Macfarlane: Did the Senate scandal derail Prime Minister Harper’s South America trip
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo
No. Much of the real work on these trips tends to happen in advance and behind the scenes. The trip was long-planned, and while the timing may have been unfortunate, the expenses scandal only intruded on the press conference. It is highly unlikely to have had any substantive impact of the trip beyond that.