Tory supporters berate reporters at Harper event
Tensions rise as the media pose questions about Mike Duffy affair
The Mike Duffy trial continues to hang over the federal election campaign, sparking new vitriol from Conservative supporters and fuelling continued NDP and Liberal attacks on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s credibility.
Tensions bubbled over at a campaign event in Toronto on Tuesday when Conservative supporters interrupted reporters during the prime minister’s press conference and hurled expletives at them as they were leaving the site.
Harper stuck to his main line — that Duffy and his former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, are to blame for the whole expenses affair — despite emails at the trial indicating that others in the Prime Minister’s Office discussed the matter.
In one of three questions, Harper was asked why he continued to tell the House of Commons that Wright was the only staffer to know about the $ 90,000 payment that the chief of staff gave Duffy to cover his expenses.
“I’ve answered according to the information I had,” Harper replied. “As you know, Mr. Wright made some subsequent statements and so I’ve ( of) course corrected the record. And that was over two years ago.”
Earlier, Harper had to intervene to allow another reporter to ask a question about the Duffy affair after one heckler yelled: “Ask questions on the topic at hand.”
As reporters were leaving, another attendee aimed an expletive at one journalist and accused others of cheating on their taxes.
Conservative spokesman Kory Teneycke apologized for the incident, calling the behaviour unacceptable.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair used a sedate setting in Nanaimo, B. C., to tell supporters that the revelations contained in the Duffy emails show that Harper was not being forthcoming during past questioning in the House of Commons.
“I got to question Stephen Harper day in and day out, and I knew what he was telling us didn’t hold water. But now Canadians know that as well,” he said.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau opened his day in Sudbury, Ont., where he promoted his plan for clean- technology jobs.
Trudeau continued to pound his theme that the Conservative government has failed on the environment and the economic fronts.
But when asked about Harper’s latest tough- on- crime announcement — to do away with parole for such crimes as first- degree murder, terrorism and killing a police or corrections officer — Trudeau evoked the Duffy trial.
“The fact is, Mr. Harper is once again trying to deflect, using the politics of fear, from what’s going on in the Ottawa courtroom ...”