Mike Duffy says he resisted PMO plan for housing expense repayment 'at every opportunity'

Senator Mike Duffy testified that he resisted "at every opportunity" a scenario proposed bymembers of Stephen Harper's PMO to have him publicly acknowledge he was mistaken to claim housing allowances for his Ottawa home and that he would repay.

"I had no part in that and no knowledge atthe time it was happening, " Duffy told his lawyer Donald Bayne

"And it's wrong because I have never believed I made a mistake."

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Duffy has pleaded not guiltyto 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator and later repaid in March 2013 with $90,000 fromNigelWright, who at the time waschief of staff for Harper. The trial began in April at the Ottawa provincial courthouse.

Duffy's expenses for his Ottawa residence had become a public controversy following a December 2012 article in the Ottawa Citizen by journalist Glen McGregor. The article said the P.E.I. senator had claimed over $33,000 in living allowances for his Ottawa home, even though he had been a resident in the capital since the 1970s.

Bayne went over emails involving Wright and other members of the Prime Minister's Office discussing a strategy in which Duffy would repay the allowances.

One "Duffy scenario"email, sent Feb. 20, 2013, by then issues manager Chris Woodcock, included astatement Duffywould make in which he would say he was "mistaken,"but that he was"doing the right thing" and would be repaying his housing allowances.

Bayne asked if it was what he voluntarily wished to do.

"Not at all," Duffy said.

In a followupemail, Wright saidthey should provideDuffy with some Q&As, that heshould blamethe mistakeon ambiguitiesin the forms butnot acknowledge any wrongdoing. Duffy said that was because Wright knew that Duffy would "never admit wrongdoingbecauseIwould never doanythingwrongknowingly."

Bayne asked Duffy:"to be clear,was this scenario yours?"

"Not mine. Didn't contain my views of what had gone on. It wascompletely at odds, 180 degrees of what I believed."

"Did you resist this when you learned of their efforts?" Bayne asked. "At every opportunity," Duffy said.

"Did you make 'scenario' demands?" Bayne asked."None, none," Duffy said.

Duffy did eventually go public, in an interview with the CBC on Feb. 22, saying he would repay the housing allowances.

More review of expenses

Earlier, Baynetookhis client through a series of expense claims, some of which the Crown alleges were for personal services that the senator shouldn't have billed to the taxpayer.

Court has heard that a seriesof Senate research contracts worth $64,916.50 were awarded by Duffy to GeraldDonohue,mostly to perform editorial, research, consulting andspeech-writing services.

It was out of this fund thatDonohue, through his family-owned company Maple Ridge Media Inc. (which later became Ottawa ICF), paid outchequesfor other expenses claimed by Duffy.

It's the Crown's contentionthat Duffy set up afund withDonohuetopay for some inappropriate or non-parliamentary services expenses thatthe Crown sayswouldn't otherwise have been covered by Senate finance.

Some of those expenses includepayments to his cousin fornews clippings, theKanata-basedphoto processing firm, anoffice volunteer,a makeup artist anda personal fitness trainer.

Duffy had claimed more than $10,000 for over a three-year period from 2010 to2012to pay for the services of a personal fitness instructor, who heclaims was acting as a consultant on a Senate-related project on fitness for seniors.

Mike Duffy and his lawyer Donald Bayne leave court after Duffy begins his second week testifying in his defense

9 years ago

Duration 0:54

Mike Duffy and his lawyer Donald Bayne leave court after Duffy begins his second week testifying in his defense

Before Duffy had become a senator, MikeCroskery hadprovided him with physical fitness services at his home from 2007 to 2008. But they weren't getting any results and by 2009 the sessions had "dropped right off," Duffy said.

"If Ihad wanted fitness, I'm now a parliamentarian. They have a gym where parliamentarianscan go for free," Duffy testified.

"The lastthing I needed was more exercise," he added.

Duffy said in 2010 hecalled Croskery to act as aconsultant on his senior fitness project, addingthat he had a "list of credentials as long as your arm."

He said they continued to do some exercises, and that Croskery used him as a "guinea pig" as they triedto work out a program that would be beneficial to seniors.

Duffysaid whilehe may have gotten an aspect of personalbenefit, Croskerywas being paid as a consultant to the project.

"There may have been some marginalbenefit to me intermsof toning orwhateverfrom theexercise.But thatwasn't the primary reason."

Personal pictures

Court alsoheard that Duffy expensed around $1,500 toKanata, Ont.-based Jiffy Photoforphotos and picture enhancements.Some of those pictures included enhancementsof former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush and Duffy's daughter and grandson as well as other personal pictures.

But Duffy said that senators often take photos at different events with a number of people, whether it be VIPsor average citizens. And that for the photos in question, almostallwere considered "Senate memorabilia" and part of Senate-related business.

He admitted that two pictures that cost about $7,including one of his daughter and grandson, were mistakenly expensed to the Senate.

Except for those two photos, Duffy testified that all of them "related to my job asa senator."

"It'sin the rules, framing, printing, all of that," he said