Canada PoliticsSenator Mike Duffy mused about becoming a minster: report
Both NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau did a great job interrogating Prime Minister Harper, this week, about the Senate expense scandal.
They asked poignant questions such as: what did the PM know, when did he know it and why did it take him so long to cut ties with his now former Chief of Staff Nigel Wright.
One question I'd like to see asked is: Why the heck did he appoint Mike Duffy to the Senate in the first place?
Is it because of his intellect?
Was it, as Elizabeth May recently suggested, a reward for shaming Stephan Dion on national TV during the 2008 election campaign?
Or was it because Duffy is a 'celebrity' that would help the party with fundraising?
[ Related: Bank of Canada tries to kill the $90,000 ‘Duffybuck’ ]
CBC News has uncovered some emails that perhaps suggest it's the latter.
The emails, from 2009, are between Duffy and a Conservative insider.
The email asks for advice about how Duffy should be compensated for what the email calls "my expanded role in the party." In the message, Duffy says he'll be speaking with Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein at a Senate golf banquet, but seems to indicate he'd already spoken with Gerstein.
The email goes on, "I suggested they make me a min without portfolio, so I get a staff, car and more resources to deal with the pr fallout etc. he laughed and said he didn't think THAT was within the realm of the Cons fund."
So, continues the email, "What do I demand?" Then, in a bracketed sentence, he seems to answer his own question: "(That the Cons fund hire my private company, and I use the cash to hire additional staff to assist with these gigs?)
According to CBC, the Conservative insider replied telling Duffy not use Senate resources and that all his expenses should be reimbursed from the Conservative Fund, the Conservative Party's fundraising arm.
We now know, however, that Duffy didn't play by the rules. He was double-dipping.
As explained by the Canadian Press, the Senate's internal economy committee noted that Duffy "claimed and was paid for Ottawa living expenses during the federal election campaign on six days in April 2011 and one day in May 2011" even though he was campaigning for the Tories outside Ottawa.
[ Related: Former senator says Senate expense shenanigans are nothing new ]
The emails suggest that Duffy was expecting some sort of compensation or at least reimbursement for his fundraising efforts — and hopefully he was joking about becoming a minister.
More importantly, the emails give us a glimpse at the relationship between the Conservatives and Duffy and how the Conservatives used the senator. Duffy was frequently leaned on to crisscross the country to be the 'headliner' at Tory fundraisers.
[ Related: Former Mike Duffy staffer says she may be to blame for senator's fraudulent expenses: report ]
Interestingly, earlier this week, during Question Period, the Prime Minister did all he could to distance himself from the maligned senator, at one point labeling him the "former Conservative senator."
Try as they may to distance themselves from him, the Conservatives are tied to Duffy.
They, after all, have a lot of history together.
(Photo courtesy of Canadian Press)
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