DUFFY TRIAL: Former PMO lawyer bucks Harper on Senate residency rules

Perrin, whose Conservative roots run deep, was 22 years old when the Canadian Alliance picked Harper as its new leader in 2002.

Harper was campaigning just north of Toronto. Duffy ended up in hot water over several issues including $90,000 in expense claims.

Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper voiced confidence in his chief of staff, Ray Novak, on Thursday despite court testimony this week that Novak knew about a secret payment to help a senator extricate himself from an expenses scandal.

He has pleaded not guilty to 31 counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. Duffy’s lawyer had escalated pressure on Mr. Wright and the PMO to obtain a commitment from the accounting firm Deloitte, which was conducting a Senate-commissioned review of Sen.

As scandals around the Senate and PMO continue to mount, Harper remained bullish in front of his cheering supporters, promising to raise the Adoption Expense Tax Credit to $20,000 from the current $15,000 if the Conservatives are re-elected.

Perrin told Crown prosecutor Jason Neubauer that there was no further discussion of Duffy’s reluctance to go along with the agreement orchestrated by the Prime Minister’s Office. Yet, some of the e-mails presented at the trial suggest he did know.

He made the comment in connection with Nigel Wright’s email saying “we are good to go from the PM”. That’s when Wright told Perrin he would personally cover Duffy’s Senate expenses.

“We’re calling on a federal action plan that works to prosecute human traffickers more effectively”, Perrin said at the time. When the dirty tricks are discovered then Harper can claim that he held Wright accountable by firing him.

But if Harper’s strategy is to ride out any heat from the Duffy trial, the NDP and Liberals seem equally determined to keep fanning the flames. Wright has an interpretation of not lying that only a lawyer could love.

The testimony also contradicts Wright’s claim that Novak only popped in and out during the conference call, and was not one of the staff members in the loop on his payment.

Indeed, Harper is already the sixth longest-serving prime minister in Canada’s 148-year history. I don’t feel it was a lie.

“What happens now is that the shelf life of leaders that are defeated is a lot shorter and the dynamics are different because once upon a time they just had to maintain or control the confidence of their caucus”, he said. You would think that since Duffy incurred the expenses it was important that he paid them back not someone such as Wright who was paying Duffy to do what Harper wanted.

PMO Chief Of Staff Ray Novak in now in the eye of the storm that is the Mike Duffy trial. “Ray Novak entered Mr. Wright’s office and took a seat…at the head of the table”. Within days of the conference call, Wright sent along his cheque and Duffy repaid the receiver general.