A6⎮TORONTO STAR SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2015 ON ON0 >> Duffy’s lawyer turns up the heat on Wright Says Harper’s top aides put resists. ‘Ray I can’t do this, this is wrong,’ ” Bayne said. pressure on senator to pay That Duffy email reads: “This is money he may not have owed nuts and is very hard for me to swal- low. I swing between the team player TONDA MACCHARLES mode and do anything for pmsh and BUREAU it is time for me to say phack it. Let OTTAWA— and his deloitte decide.” two top aides drove a “command- Wright said Duffy see-sawed be- and-control” political operation to tween agreeing to repay the money force Sen. to repay Sen- the prime minister believed he owed, ate money he may not have legally and changing his mind, but said the owed, Duffy’s lawyer charged Friday. senator had legal counsel and negoti- Lawyer Don Bayne conducted an ated the terms of the deal through intensely combative cross-examina- her with PMO voluntarily. tion of Harper’s former chief of staff But Bayne scorned Wright’s char- Nigel Wright on his third day in the acterizations, saying pressuring Duf- witness box at the Duffy fraud trial, fy to agree “was a political imper- with the spotlight squarely on Harp- ative” that stemmed straight from er and Ray Novak, Wright’s replace- the top. He said Harper and Wright ment. issued “clear marching orders” to Bayne said Harper, Wright, Novak Conservative senators responsible and others hammered Duffy into for managing things in the Senate, paying expenses that he may have FRED CHARTRAND/THE CANADIAN PRESS and sought to devise a residency test had a legal entitlement to claim; ran Sen. Mike Duffy leaves the courthouse in Ottawa on Friday. “that will protect your own political roughshod over unco-operative people?” Wright replied “Yes, that is Conservative Senate leaders and ey — a payment that subsequently staffer Novak was “entitled to know “This issue is about $’s, not this.” what I want.” staff, and were prepared to keep se- led to Duffy facing bribery, fraud and what was going on.” He disagreed Wright’s testimony revealed new Time and again, Bayne quoted cret a plan to have the Conservative breach of trust charges. with Bayne’s suggestion that Novak twists in a story now reverberating Wright’s email after hearing from Fund of Canada, the party’s taxpay- Emails in evidence at court at Duf- was a “surrogate” for the prime min- on the federal campaign trail: Novak Harper’s directions: “We’ll er-subsidized war chest, pay Duffy’s fy’s fraud trial show Harper and No- ister or was involved to provide á Wright said he never told Harper have to do this in a way that does not bill. Duffy’s debt was first pegged at vak were directly engaged at the “plausible deniability” for the prime he thought Duffy might have had a lead to the Chinese water torture of $32,000 and judged by them to be height of Wright’s efforts to, as Novak minister. But it became clear Novak legal leg to stand on in claiming hous- new facts in the public domain, that “inappropriate,” Wright said. wrote, “staunch the bleeding.” and Harper were well in the loop as ing expenses for a “secondary” resi- the PM does not want.” Bayne called it a “fraud” on the pub- Novak, Harper’s longest serving the Duffy affair came to a head in dence that was his longtime Ottawa Bayne mocked Wright’s testimony lic, on Conservative donors, and on staffer, remains a critical player in February 2013. home. a day earlier when he cited the Bible taxpayers whose monies then pro- Harper’s ever-smaller trusted inner Bayne pointed to a key email writ- á The idea to throw a cloak of secrecy to say he’d kept his personal payment vided public subsidies to political circle and was on the campaign trail ten by Novak, which quoted Harper on a plan to use party funds to repay of Duffy’s bill quiet. Bayne threw parties. with him in the North Friday, where saying he “felt strongly” after reading Duffy’s disputed expenses originated Wright’s words at him: “our public “The pressure to do this on Sen. Harper shielded him from any blame a Feb. 18 memo that said his staff with Conservative Fund chair Sen. agony” and “Chinese water torture.” Duffy is applied at the highest levels, in relation to the payment Wright believed Conservative senators were Irving Gerstein or party counsel Ar- “That’s not the language of doing the chief of staff of the prime min- gave Duffy in March 2013 to cover his bungling PMO’s effort to have Duffy thur Hamilton, Wright couldn’t re- the right thing, that’s not Matthew. ister of Canada, and the prime min- disputed living expenses. repay. Certain Tory senators had member which. He said he didn’t That’s ending political