"A show
trial"........That's how New Brunswick Senator Jim Munson characterises
the goings on in the Senate to suspend Senators Pamela Wallin, Mike
Duffy and Patrick Brazeau without pay because they have become a
political embarrassment.
Munson
goes so far as to call the motion a violation of the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms by assuming guilt in advance of a hearing of any kind where
the rights of the accused are defended by lawyers. Duffy and Wallin
were given all of 20 minutes to make the case why they should not be
suspended.
Munson
says Senators have not had a chance to see the Deloitte report on
Senator Wallin's expenses and even the residency requirement is not
clearly defined because it doesn't stipulate how many days you have to
live in that residence in the province where you're appointed from.
He suspects the government chose to move ahead on this at a politically expedient time just before the opening of Parliament.