Chris Woodcock, ex-PMO top aide, 'uncomfortable' with attempt to drop auditor review of Duffy

As the third phase of the Mike Duffy trial wrapped up today, a former top aide at the Prime Minister's Office testified he felt "uncomfortable" that the PMO was attempting to get an independent auditor "locked in" to drop its review of the senator.

The trial, which will resume in mid-November, heard more testimony from Chris Woodcock, a former director of issues management, who was grilled again by Duffy's lawyer Donald Bayne.

For the past few weeks, the Duffy trial has been monitored in person by Nick Koolsbergen, the PMO's current director of issues management. Koolsbergen, dressed in a casual sweatshirt, declined to answer questions outside court on Tuesday about his attending the trial, but CBC News confirmed with Conservative Party spokesman Kory Teneycke that Koolsbergen is on leave from his PMO position and is working on the party's election campaign.

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Bayne was asking Woodcock whether he was ethically concerned by some of the actions being taken by members of the PMO in regards to Duffy's controversial expenses.

The PMO had cooked up a deal in which Duffy would admit he made a mistake with his living expenses, thought to be $32,000 at the time. In return, Duffy would have those expenses secretly covered by a party fund, have an audit into his expenses dropped and be ensured that he met the constitutional requirements of being a senator for P.E.I. — as eligibility had become an issue for some senators at the time

Bayne asked Woodcock whether he was troubled ethically by this secret deal and the fact he was crafting media lines for Duffy that were misrepresentations.

Woodcock said that at the time it didn't seem significant or a misrepresentation, and that the focus was on repaying the expenses to taxpayers.

However, Woodcock said, with the benefit of hindsight, "I think that's a judgment call that I don't necessarily agree with today."

Bayne also asked Woodcock about a series of emails regarding the Deloitte audit into the residency and expense claims of senators. Bayne has accused the PMO of trying to have auditors drop their review into Duffy in order to contain the political damage.

'I was uncomfortable'

Bayne zeroed in on an email from Patrick Rogers, who was manager of parliamentary affairs at the PMO, Rogers said he spoke with Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein who had a contact at Deloitte. 

"The stage we are at now is waiting for the Senator's contact to get the actual Deloitte auditor on the file to agree. The Senator will call back once we have Deloitte locked in," Rogers wrote.

Bayne asked Woodcock whether that caused him ethical concerns.

"I was uncomfortable," Woodcock said.

"Did you say anything?," Bayne asked.

"I did not," Woodcock said.

The trial, which began April 7 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa, is in the final week of its third phase. With more time needed, it was expected to break at the end of the week until resuming again Nov. 18.

The Crown said it was prepared to continue for the week and had scheduled Gerald Donohue, a former colleague of Duffy's, to testify.

But Duffy's lawyer Donald Bayne suggested an early adjournment, as Bayne's stepmother is gravely ill. Bayne also said he was worried that if Donohue started testifying this week and the trial adjourned, he might not be able to cross-examine him in November. Donohue's health is also declining.

Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt  agreed to adjourn the trial early. 

Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed in 2013 as a senator and later repaid with money from the PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper's right-hand man at the time.

Earlier, Bayne and Woodcock argued over whether Duffy was forced to accept the deal that made him admit he may have mistakenly claimed living expenses.

Bayne referred to a police statement made by Woodcock in which he said that the PMO had to force, convince and persuade the senator to agree to the plan.

When asked to clarify for the court what he mean by the the word force, he said it was interchangeable with the words convince, persuade or agree.

"The meaning that you're trying to attribute to the word force is not the meaning that I intended to convey. I intended to use persuade, convince. All of those were the same concepts to me when I gave that answer."

But Bayne responded that there are lots of ways to force people.

"I'm not suggesting that your team in the PMO got [Duffy] down on the floor and put a headlock on him and physically abused him. There are ways effectively to force people to do things."

Bayne had previously zeroed in on the use of the word force when he cross-examined Wright, who had also told the RCMP in an interview that the PMO had discussed a plan that was "basically forcing" Duffy to repay expenses he claimed. 

Wright said what he meant by the term force was that he was requesting and persuading Duffy to repay his expenses.