Ottawa

A couple answers in the Prime Minister’s absence

Who the Prime Minister didn’t speak with and hasn’t spoken with

Thomas Mulcair piled up a few more questions on the Prime Minister’s empty chair this afternoon—the Prime Minister tends not to appear on Mondays—wondering whether the Prime Minister would be firing anyone else over the Duffy affair and why, if the Prime Minister wouldn’t have approved of Senator Irving Gerstein contacting Deloitte, Mr. Gerstein is still a member of the Conservative caucus. He also pressed this matter of precisely what the Prime Minister authorized during his conversation with Nigel Wright on February 22 (Megan Leslie wondered what threats had been directed at Mr. Duffy for the purposes of convincing him to repay his expenses).

Later in the hour, at least two queries received responses from Paul Calandra. The NDP’s Eve Peclet posed two fairly straightforward questions.

Did the Prime Minister discuss Senate expenses with senators Gerstein, Stewart Olsen or LeBreton before May 15 2013?

Since May 15, did the Prime Minister speak to Irving Gerstein about the reimbursement of Mike Duffy’s expenses?

To both, Mr. Calandra responded with a fairly straightforward “no.”

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