suffering, ister himself, right?” Bayne demand- Evidence shows Wright did copy agreed to review the definition of come up with the notion. right?” ed of Wright. Novak on an email about the pay- constitutional qualification for Sen- á Wright said he was unaware Duffy “Yes, issues management, yes,” “Both of us have asked Senator Duf- ment — which the Conservative ate seats with an eye on a new resi- was also emailing Novak directly to Wright said, almost inaudibly. fy to repay,” Wright said, while in- campaign denies Novak read. dency test — one that Conservative plead his case. Bayne went harder at Wright again: sisting Duffy’s claims were “inappro- Harper and Wright have repeatedly senators Pamela Wallin and Dennis Bayne said Duffy made a “last “Matthew doesn’t say, ‘Stop our pub- priate,” therefore “bad politics,” and said Wright never told the prime Patterson might not meet. ditch” appeal directly to Novak on lic agony, stop the Chinese water tor- the repayment was not. minister about either the plan to “Had I known we were going down Feb. 22 before he “capitulated” and ture, stop the story dribbling out, the When Duffy’s bill soared to have the party pay nor, later, Wright’s this road I would have shut it down went on television to read the state- prime minister doesn’t want this, $90,000, the party backed out and payment decision. long before this memo,” Harper ment that PMO had scripted for him, you’re hurting the prime minister’?” Wright himself gave Duffy the mon- Wright said as the number two wrote to Novak. according to emails in evidence. “He “No he does not,” Wright said.

ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD NOTICE Harper stands by chief of staff TO CUSTOMERS OF UNION GAS LIMITED Union Gas Limited has applied for approval to change its gas commodity, storage and despite Duffy expense emails transportation rates effective January 1, 2016. Learn more. Have your say. Ray Novak never saw plans Union Gas Limited has applied to change its rates to better reflect how to reimburse senator, it supplies natural gas to its customers. The proposed changes include claims Tory spokesman the following: • A change in the reference price used to set rates on a quarterly JOANNA SMITH basis for a majority of its customers; and OTTAWA BUREAU • A change to how it allocates costs to the different types of customers that it serves. OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Ste- phen Harper stood by his chief of An average residential customer would see the following annual bill impact, but these impacts would only start in 2018: staff, Ray Novak, as evidence in court suggested his senior aide was kept in Residential Customer – Service Area Approximate Bill Impact the loop about a plan to have Nigel Southern (Windsor to Hamilton) Decrease of $20 Wright reimburse Sen. Mike Duffy’s Northern Delivery Area Increase of $26 inappropriate expenses. (North Bay to Kapuskasing) “These are the actions of Mr. Duffy All Other Delivery Areas Decrease of $1.50 – $51.50 and Mr. Wright. You hold people re- Other customers in Union Gas Limited’s service area, including sponsible for their own actions. You businesses, will also be affected. certainly don’t hold subordinates re- THE ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD IS HOLDING A PUBLIC HEARING sponsible for the actions of their su- The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) will hold a public hearing to consider the periors. These are the two people application filed by Union Gas. responsible and they are being held We will question Union Gas on the case. We will also hear arguments from accountable,” Harper said Friday individuals and from groups that represent the customers of Union Gas. At during a campaign stop in Hay River, the end of this hearing, the OEB will decide whether to approve the changes N.W.T. that Union Gas has requested in this application. Novak, a longtime aide to Harper, The OEB is an independent and impartial public agency. We make decisions was promoted to chief of staff when that serve the public interest. Our goal is to promote a financially viable and Wright left the post four days after efficient energy sector that provides you with reliable energy services at a learned he had personally reasonable cost. given Duffy $90,172 in February 2013 BE INFORMED AND HAVE YOUR SAY to reimburse inappropriate living ex- You have the right to information regarding this application and to be penses. involved in the process. Emails released his week as evi- • You can review the application filed by Union Gas on the OEB’s website dence presented at the trial of Duffy now. show that Novak was kept in the loop • You