Picked by Harper to ‘friend-raise’
Embattled Sen. Mike Duffy paints himself as foot soldier of Conservative caucus
OTTAWA— Mike Duffy’s third day of testimony in his own defence opened a window onto the transactional, all-politics-all-the-time approach of the former Conservative government Wednesday.
The senator for Prince Edward Island, now being tried on fraud charges, pulled no punches. At times mocking, at times earnest, Duffy cast his former boss and colleagues as calculating, manipulative and demanding once he joined the Conservative caucus; and cast himself as simply a good foot soldier. Duffy testified that: Stephen Harper, then a minoritygovernment prime minister, named him to a P.E.I. Senate seat to travel the country and “friend-raise,” not to fundraise. Duffy claimed the party needed him, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau (two other Harper appointees under investigation for expense claims) for their “national profile” to put a friendly, trustworthy face on the Harper government.
Former Conservative sports minister Gary Lunn told Duffy and Ottawa lobbyist David Angus that Conservative party headquarters organized robocalls on the eve of the 2008 election to misdirect voters to cast a ballot for a New Democratic Party candidate who’d dropped off the ballot. Duffy said Lunn was unaware of the plan but the move split votes in the riding so Lunn could keep his seat. Lunn told the Star in an email he does not know “who made them.” And he said, “I don’t recall this conversation seven years ago.” Angus did not respond to a request for comment.
Dozens of Conservative MPs sought Duffy’s help to boost their electoral prospects, said Duffy, including Lunn, who asked him to attend the 2009 Saanich Fair. Duffy is charged for having expensed that B.C. trip for an appearance that was cancelled at the last minute. Duffy said it was “coincidence” his daughter was debuting in a play at the time, and blamed Harper for cancelling his appearance. Duffy said Harper “the marketing whiz” thought Duffy would steal the spotlight from Lunn, who had arranged for the Olympic torch to be at the fair. Duffy dropped his voice to mimic Harper’s: “It’ll only detract from Lunn.”
Duffy said he was told to “be nice” to people who were the “base of the base” and financially backed Harper’s 2002 return to national politics. They included Andrew Saxton Sr., father of MP Andrew Saxton, Duffy said. Duffy said Ray Novak, Harper’s top aide, told him Saxton Sr. and his friends “were Day Oners, who put up non-tax-deductible cash for Stephen Harper to win leadership of the Canadian Alliance . . . Please be nice to him because he was nice to us and he was one of the founding fathers.” That is the reason Duffy said he made a Christmastime trip to Vancouver during which his daughter gave birth and he visited his new grandson. Duffy said Saxton Sr. had requested a pre-budget consultation meeting with him because the NDP appeared set to win the provincial election and B.C. “was going to become hell on earth, and the fed government had to do something about it.”
Led by his lawyer Don Bayne, Duffy said his job was to act as a “therapeutic listener” while travelling. He denied fraudulently billing the Senate for a series of 13 trips now the subject of charges, saying there was a “public business” explanation for every one. He told Justice Charles Vaillancourt “as a senator, you’re always on.”
Duffy denied he travelled to Peterborough on the senate’s dime to shop for a dog, saying he did “public business” with MP Dean Del Mastro, a parliamentary secretary whose favour Duffy admitted currying. “You can never have too many allies, Mr. Bayne.”