Political fundraiser speaks up on Duffy
Gerstein insists party was never going to pay
OTTAWA — On the morning of Nov. 2, Sen. Irving Gerstein gave a speech to federal Conservative Party delegates at the party’s convention, to update them on the “very solvent” state of the party’s finances.
To applause, Gerstein presented a rosy report, saying that thanks to “complex, leading-edge fundraising techniques,” the party is debt-free and has cash on hand, unlike the heavily indebted Liberals.
The speech wouldn’t have been of interest to anyone but the Tories in the room, except that Gerstein also tried to clear the air over his role in the $90,000 payment from former Harper chief-of-staff Nigel Wright to Sen. Mike Duffy.
“I made it absolutely clear to Nigel Wright that the Conservative Fund of Canada would not pay for Sen. Mike Duffy’s disputed expenses and it never did,” Gerstein said.
When the RCMP released emails this week as part of an investigation into the secret payment, it became clear that Gerstein’s role was more complicated than just saying no to Wright. Gerstein had at first considered paying Duffy’s expenses, according to the RCMP, then balked at the price tag. When he learned Wright was paying Duffy, he may have suggested Wright be reimbursed, the RCMP notes. At the request of the PMO, Gerstein called the Ontario managing partner of Deloitte to inquire about the firm’s Duffy audit, which has led critics to raise questions about the independence of the report. It’s hard to imagine government recovering: