One revelation is already clear. . . .

I am not going to spend a lot of time blogging about the Duffy trial. It is already proving interesting and at the moment it promises to be a watershed moment in Canadian political history. But each week will bring new revelations and the twists and turns of this spectacle will make it difficult to keep up with all the implications.The Peter Mackay story is perhaps the most interesting tidbit that emerged this week. Duffy's diary suggests that the PMO told Mackay to take that infamous helicopter ride and then leaked the fact to the media. What does it mean to have a Prime Minister who tells one of his ministers to take a dubious action and then leaks the story to make that Minster look bad? As Peter Mansbridge asked "If this is how the Conservatives treat their political allies, how do they treat their enemies?  One week in and it appears that most political experts agree that the crown's case is already crumbling. It appears fairly simple - the senate has few specific rules, and it essentially controls itself, so it already seems that Duffy was following the rules rather than breaking them. Time will tell how the judge reads it.

But this much seems to already be clear - Harper was elected claiming he would never appoint a Senator and with the expressed intention of "reforming" upper house. What he has done beyond all doubt is turn it from a legislative body into a simple extension of the Conservative Party. Anyone who has paid attention this week now knows that Harper has de facto legalized corruption at the highest level of government. This revelation alone should be enough to exclude him permanently from government. If voters fail to understand this then we have already lost any hope of democracy. And if another party comes to power in October and they fail to treat Harper's treason with the appropriate seriousness, then we might as well give up on our democratic future now.