Senator Duffy celebrated the ruling with hugs and handshakes but declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
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Quotes from Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt in his decision that saw Sen.
Vaillancourt said the crown had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt that the former Conservative senator had deliberately tried to break rules by claiming that his summer cottage in Prince Edward Island was a primary residence.
“I would say Senator Duffy has been subjected in the last two and a half to three years to more public humiliation than probably any other Canadian in history”, Bayne told reporters.
Duffy, now on a leave of absence, is accused of mishandling his living, travel, and office expenses in his first four years as a senator beginning in 2008.
But the ensuing ethics and spending scandal did force a national conversation about the need for Senate reform – an issue Harper referred to the Supreme Court, only to be shut down by a high court that insisted constitutional amendments would be unavoidable.
“This was damage control at its finest”, the judge said as he dismissed all charges against Duffy, which ranged from filing false expenses and residency claims to defrauding the government.
The charges against Duffy were formally laid in July 2014, with the trial beginning the following April.
Thursday’s decision cleared Duffy of any wrongdoing over the C$90,000 he received from Nigel Wright, Harper’s former chief of staff, to repay the government over housing expenses that had been inappropriately claimed.
Now that he has been acquitted, Duffy will once again have access to his Senate office and all the resources of the upper chamber.
Bayne added that in 44 years of practicing law, he has never seen such a resounding acquittal.
The Duffy saga has been a long and complex one, filled with both fascinating glimpses into the top offices on Parliament Hill, and mind-numbing minutiae surrounding Senate procedure and rules.
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Housakos also acknowledged that the Senate’s treatment of Duffy – he was suspended without pay, along with fellow senators Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau – may not have been entirely fair. Duffy’s lawyer argued that his client’s actions were legal under the vague rules that govern the country’s senate.
