Was Duffy ordered to book a makeup artist for Harper? 

WATCH: The pace of the proceedings quickened on Thursday, with two witnesses taking the stand — a makeup artist and a fitness trainer who did work with Duffy. Mike Le Couteur tells us what they revealed about Duffy’s expense claims.

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s name and image have again been invoked by Mike Duffy’s lawyer to suggest the former Conservative senator was directed to book a makeup artist for a televised event involving the two politicians.

That $300 charge for makeup is now one of the contested expenses at the heart of Duffy’s fraud and breach of trust trial, as are his $80,000 in living expenses.

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Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges, including bribery for accepting $90,000 from former chief of staff Nigel Wright to pay off the expenses.

The Crown has suggested Duffy funnelled $65,000 worth of Senate contracts through his friend Gerald Donohue’s businesses, in order to pay for services such as makeup, a volunteer and a personal trainer that were not covered under legitimate Senate rules.

Mike Duffy trial: Prosecution examines contract with friend

But Duffy’s lawyer Donald Bayne suggested in his line of questioning to CTV makeup artist Jacqueline Lambert that the suspended senator may have been directed to book her for a May 2010 televised G8 event with Harper on Parliament Hill.

“Do you know who had contacted him to contact you?” Bayne asked Lambert.

“No,” she replied.

“So you can’t give any evidence as to how it was Senator Duffy ended up calling you, other than to say he ended up calling you?”

“Correct,” she said.

Bayne displayed in court a photograph of Duffy and Harper from the G8 event on Parliament Hill, showing the prime minister being interviewed by the former broadcast star.

It’s not the first time Harper’s image has been shown in court: a handwritten message thanking Duffy for his hard work has also been put on display to suggest Duffy was pressured by his political masters to travel on behalf of the Conservative party.

A spokesman for the prime minister’s office said in an email the office has no knowledge of the invoice in question.

“We did not charge taxpayers for the (prime minister)’s preparation for this event and had no reason to believe anyone else would do so,” spokesman Stephen Lecce wrote.

Lambert, who has known Duffy since the late 1980s, testified that she was paid the full amount for making up both Duffy and the prime minister.

“So you took the $300 payment to be payment in respect of prime minister Harper’s makeup,” Bayne asked.

“Yes, as well as Senator Duffy,” she said.

She said she would not have charged more for making up two people.

Lambert also said it was normal for politicians to pay for makeup for televised events. She said the late finance minister Jim Flaherty also paid for her services on budget day, and she invoiced the money to the Conservative Party but was paid in government of Canada cheques.

The Crown has suggested Duffy’s first attempt to expense Lambert’s makeup services for a photo shoot in March 2009 was rejected by the Senate, and so he took to using the Donohue contract money to pay for it the second time.

A Senate letter confirms the 2009 expense was rejected by Senate finance, and directed Duffy to submit a request to the Senate’s board of internal economy committee. It is not known whether he ever did.

Lambert testified she was told to invoice the service to Maple Ridge Media, Donohue’s company, and received a cheque for $300 in the mail later that month.

“Why did you invoice that particular company?” Crown prosecutor Jason Neubauer asked.

“I was directed to,” Lambert answered.

“By whom?”

“Senator Duffy,” she said.

Paid for ‘good work’

Earlier Thursday, a volunteer who worked in Duffy’s office for a few months in 2010 testified she had never heard of Donohue or his company when she got one of its cheques for $500 in the mail.

Ashley Cain, who worked in Duffy’s office once a week, testified that she didn’t expect to be paid when she was set up with a placement in Centre Block during the winter and spring months of 2010.

READ MORE: Judge will make Mike Duffy trial a priority, he says

Cain said she had an informal interview with Duffy’s assistant, Melanie Mercer, and they never discussed payment.

Cain testified that Duffy emailed her shortly before the May 2010 cheque was mailed and told her she was doing “good work” for her office duties and would be compensated.

“Did you sign a contract?” Neubauer asked.

“No,” Cain replied.

She also said she never signed any employment papers or submitted to a security check, as required by Senate employees. Cain said she went through the public’s security checkpoint each time she went to volunteer in the office.

Cain, who now works as a correspondence writer in the prime minister’s office, said she worked “mostly as an assistant to his assistant,” opening mail, sending basic receipts of acknowledgement, and sorting through business cards that Duffy had accumulated.

On cross-examination, Bayne asked if Duffy had received any “personal benefit” from the $500. Cain said he had not.

Cain also confirmed she performed real and “valid” work that related to the running of Duffy’s Senate office.