Harper's ex-chief of staff complained Senate call for increased FN education funding countered government line
-Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff Nigel Wright, who is now under an RCMP investigation, once complained to the prime minister that the Senate committee on Aboriginal Affairs had called for increased funding for First Nation education.
(Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right) and ex-chief of staff Nigel Wright. PMO photo)
APTN National News
OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff Nigel Wright, who is now under an RCMP investigation, once complained to the prime minister that the Senate committee on Aboriginal Affairs had called for increased funding for First Nation education.
The complaint is contained in a memo from Wright and sent to the prime minister. The memo was attached to an 80-page affidavit filed with Ontario court by an RCMP investigator seeking banking information around the $90,000 Wright used to cover suspended Senator Mike Duffy’s expenses.
The March 22 memo is focused on Senator Marjory LeBreton and a letter she wrote to Harper about the Senate’s internal economy committee’s handling of the then-simmering expense scandal. Wright complains in the memo that the Senate was proving difficult to control and lists the various issues which Conservative Senators had bucked the government’s line.
“What we see is a laissez-fair system that requires constant direction, supervision and follow-up from your office to ensure that government messaging and direction are followed,” wrote Wright. “This problem is not limited to expenses and residency issues. There are Senate committee reports that call on the government to lower airport rents, create a national pharmacare plan (and) invest heavily in Aboriginal education….”
The Conservatives have a majority in the Senate and can determine the outcome of Senate reports.
Liberal Senator Lillian Dyck raised the issue of the memo during question period in the Senate Wednesday and asked Conservative Senators pass on the funding increase recommendation to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt.
“I was quite shocked that that was in the report,” said Dyck during question period. “That is a constructive criticism. That is a recommendation from our committee’s report adopted by the Senate as a whole.”
On Tuesday, Dyck issued a notice of inquiry to probe “disparities” between education between on-reserve schools compared to provincial schools and the need for increased post-secondary education funding.
Wright and Duffy are both under RCMP investigation for bribery, fraud on the government and breach of trust.
RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton said in its affidavit that it found no evidence that the prime minister knew about Wright’s $90,000 payment to Duffy to cover off the former television broadcaster’s expenses.
It’s less clear whether Harper knew about a previous plan to have the Conservative party pay for Duffy’s expenses.
