OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political opponents are using the Mike Duffy trial to try to connect the prime minister to the controversial expense payout given to Duffy by Harper’s former chief of staff.
While campaigning Wednesday, Harper said he wasn’t going to discuss the latest controversial revelations from the trial the previous day that more closely linked Ray Novak, his current chief of staff, to a $90,000 payment to Duffy in 2013.
In the face of that evidence, Harper reiterated his core message on the topic as he continued to face questions. He maintained only two people are responsible for wrongdoing: Duffy over his Senate expense claims and former chief of staff Nigel Wright, who paid them.
“There are two people in my judgment who are responsible: Mr. Duffy, who did not reimburse the taxpayers for expenses that I believe cannot be justified, and Mr. Wright, who, although he did reimburse the taxpayers, he did so without my authority and contrary to my wishes,” he told reporters in London, Ont.
But the leaders of the Liberals and NDP used the trial to cast doubt on that narrative.
Novak has been a loyal political lieutenant to Harper since his days in opposition. He was elevated to chief of staff in 2013, when it was revealed that Wright personally covered Duffy’s expenses. Harper had wanted Duffy to repay them himself.
During Wright’s six days in the witness box at Duffy’s fraud trial, it emerged that Novak was informed about Wright’s plan to repay the expenses. This came out in emails and then in a statement the prime minister’s former lawyer made to the RCMP that was read into evidence.
