's been like teflon on every other scandal raised because he recognizes that a steady non-reaction is better politics than an over-reaction. Chretien is also gifted with the same reflexes.

An angry Jack Layton or heaven forbid Pat Martin (Mr. Ethics MP) is the worst thing that could happen when the idea of a coalition government is picking up momentum.

Right now the Winnipeg Free Press (fairly right wing) is reporting 69% in favour of a coalition government. It's been on the rise all day.

Having the media spend the week focused on whether the taping was illegal, unethical or inept (on the part of the NDP) would be a shot in the arm for Harper. It's bait and the whole news item should be buried as fast as possible in my view.

Unknown said...

Unethical, yes, and not surprising in the least. These guys don't just think this is necessary behaviour, they see absolutely nothing wrong with it. Pathetic.