can file a letter with your comments, which will be considered on much of the plan to have Duffy — during the hearing. then a high-profile member of the • You can become an active participant (called an intervenor). Apply by August 25, 2015 SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS or the hearing will go ahead without you and you will Conservative caucus — tell Canadi- not receive any further notice of the proceeding. ans he would repay the money, blam- “The reality is that there are two people who are responsible: (Novak’s) • At the end of the process, you can review the OEB’s decision and its ing the mistake on ambiguous ex- superior, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Duffy,” Stephen Harper said Friday. reasons on our website. pense forms, in exchange for an in- LEARN MORE vestigation into his living expenses In an email addressed to Novak ue when you knew that it wasn’t the being rendered moot, and assuranc- truth (and) that there were more Our file number for this case is EB-2015-0181. To learn more about this and Benjamin Perrin, then legal hearing, find instructions on how to file letters or become an intervenor, es his eligibility to sit as a senator for people involved?” Harper was asked. or to access any document related to this case, please select the file P.E.I. would not be in doubt. counsel for the PMO, on March 23, “We were all told that Mr. Duffy had number EB-2015-0181 from the list on the OEB website: The original plan was to have the 2013, Wright wrote: “I will send my repaid his expenses. Mr. Duffy said www.ontarioenergyboard.ca/notice. You can also phone our Conservative party cover the ex- that on national television, he had Consumer Relations Centre at 1-877-632-2727 with any questions. penses, but they balked when they cheque on Monday.” borrowed money from the bank, ORAL VS. WRITTEN HEARINGS discovered Duffy owed nearly three etc.,” Harper said, referring to a state- There are two types of OEB hearings – oral and written. The OEB will times as much as they originally Harper rejected the premise of ment Duffy had provided to CTV determine at a later date whether to proceed by way of a written or oral thought, according to court docu- questions Friday that Novak had News as it was investigating the story hearing. If you think an oral hearing is needed, you can write to the OEB to ments. Duffy has pleaded not guilty been involved in deceiving the pub- that it was in fact Wright who had explain why by August 25, 2015. to 31 charges of fraud, bribery and lic, or hiding the truth of the situa- paid. PRIVACY breach of trust and the trial is ongo- tion from Harper. “That is what we all understood to If you write a letter of comment, your name and the content of your letter will ing. Wright was investigated by the “The reality is that there are two be the truth. That is what the vast be put on the public record and the OEB website. However, your personal RCMP but never charged. people who are responsible: his su- majority of, that’s not only what the telephone number, home address and e-mail address will be removed. If you In an email addressed to Novak and perior, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Duffy. entire caucus thought, and I thought, are a business, all your information will remain public. If you apply to become Benjamin Perrin, then legal counsel They are being held accountable for that’s what the vast majority of our an intervenor, all information will be public. for the PMO, on March 23, 2013, their actions,” Harper said Friday. staff also believed was the case,” This hearing will be held under section 36 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, Wright wrote: “I will send my cheque Harper was also reminded by a re- Harper said. 1998, S.O. 1998 c.15 (Schedule B). on Monday.” porter that even after the truth of Earlier Friday, New Democrat Conservative campaign spokesman Wright’s involvement had been Leader Thomas Mulcair shared his Kory Teneycke told reporters Thurs- made public, cabinet ministers con- disbelief that Novak did not read the day that Novak never saw that par- tinued to say in the House of Com- email. ticular email. mons that Wright was the only per- “There is no credibility whatsoever “This wasn’t a file that Ray was ever son who knew and there were no to that. I’m going to let Canadians Ontario Energy Commission de l’énergie managing or particularly a part of documents regarding the transac- decide that one. That is part of this Board de l’Ontario and he was unaware,” Teneycke told tion. election campaign,” Mulcair said at a The Canadian Press. “Why did you allow that to contin- campaign stop in Toronto.