Donald Bayne, legal counsel for suspended Senator Mike Duffy speaks with media following a court appearance Tuesday September 16, 2014 in Ottawa.
Mike Duffy's trial over fraud and breach of trust charges could see Prime Minister Stephen Harper among the witnesses called to testify, the suspended senator's lawyer says, in a case that could go to trial in the months before the next election.
Defence lawyer Donald Bayne made a brief court appearance Tuesday, a hearing Mr. Duffy did not attend, as Mr. Duffy faces 31 charges related largely to his expense claims. Mr. Bayne and Crown attorney Jason Neubauer asked for, and received, a one-week delay to schedule a trial date. Mr. Bayne hopes the trial will take place by spring, months before the next scheduled election, and expects it to last up to eight weeks.
"This will be [Mr. Duffy's] first opportunity for a complete airing of all the evidence before an impartial tribunal and his opportunity to clear his name, to show that he's guilty of no wrongdoing," Mr. Bayne told reporters outside court. He said Mr. Duffy – appointed as a Conservative senator by Mr. Harper – will press to go to trial as quickly as possible partly because of his health problems.
Asked specifically whether Mr. Harper could be called to testify, Mr. Bayne declined to rule out the possibility. "We're certainly going to consider all potential witnesses, but I'm not making any commitment that we're doing one thing or another at this early stage. But please understand this isn't being run as a personal or political vendetta," he said.
Mr. Duffy has signalled he intends to fight the charges. In a Senate speech last year before his suspension he said Mr. Harper "knew I wasn't guilty" and that "you can't trust this leadership to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
Whether Mr. Harper would ultimately testify is unclear. As an MP, he could claim parliamentary privilege – he has once before, when sued by former Conservative candidate Alan Riddell – though the House of Commons MP handbook says that privilege is "not intended to be used to impede the course of justice and, therefore, is regularly waived, particularly for criminal cases." MPs are also typically exempt from attending court when the House of Commons is in session. Mr. Harper has, however, testified on one occasion while serving as PM – cross-examined over an affidavit he filed in a libel case against the Liberal Party.
Nonetheless, if he claimed privilege, that could lead to separate legal wrangling that would likely delay a trial Mr. Duffy is pressing to have quickly, said Rob Walsh, a former law clerk for the House of Commons.
Mr. Harper signalled little interest in a court appearance when asked Tuesday during Question Period, by NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, whether he would testify if asked. "Obviously, if you read the investigator's report, there's absolutely no reason to suggest that I would do that [testify]," Mr. Harper said, referring to court documents filed by RCMP during the Duffy investigation. One such document said the officer had seen "no evidence to suggest that the Prime Minister was personally involved in the minutiae of those matters."
The next election is scheduled for October, 2015, but Mr. Bayne said Mr. Duffy was not looking for payback. "Let me make [it] clear: this isn't a political case, this is a criminal case. And it's going to be conducted professionally. The very strong judiciary in the Ontario Court of Justice will not allow this case to be turned into a political circus, and we certainly don't intend to conduct the matter that way," he said.
The vast majority of the charges against Mr. Duffy stem from his expense claims, his residency expenses and the awarding of Senate contracts. However, the case also includes three charges stemming from a $90,000 cheque written by Mr. Harper's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, to repay some of Mr. Duffy's expenses. Any testimony from Mr. Harper would be more likely tied to those charges, Mr. Walsh said, adding it's unclear how vigorously either the Crown or defence will pursue testimony from the Prime Minister.
"It depends on how critical they think the testimony is. On the other hand, think of it this way: if Duffy's going to give testimony of any kind directly implicating the Prime Minister, I would have thought the Prime Minister would want to be there, just to refute it," Mr. Walsh said. "It's very hard to predict how this is going to play out."
An Ontario government spokesman declined to comment on whether there was a courtroom and judge available to hold the trial by that time. Mr. Neubauer, the prosecutor, declined comment. The case is due back in court Sept. 23.