Angry in the Great White North

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny is a lucky man. Last November, a Senate committee has decided that he used "poor judgment" in organizing a very expensive (but ultimately pointless) trip for a bunch of Senators, but that he did nothing wrong.

Huh?

A Liberal-dominated Senate committee has ruled that a trip by senators to Dubai, which rang up a hotel bill of $30,000 in September, was within the rules and administrative policies of the upper chamber and there was no misuse of funds.

The internal economy, budgets and administration committee met behind closed doors Thursday to reach the decision on a motion from Conservative Senator Terry Stratton to hold hearings into the botched trip.

Stratton had told the committee Liberal Senator Colin Kenny and the high-profile national security and defence committee he chairs had used ''poor judgment'' by refusing to cancel its planned trip to England, The Netherlands and Dubai, which ended up costing about $150,00, after they were told they could not visit Afghanistan the main purpose of their trip.

Now that Kenny was off the hook, he went after Jeffrey Kroeker, who made public this massive expenditure:

Liberal senators, including Kenny, counter-charged a staff member in Senate Leader Marjory LeBreton's office had been ''spying'' on senators and may have breached the Privacy Act in asking a Dubai hotel for copies of their bills from their stay there in mid-September.

The senators produced an e-mail from the hotel clerk at the Renaissance Dubai Hotel which confirmed that he had responded to inquiries from Jeffrey Kroeker, one of LeBreton's office staff member, for chairman Colin Kenny's invoice at the hotel and detailed breakdowns including ''sundry'' matters for each room.

Liberal Senator Tommy Banks is pushing a motion in the Senate chamber to examine whether Kroeker's inquiries to the hotel were appropriate after LeBreton defended his actions, suggesting the senators were overly sensitive about their hotel bills.

A bit unseemly, but you haven't heard the whole story. You see, the committee that decided that Kenny is guilty of poor judgment but that gave a pass on the trip anyway was the Committee of Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. Who sits on that committee?

None other than Colin Kenny of the Liberal Party of Canada.

And guess what else? Kenny did not recuse himself from sitting on that particular hearing, which was also held in camera.

How do I know? I asked around. Maybe my information is wrong, but that's what I've been told.

Let's say it's true. A committee sat to consider whether fellow committee member Kenny was guilty of misspending funds. Kenny was allowed to participate in their secret deliberations away from the eyes of the taxpayers. Somehow they decided the trip was an exercise in poor judgment, but that poorly planned trips don't constitute a waste of taxpayers' money. Presumably, one of the votes in favour of this remarkable conclusion was from the accused Colin Kenny.

Like when a person accused of a crime gets to sit in the jury and cast a vote on the verdict.

Happens all the time.

And now Kenny goes after Jeffrey Kroeker. The same committee, with Kenny sitting on it, found Kroeker guilty:

But the same Senate committee tabled a report finding Kroeker guilty of wrongdoing.

"Mr. Kroeker's conduct in gathering and disseminating the information was inappropriate and unethical," the committee reported.

Like when the plaintiff gets to be the jury and the judge.

Happens all the time.

And now Kenny wants Kroeker's boss to pay:

LeBreton, who described Kroeker as a whistleblower, refuses to apologize for his actions.

"I have nothing to say to you or the CBC," she told CBC News.

On his Facebook website, Kroeker said "I stand by what I did for Canadian taxpayers and I do not feel that I did anything wrong in the slightest."

Liberal senators are now contemplating what to do next and may move to declare LeBreton in contempt of the chamber if she continues to reject their demands for an apology.

Nice when it all goes your way.

Happens all the time.

Check out what Canadian bloggers have written about Jeffrey Kroeker
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