PMO, Conservative Party Declare No Taxpayer Money Used for Duffy Payment

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Prime Minister’s Office and the Conservative party have stated that a secretive fund of political party finances that functions through the PMO was not used to cover Nigel Wright’s $90,000 secret payment to Mike Duffy to cover the improper Senate expenses. The former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Wright, offered his resignation amid the Senate scandal, after which a report published on Thursday by CBC News alleged that he was in charge of the secret fund at the time he paid the $90,000 cheque to Duffy in order to aid him in reimbursing the improper Senate living expense claims.

Usually all mainstream federal political parties maintain a fund to aid in paying for the leaders’ party expenses, however many claim that ultimately taxpayer cash is secretly used to beef up party funds in shape of political parties being paid in per-vote subsidies, which the Tories are phasing out by 2015.

Both The Prime Minister’s Office and Conservative Party of Canada issued a statement on Thursday declaring that no taxpayer or party funds were used in Duffy’s payment of $90,000. Harper’s director of communications, Andrew MacDougall, stated that “no funds were used.” Meanwhile the spokesperson for the Conservative party, Fred DeLorey, also mentioned that “a fund is maintained so that the party pays any party expenses — not taxpayers. No party funds were used for the payment.” He added that “in order to ensure that partisan activities undertaken by the prime minister are never billed to taxpayers, the Conservative party covers some legitimate expenses, such as party events that he attends.”