Six questions Nigel Wright must answer

August 11, 2015

1. Which of Stephen Harper’s two different explanations for the phrase “good to go” is the truth?

In documents filed by the RCMP in court, a February 22, 2013, email from Nigel Wright indicates that Stephen Harper was “good to go” with a plan by Conservative operatives to secretly repay Mike Duffy’s expenses. But, Mr. Harper has given starkly different explanations for what this comment meant:
“The words you are quoting are not my words. They are somebody else’s. I have said repeatedly, and I think the facts are clear, I did not know about — that Mr. Wright had [given] payment to Mr. Duffy.” (Stephen Harper, Huffington Post, August 10, 2015)

When asked in the House of Commons what “good to go” meant, Mr. Harper’s answer was completely different:

“Mr. Speaker, good to go with Mr. Duffy repaying his own expenses, as he has acknowledged I told him to personally…” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, November 20, 2013)

2. According to documents filed by the RCMP, on May 14, 2013, you said that “The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses.” Of which exact details did you make Mr. Harper aware?

3. Why were such efforts made by PMO officials to protect Mike Duffy? Why wasn’t Mike Duffy left to deal with his own expense issues?

4. What did Stephen Harper know about the PMO’s first plan to pay Mike Duffy’s expenses with Conservative Party funds, when it was thought that Duffy’s total ineligible expenses totaled $32,000?

5. Was Stephen Harper aware that the PMO and Senator Irving Gerstein were actively interfering with the Deloitte audit of Senate expenses, including the modification of the subsequent report on Mike Duffy’s expenses by the Senate Internal Economy Committee?

6. Why were you the only person to lose your job over the Duffy affair, when so many of your colleagues in the PMO, Conservative Senators, and Conservative Party staffers were also deeply involved in the cover-up?