Harper’s office faces contempt complaint over $90,000 gift to Duffy

[ConsƦcons]

Globe and Mail - May 21, 2013


Harper's office faces contempt complaint over $90,000 gift to Duffy


The Speaker of the Senate will be asked to rule on whether Canada's
executive branch improperly interfered with the legislative branch

The Prime Minister's Office is facing a formal complaint that it is in
contempt of Parliament for its role in a $90,000 gift to Senator Mike Duffy.

The Speaker of the Senate will be asked to rule on whether Canada's
executive branch improperly interfered with the legislative branch.

The Liberal Leader in the Senate, James Cowan, is expected to make the
request shortly after 6 p.m. It will be the first sitting of the Senate
since two of its members – Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin – resigned from
the Conservative caucus to sit as independents in response to questions
over their expenses.

If the Speaker agrees that the PMO appears to be in contempt of
Parliament, he could ask a Senate committee to review the situation and
make recommendations.

Mr. Cowan is expected to argue that Nigel Wright – who resigned Sunday
as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff – improperly
interfered with Parliament by secretly giving Mr. Duffy over $90,000, a
move which allowed the Senator to pay back all of his expenses that were
in the process of being audited. As a result of the repayment, Mr. Duffy
stopped co-operating with auditors, refusing to provide documents and
refusing to meet with them to answer questions.

Even though auditors reported this lack of co-operation, the
Conservative government initially praised Mr. Duffy for providing
leadership.

After the role of Mr. Wright in the repayment became public, Ms.
LeBreton's tone changed. She is proposing to have Mr. Duffy's expenses
sent back for a further review. That option is expected to be debated
Tuesday evening.

The Tuesday evening sitting of the Senate will include a question period
and a possible debate on the recently-released audit reports into the
expenses of Mr. Duffy and Senators Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb.
Auditors continue to examine Ms. Wallin's expenses and no report has yet
been released.

The Prime Minister commented generally on the controversy Tuesday
morning but did not take any questions from the media.

"I don't think any of you are going to be very surprised to hear that
I'm not happy, I'm very upset about some conduct we have witnessed – the
conduct of some parliamentarians and the conduct of my own office," said
Mr. Harper.

Mr. Harper was not in the House of Commons for Question Period Tuesday
as he is travelling to Peru.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird answered on behalf of the
government. He said the Prime Minister was not aware of the payment to
Mr. Duffy.

"The Prime Minister was not aware of this payment until media reports
surfaced last week," said Mr. Baird. The minister noted that the payment
is now being reviewed by the federal Ethics Commissioner. He also said
there was no written agreement between Mr. Wright and Mr. Duffy.