The role model

While Harper continues to suffer from the fallout of his opening shenanigans in power, his party's godfather (and Harper's ethical model) gets dragged back into the limelight:

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney received $300,000 from a secret Swiss bank account after he left office because he was strapped for cash, German businessman Karlheinz Schreiber has told The Fifth Estate.

A Fifth Estate investigation has revealed new details of the money trail between Mulroney and Schreiber, raising questions about whether the former prime minister misled Canadians about their relationship.

Mulroney received $300,000 from a secret Swiss bank account controlled by Schreiber, the German-Canadian businessman told The Fifth Estate in his first sit-down interview...

Schrieber said he gave Mulroney the money after being approached by former Mulroney chief of staff Fred Doucet. According to Schreiber, Doucet told him Mulroney was not financially well off and needed some help.

In fairness, the report does suggest one important ideological difference between the Cons and the Libs, as Mulroney appears to have been the beneficiary of a far more privatized culture of entitlement. But the reminder of what happened last time the Cons got a majority, particularly in the context of Harper's own demonstrated lack of principle, should only help to ensure that Harper never gets near that result for himself.