Duffy tells court he intends to return to Senate
Senator’s suspension ends as he defends his use of public money in fraud trial
OTTAWA — Sen. Mike Duffy declared from the witness stand Friday he intends to return to the Senate and bring to the new Liberal government the ideas he worked on as a Conservative senator for Prince Edward Island.
Duffy’s suspension has ended and he is back on the Senate payroll as are Pam Wallin and Patrick Brazeau. He made the bold statement — in apparent defiance of any prospect that he could go to jail — on the fourth day of testifying to defend his use of Senate resources. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Duffy was outlining his travel expenses, now the subject of several of the 31 criminal charges against him. He also testified on the work-related conversations he had on trips to P.E.I. for funerals.
In some cases, Duffy said, the funerals were for prominent islanders who were family members or residents he knew as distinguished citizens of P.E.I.
On every occasion, Duffy said, his attendance was “public business” as were various other meetings he had on those trips — some scheduled, some impromptu — aimed at boosting jobs and prosperity in P.E.I.
Duffy outlined how he sought to persuade the federal government to put pressure on large aircraft companies that had long-standing promises to bring industrial regional benefits in exchange for government contracts.
He said the big companies often failed to deliver on those promises, but should be required by Ottawa to offer financial backing to struggling companies in places like P.E.I. to put them in a position to bid on larger contracts, such as aircraft interior design.
He said small regional contractors go from “contract to contract” begging for work, but that he decided to champion a novel financing idea that a couple of P.E.I. businessmen brought forward. Duffy took it to the Conservative government in Ottawa.
“I still think it’s an innovative and valid idea, it just needs a champion big enough and strong enough to go up against the aircraft companies,” Duffy said.
He suggested Ottawa should view Prince Edward Island as a “pilot project” where such ideas could be tried out. “If there was billions out there unspent, why not try it out?”
“When I get back in the Senate I’ll be sending it along to the current minister of industry. It’s not a partisan idea, it’s creativity,” Duffy said.
His testimony meandered through breezy tales of other “prominent” islanders he spoke to, everyone from well-known musicians in their day to Irving Oil shipyard executives.
It was all in keeping with the overarching theme Duffy has embraced that “as a senator you’re always on.”
He and his lawyer Don Bayne have based much of his defence to the fraud and breach of trust charges on the claim that he had no criminal intent to defraud or disrespect the norms of behaviour that public officials in the senate followed.
To the contrary, Duffy says, nearly everything he did, and nearly every conversation he had, was as a “representative of the Senate of Canada,” “Senate business,” or allowable “public business” — all part of his “parliamentary functions; not for his personal or private business interests — and all his expenses were valid.
The trial continues.