Senators Confess PMO Called to Discuss Duffy Audit, But Did Not Interfere

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The chairman of the Senate’s internal economy admitted on Thursday that The Prime Minister’s Office contacted two prominent Conservatives on the committee managing the audit of Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses. However, Sen. David Tkachuk affirmably assured that he was “never directed to do anything” by the PMO.

It was revealed that the conversation with staff encircling Prime Minister Stephen Harper, including informal chats, was originated because the review of Duffy’s expenses changed shape into a political headache for the Conservative government as one of their most popular fundraiser came under scrutiny for tens of thousands of dollars in questionable expense claims. The chairman of the Senate’s internal economy committee, Tkachuk, alleged that the Harper’s office contacted him to ask about the audit process and whether the final report from auditors will be made public. He stated that “this was a political problem that was becoming worse because it was spinning out of control.” He mentioned that “they never asked me to do anything wrong,” and “I was never directed to do anything.” He added that “I never interfered in the audit. Nobody did.”

Another Conservative senator on the three-person steering committee, Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, alleged that she was not at liberty to disclose the steering committee decisions behind closed doors. Even though several news reports blamed Stewart Olsen, a former Harper spokeswoman, to have had few damning paragraphs about Duffy’s report removed from the final draft, she asserted that “to say I could be influenced to do what I felt was wrong is so off-base.” She added that “I feel what we did in the committee was the right thing to do.”