Harper’s former lawyer up at Duffy trial

“I was quite surprised”, testified Perrin.

“He had never discussed it with me or consulted with me in any way”.

“I find it appalling that people who have demonstrated they cannot run the finances of the government think they are going to better run our own retirement finances for us”.

He sparked a series of online memes and images, with his face superimposed onto Conservative signs, making him something of a campaign folk hero.

“He came over and sat across from me and I gave him a short briefing on how the call was likely to go”.

The Liberals are joining the NDP in fanning the Mike Duffy flames, asking the RCMP to expand its investigation by looking into messages sent to and from Stephen Harper’s chief of staff because they may be relevant to the senator’s fraud trial. “Duffy was considering reneging on his public commitment to repay his disputed expenses, that he continued to believe the rules around claiming the housing allowance were ambiguous and that they were seriously considering going through the audit process to achieve a favourable outcome”, he said. Duffy when requested. Emails presented by defence laywer Donald Bayne suggest Ms. Payne had failed in attempts to contact Deloitte auditors.

Perrin said he looked over at Novak for a reaction, but saw none.

As scandals around the Senate and PMO continue to mount, Harper remained bullish in front of his cheering supporters, promising to raise the Adoption Expense Tax Credit to $20,000 from the current $15,000 if the Conservatives are re-elected.

“One of the things that we’ve seen is that Mr. Harper’s approach on drugs is actually financing gun runners and street crimes”, he said.

One of Harper’s campaign spokesman said it’s “unfathomable” that Novak would be aware of the payment plan and not tell Harper.

Perrin’s tenure at the PMO in 2012-2013 was not smooth sailing.

Perrin had been tasked by Wright earlier to investigate the qualification issue and he did so by examining the “concept of residency”. The letter in question was a draft letter to the Senate that was to be included with a cheque for $90,172.24 – Duffy’s reimbursement of housing allowance money from the Senate.

He said the PMO was interested in protecting Conservative senators from such questions.

Harper: I’ve been very clear.

“Mr. Perrin has admitted that he never told me”, Harper said. – Harper says he’s not the only PM who’s had to deal with rogue senators. Harper has also claimed that when this became known to him, Wright ceased being his chief of staff.

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“It would have been approved by the senior leadership and then the prime minister provides us with what is known as a “return” – he literally writes on the memo itself”.