Ottawa

Duffy-Wright: The unanswered questions

All the things we don’t know

The Canadian Press tallies the “riddles” that “abound.”

— Did anyone other than Wright in the Prime Minister’s Office deal with the ongoing Duffy expense file during the months it was a high-profile, and politically sensitive, public issue?

— Was the prime minister part of those discussions and what direction did he give his chief of staff, or anyone else, to handle the matter?

— Why was it so important to keep Duffy’s reputation clean that Harper’s chief of staff would personally intervene with a $90,000 “gift”?

— Was a contractual arrangement made between Duffy and Wright over the payment? If so, what are the terms of the contract?

— Why did Duffy tell people he had a deal with the PMO to “go easy” on him and that he’d been told by the PMO not to speak about the matter?

— Who in the Prime Minister’s Office discussed the Duffy matter with senators David Tkachuk and Caroline Stewart Olsen, the Conservative members on the special three-member Senate sub-committee responsible for “sanitizing” Duffy’s expense report? Tkachuk has publicly confirmed such discussions took place.

— The PMO repeatedly defended the actions of Wright after acknowledging the cheque to Duffy. “The prime minister has full confidence in Mr. Wright and Mr. Wright is staying on,” spokesman Andrew MacDougall said May 17. On May 19 Harper accepted Wright’s resignation. What changed the prime minister’s mind in the interim?

Here is my tally of two days ago. I posed five basic questions yesterday.

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