Wright stays on the stand at the Duffy trial

The spanner in the works that is Stephen Harper’s campaign to win re-election as Canada’s prime minister on Oct. 19–the trial of disgraced senator Mike Duffy–heard more testimony Tuesday from Harper’s former chief of staff.

Nigel Wright, who served in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2010 to 2013, spent much of his fifth day on the stand answering questions about Harper’s current chief of staff and election director, Ray Novak.

In previous testimony, Wright has insisted that neither Harper nor Novak knew anything about a $90,000 check Wright wrote to Duffy in 2013 to cover Duffy’s contested expenses.

But on Tuesday, Duffy’s lawyer, Donald Bayne, read from a February 2014 police interview with former PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin, who said he was present in 2013 when Wright told both him and Novak that he intended to repay Duffy’s expenses.

Perrin added that Novak was also on the conference call with Duffy’s former lawyer when Wright repeated his plan

In other testimony, Wright told Bayne that he had last spoken to Novak in May or June. But when pressed on when he last communicated with Novak, Wright said it was about two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the NDP called on the RCMP to consider laying charges against Wright and up to a dozen other staffers in the Prime Minister’s Office for their part in covering up the scandal over Duffy’s expenses.

Duffy, who Harper appointed to the Senate in 2008, has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges in connection with his Senate office, living and travel expenses.

As the trial unfolds in Ottawa, party leaders continue to hit the hustings across the country.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau were in British Columbia on Tuesday while Harper campaigned in southern Ontario.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe was to hold a news conference at safe injection sites in Montreal while Green Party leader Elizabeth May greeted early morning commuters Saanich, B.C.