Sunday was Gay Pride parade day in Montreal. Four party leaders seeking seats in Canada’s Oct. 19 federal election were there. Stephen Harper was not
The Conservative Party leader–not likely in much of a parade mood these days–was 200 kilometres away seeking votes in Ottawa where he was hounded by reporter’s questions about the expense scandal surrounding disgraced senator Mike Duffy.
Duffy, a former Ottawa reporter and political-show host for CBC and CTV, was appointed to the Senate by Harper in 2008.
He currently faces 31 charges of fraud, bribery and breach-of-trust connected with his Senate office, living and travel expenses.
Nigel Wright, who served as Prime Minister Harper’s chief of staff from 2010 to 2013, was back on the stand at Duffy’s trial Monday in Ottawa.
Wright spent most of last week explaining how he handled the repayment of Duffy’s disputed expenses, and who in Harper’s office knew that Wright put up $90,000 dollars of his own money.
Email evidence presented at the trial suggests that senior Harper aides, including Mr. Wright, initially planned to have the Conservative Party secretly replay Duffy’s questionable expense claims and to credit Duffy with making the repayments himself.
So far, no direct path leading to Harper has been established and he continues to say he knew nothing about Wright’s payment.
Opposition parties see the trial as a chance to make inroads against Harper and the Tories, who won a majority government in 2011, with just under 40 per cent of the vote. That was enough to trump the just over 50 per cent won by the NDP (31 per cent) and the Liberals (19 per cent).
On Sunday, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau issued an open letter demanding that Harper take responsibility for a “cover-up” by his staff.
On Monday, Harper was in New Brunswick campaigning while NDP leader Tom Mulcair and Trudeau were in the battleground province of Ontario.
Pundits say the trial is not likely to shake Harper’s politically-conservative base, but it could cost him with soft Tories and undecided voters.
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