WATCH ABOVE: Harper’s chief-of-staff knew about $90,000 cheque for Mike Duffy’s expenses.
OTTAWA – Interest at the Mike Duffy trial has zeroed in on Stephen Harper’s closest aide, Ray Novak.
When backroom talks were at their peak in 2013, and senior staff was sending flurries of emails back and forth in an effort to douse the flames around Duffy’s contentious expense claims, Novak was officially the number two in Harper’s office — though the two had long-time, personal ties.
It wouldn’t be long before Novak officially rose to Harper’s number one staff member.
Once the public learned that the money Duffy used to repay more than $90,000 in questionable expenses came from the personal account of Harper’s top aide, Nigel Wright, the hammer dropped.
Wright tendered his resignation (according to early statements; Harper later said he dismissed Wright).
Other senior staff were either shuffled out of the Prime Minister’s Office or quietly left Parliament Hill.
Novak, though, was promoted, filling in the role as chief of staff left vacant with Wright’s departure in spring 2013.
He has held the position since, and those involved in the Duffy affair have said neither he nor the prime minister knew anything of Wright’s plan to use his personal funds to help Duffy repay the dubious housing and living expenses at the heart of the Senate spending scandal.
READ MORE: Stephen Harper’s trusted aide Ray Novak knew of Mike Duffy payment scheme, court hears
Even while Wright was in office, Novak was the longest serving member of Harper’s inner circle, having become the Harper’s executive assistant in 2001 when he was making his bid to lead the Canadian Alliance. He was promoted to the number two position in the Prime Minister’s Office, principal secretary, in 2008 – after the federal parties on the right merged and the Harper Conservatives had already formed government.
Prior to entering the public sector, Novak, 38, received an honours degree in political science from the University of Western Ontario, then did post-graduate studies in political science at the University of Calgary.
Novak’s path crossed with Harper’s when he was working at the National Citizens Coalition as a researcher when Harper was heading the right-leaning lobby group.
Once Harper became leader of the Opposition, the two were arguably closer, with Novak living in a one-bedroom apartment above the garage at the official residence for Opposition leader, Stornoway.
Throughout the Duffy saga, now spanning more than two years, Harper has maintained Wright acted alone – that only Wright and Duffy can be held responsible for the payment scheme, and both have.
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The denials came as recently as last week, when evidence entered in Duffy’s ongoing fraud, breach of trust and bribery trial showed Novak had been copied on an email explicitly noting Wright would pay.
LIVE BLOG: Cross examination continues at the Mike Duffy trial
Kory Teneycke, who’s acting as a spokesman during the election campaign, said Novak missed that email.
Then, during Wright’s ongoing testimony, the defence questioned whether Novak was on a March 2013 conference call between PMO staffers and Duffy’s counsel at the time.
It was during that call, that Wright informed the lawyer he intended to use his funds to repay Duffy’s contentious expenses.
Emails showed Novak was expected on the call.
In testimony, Wright said Novak wandered in and out of the office during the call but didn’t hear that pivotal detail.
To reporters, Teneycke has said Novak was called away from the call before Wright announced his plan.
Evidence read in court this week, however, contradicts both; according to a police interview with Benjamin Perrin, who was then a PMO lawyer, he looked toward Novak, searching for a reaction, when Wright told his colleagues and Duffy’s lawyer how the embattled senator’s expenses would be returned to the taxpayer.
With files from The Canadian Press
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