OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally thanked his then-Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy and called him one of his best appointments ever in a handwritten note on a photograph of the two of them, Duffy’s lawyer showed the court Thursday.
Lawyer Donald Bayne asked the Crown’s first witness, former law clerk Mark Audcent, to read the message on the photograph signed June 11, 2009.
READ MORE: 10 things we learned about Mike Duffy from his diaries
“To Duff, a great journalist and a great senator. Thanks for being one of my best, hardest-working appointments ever!” Audcent read out loud.
The picture, which Bayne pulled out of a giant brown envelope, shows Harper and Duffy side-by-side at an event, the senator clutching a microphone as the prime minister laughs.
It is signed by Harper in silver cursive handwriting.
“Are you aware that Sen. Duffy played a very highly-active partisan role for the prime minister?” he asked his witness, who said he knew Duffy was a high-profile journalist when appointed.
The photograph is captioned in Cambridge, Ont. as a PMO (prime minister’s office) photo. A PMO spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Crown, however, argued on an objection the note was hearsay, and there was no way of knowing “the sincerity of this.”
Duffy, who was kicked out of the Tory caucus amid questions about his expenses, is facing 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery associated with his living and travel claims, and for accepting a $90,000 cheque from former chief of staff Nigel Wright.
It was another day of meticulous parsing of Senate rules by Bayne, who once again hammered the point that there is no criteria for determining a senator’s primary residence or for defining partisan activities in Senate policy.
He introduced other provincial and federal laws, including the Income Tax Act, which states a resident can claim their principal residence as a cottage, mobile home or even houseboat.
Watch: Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau shows up at trial for suspended senator Mike Duffy
The day was also interjected with some controversy, as suspended Sen. Patrick Brazeau arrived to watch the proceedings as he faces his own fraud and breach of trust trial in June.
Dressed in black, Brazeau sat in the back row of the courtroom, taking notes on a big yellow notepad. At one point, he ripped off a sheet and gave it to his lawyer, who stepped out of the room for a few minutes.
‘Inherent and essential’
Bayne told the court Harper personally asked Duffy “very early into his senatorial life” to join him to promote his government’s economic action plan.
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Duffy, who was named on Dec. 22, 2008 and officially appointed on Jan. 2, 2009, had been a senator for about six months.
Audcent said that according to Senate rules, the event would have considered part of his Parliamentary function.
“It’s public business for a senator,” Audcent said.
READ MORE: Senate has no rules for primary residence, Duffy trial hears
He added that it was unusual for a senator to be announced by press release before his official swearing-in, and even Audcent was unaware Duffy didn’t officially start until January 2.
Court heard earlier on Thursday that partisan activities are “an inherent and essential” part of the Parliamentary functions of a senator, but are not well-defined.
Watch: First witness in Mike Duffy Senate expense scandal trial
“In reality, partisan activities are inherent and essential as part of the Parliamentary functions of a senator,” Bayne said.
“I agree,” Audcent replied.
Audcent was also asked if a senator could combine private or family activities for travel purposes with official or partisan matters. He said his understanding is yes.
But Audcent said a senator could not claim expenses during a federal election campaign, and to promote their own business or that of a family member.
And the Senate would never cover party costs, such as registration fees for a political convention, he said.
Bayne also showed the witness a photograph of Harper and Duffy on Parliament Hill on May 17, 2010, welcoming a G8 and G20 youth delegation to Ottawa.
The defence lawyer examined the Crown’s first witness for more than four hours on Thursday, and is not expected to wrap up in at least midday on Friday. The next witness scheduled to testify is Senate human resources officer Sonia Makhlouf.
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