XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
     . . . . If Harper was behind the order to alter - or stop - a formal   
   audit by Deloitte ?   
   _______________________________________   
      
      
   By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press - November 24, 2013   
      
   Harper approved plan to compel Duffy to repay expenses: PMO   
      
      
      
   OTTAWA - What exactly went down on Feb. 22, 2013, when the prime   
   minister's chief of staff approached him about how to deal with the Mike   
   Duffy Senate expenses headache?   
      
   Two clear but very different versions of events have emerged:   
      
   A)  Nigel Wright meets with Harper and conceals the details of an   
   agreement with Duffy, but then tells other staff in the Prime Minister's   
   Office that the PM has approved the deal.   
      
   B)  Harper was informed of and approved a deal, or parts of a deal, that   
   could turn out to be criminal.   
      
      
   Duffy and Wright face police allegations of bribery, breach of trust and   
   fraud in connection with the fateful agreement. No charges have yet been   
   laid.   
      
   Stephen Harper's spokesman Jason MacDonald spoke to a variety of media   
   outlets on Sunday to lay out in detail Harper's account, in the wake of   
   a release of an RCMP affidavit on the affair.             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   MacDonald said when Wright and Harper met that day, Wright sought   
   approval to "compel" a stubborn Duffy to repay his contested housing   
   expenses — at that time estimated at only $32,000.   
      
   "You have a caucus member who is actively resisting paying, doesn't   
   believe he did anything wrong, doesn't believe he should repay it,"   
   MacDonald told The Canadian Press.   
      
   "So Nigel goes back to the prime minister and says, 'We're going to go   
   back to him again and tell him he has to repay it, and he's not going to   
   like that, he's going to resist it and he's going to fight it,' and we   
   all know that even to this day he still doesn't believe he did anything   
   wrong or should have had to repay, and hasn't."   
      
   When asked how Wright proposed to "compel" Duffy to repay, whether there   
   was some sort of ultimatum attached, MacDonald said it was just telling   
   Duffy to repay.  The opposition have ridiculed the suggestion that   
   Harper's permission was sought simply to have Duffy repay his own expenses.   
      
   Wright's version, revealed in emails and interviews obtained by the RCMP   
   in their ongoing investigation, suggests Wright went to Harper with a   
   different, much more elaborate scenario that included covering Duffy's   
   expenses.   
      
   At the time, discussions were underway between the PMO and Duffy's   
   lawyer Janice Payne that would see the embattled senator repay his   
   expenses and say so publicly, even though he felt he had nothing wrong.   
     In exchange, the party would repay him for the outlay, Duffy would be   
   spared any further questions about whether Ottawa or PEI was his primary   
   residence, and he would be withdrawn from a Senate-commissioned audit.   
      
   At the time, Duffy was being scrutinized for claiming housing expenses   
   for a secondary residence in Ottawa, even though that was where he   
   mainly lived.   
      
   Wright wrote to PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin and other staffers on Feb. 22   
   about the deal.   
      
   "Ben, please go back to Ms. Payne on these points and ascertain where   
   they stand on everything else.  I do want to speak to the PM before   
   everything is considered," Wright wrote to the PMO lawyer and other   
   staffers on Feb. 22, messaging back an hour later:  "We are good to go   
   from the PM..."   
      
   Ultimately, when Duffy's expense bill reached $90,000, an apparently   
   exasperated Wright decided to cover the cost himself — something at   
   least six other Conservatives were told about.  Harper has insisted he   
   was not in the loop about that either.   
      
   When the story broke in the media in May, Wright wrote to another PMO   
   staffer telling him, "The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I   
   personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to pay the   
   expenses."   
      
   Three of the other major figures in the deal with Duffy — Sen. Irving   
   Gerstein, former PMO director of issues management Chris Woodcock, and   
   parliamentary affairs manager Patrick Rogers remain employed by either   
   the party or the government.   
      
   MacDonald repeated Harper's argument that Wright bears sole responsibility.   
      
   But Gerstein, chairman of the Conservative Fund Canada, was not Wright's   
   subordinate.  In fact, Wright sought Gerstein's approval to use party   
   funds to repay Duffy.   
      
   The 80-page RCMP court file showed that Gerstein approached a contact he   
   knew at the firm Deloitte to ask about the audit they were doing on   
   Duffy's expenses for the Senate.   
      
   They wanted the examination of Duffy's residency to be declared moot as   
   soon as he repaid his expenses, which was part of Duffy's demands.   
      
   Following that Gerstein contact, emails between figures inside the PMO   
   suggest that some sort of information was communicated to them about the   
   audit.  The Senate committee that first commissioned the audit has   
   summoned Deloitte to answer questions about this on Thursday.   
      
   Harper was also unaware this was going on, MacDonald said.   
      
   "One, he was not aware that Mr. Gerstein was reaching out to Deloitte or   
   had been asked to reach out to Deloitte, and again had he known about   
   that he would have put a stop to it," he said.   
      
   MacDonald and Harper have emphasized that only Wright and Duffy face   
   allegations of criminal wrongdoing.  But did they breach any moral or   
   ethical standards by playing along with the Duffy scheme?   
      
   "Ultimately, Mr. Wright has taken responsibility for this.  Yes, he has   
   identified people that he informed of what he was doing, or involved in   
   some way, but ultimately these folks are not being investigated by the   
   RCMP," said MacDonald.   
      
   Wright's lawyer did not immediately respond to an email asking for   
   reaction to MacDonald's comments, but Wright issued a statement last   
   week saying he acted within the scope of his duties and is confident his   
   actions were lawful.   
      
   NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told reporters Sunday that MacDonald was   
   "talking nonsense" when he said Harper did not know about the Duffy deal   
   with PMO.   
      
   "Of course everything points to Stephen Harper knowing full well what's   
   going on his office," said Mulcair.  "He's a control freak and it's   
   simply not credible that every single senior member of his staff was   
   involved in this but somehow he knew nothing of it."   
      
   When it comes to another point of controversy, the fact the PMO was   
   deeply involved in shaping a Senate report on Duffy's expenses, Harper's   
   office says it's not concerned. Emails show that pressure was brought to   
   bear by PMO staff, later carried out by key senators, to remove   
   criticism of Duffy from the report and even stop the audit.   
      
   The internal economy committee has been traditionally viewed as one of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)