Duffy expense claims reveal more about campaign travel

Election spending records show additional daysSenator Mike Duffy spent on the campaign trail in the 2011 election, including days he told the Senate he was on business, and days on which Deloitte auditors couldn't track him.

CBC News had reportedDuffy was campaigning in and around Toronto on April 27 and 28, 2011, despite claiming he was on Senate business.

The Canadian Press had also reported some dates on whichDuffy was promoted as campaigning around the country.

A Deloitte audit tabled in the Senate following an investigation into his living expenses has a day-by-day breakdown of his location from April 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012.

It's not clear from the Deloitte audit documents whether Duffy claimed a per diem for days on which he said he was on Senate business outside of Ottawa.

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One invoice shows Duffy travelling to Toronto and Yellowknife with Prime Minister Stephen Harper from April 5 to 9.

But the Deloitte audit, which tried to track Duffy's travel for a year and a half, has him listed on Senate business in a location other than Ottawa until April 9. The audit says his April 9 activity was outside Ottawa and "undocumented."

2 nights in Yellowknife

Duffy didn't co-operate with auditors and didn't provide much of the information they requested.

The invoice shows Duffy flew to Toronto on April 5 and returned to Ottawa April 10. His hotel in Yellowknife was booked for April 7 and 8, suggesting he spent some time in Toronto first.

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The invoice notes the Conservative Party paid for Duffy's flights from Ottawa to Toronto, Toronto to Yellowknife and then back to Ottawa. The campaign in the Western Arctic riding, which New Democrat Dennis Bevington reclaimed, was charged $312.90 for two nights at the hotel.

It doesn't indicate who paid for the hotel in Toronto.

The campaign paid Duffy's invoice for $209.01 to cover his April 5 taxi from a Toronto-area airport to the hotel where he met up with Harper, as well as the taxi back to the airport on April 7. It also covered his parking at the Ottawa airport.

A credit card statement attached to the invoice, with the travel items highlighted, also shows a $2 charge for renting an airport luggage cart. The $2 charge was highlighted but didn't end up on the invoice.

The Canadian Press reported Duffy was in British Columbia on April 5.

Duffy also campaigned on the East Coast off and on from April 14 to 21.

Claimed per diem while campaigning

The invoices list Duffy's Ottawa-area address and ask for cheques to be mailed there.

The Deloitte audit places Duffy back in Ottawa on Senate business and charging a per diem on April 21, when his invoices show he was in Nova Scotia, campaigning for Conservative MP Scott Armstrong and candidate David Morse. Duffy's carrental agreement shows he returned to the Charlottetown airport April 21 in the early afternoon.

The audit lists Duffy as "activity undocumented" for April 14-15, when election records show he was campaigning in New Brunswick. An invoice he filed to the campaign of Rodney Weston, the Conservative MP for Saint John, shows he drove across the bridge from Prince Edward Island on April 14, spending $123 on gas for a rental car.

A photocopied parking receipt for $2.50 is attached to the invoice sent to Weston, but isn't listed among the charges.

The cost of the rental car, the invoice notes, is shared between seven ridings. Duffy picked up the car at the airport in Charlottetown on April 12 and returned it April 21. The rental agency lists Duffy's Ottawa address on the invoice.

While each invoice includes similar phrasing about sharing the cost between seven ridings, only six candidates in the area list Duffy as an expense in Elections Canada filings.

'Hoping for better from P.E.I.'

The senator campaigned April 15-16 for Tilly O'Neill Gordon, who was re-elected MP for Miramichi, N.B.

O'Neill Gordon's campaign spent $499.80 on flyers advertising tickets to see Duffy at the April 15 "finger foods buffet" event and at a breakfast the next morning. Duffy had the campaign pay for two hotel roomsone for him and one for Mary McQuaid, who is listed on a social networking website as Duffy's policy adviser.

A letter Duffy sent to the campaign with the invoice congratulated O'Neill Gordon's team for their work.

"I was thrilled to see that dedication pay off (frankly I was hoping for better from PEI. Next time!)" he said in the letter.

The Deloitte audit lists Duffy as at his "primary residence" for April 16-17 and as "activity undocumented" for April 18-20.

He appears to have returned to the campaign trail on April 19, this time stumping for Greg Kerr, who was re-elected MP for West Nova. On April 20, Duffy was in Gerald Keddy's South Shore-St. Margaret's riding for a fundraiser.

There are no receipts for meals included with any of the invoices. Duffy charged Armstrong's campaign for the cost of a visit to the hotel restaurant, but saved Keddy's campaign a similar charge.

He also photocopied a receipt for a $4 toll, but it isn't included inany of theinvoices.