Matthews: Did the Senate scandal derail Prime Minister Harper’s South America trip?
Executive director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
I do not think that the Duffy expenses scandal derailed the prime minster’s South America trip to a significant degree. It did upstage his press conference in Peru, which was widely reported in the domestic media back here in Canada. The optics were very bad for Harper but it did not shatter the purpose and objectives of his tour down south.