Harper was kept in loop as PMO tried to manage Senate scandal, Duffy trial told
New emails show the Conservative leader was briefed as his staff attempted to manage the Senate expense scandal.
OTTAWA—Stephen Harper maintains he knew nothing about the $90,000 cheque cut by his former chief of staff for Mike Duffy, but emails released Thursday show the Conservative leader was kept in the loop as his office tried to manage the Senate scandal.
The emails, released at the Duffy trial in Ottawa, show more of the behind-the-scenes efforts by Harper’s top staffers to manage the scandal’s fallout.
Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, wrote on Feb. 18, 2013 that the prime minister should be briefed on their efforts to clarify Senate residency requirements. The plan appears to have been getting Conservative senators to strike a committee to clarify the rules.
The next day Wright’s eventual successor, Ray Novak, wrote that Harper rejected the plan.
“Had I known we were going down this road I would have shut it down long before this memo,” Harper wrote, according to Novak.
“As long as they maintain a residency in their province, as per tradition, we will deem that as sufficient for the purpose (as opposed to expenses), i.e. the property requirement (equals) residence.”
When CTV bureau chief Robert Fife found out Wright had covered Duffy’s $90,000 in questionable expenses, Harper’s former director of communications Andrew MacDougall recommends “sidestepping” CTV.
Another spokesman, Carl Vallée, asks if Harper knew that Wright covered Duffy’s bill. In response, Wright wrote on May 14, 2013:
“The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses,” Wright’s email reads. “On the specific matter, I did not co-sign a loan.”
READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/08/13/harper-was-kept-in-loop-as-pmo-tried-to-manage-senate-scandal-duffy-trial-told.html
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