Harper, Trudeau have heated exchange in the House

Opposition members fired questions about the senate scandal at Prime Minister Stephen Harper Tuesday.

Harper was back in the House of Commons for question period for the first time since his trip to South America.

Harper says he had no knowledge of the agreement between his former Chief of Staff and Senator Mike Duffy including the $90,000 personal cheque Nigel Wright wrote to cover Duffy’s improper expenses.

Trudeau: “The Chief of Staff walks into the PM’s office on Wednesday morning, looks him in the eye and says that, unbeknownst to him, he’d secretly paid a sitting legislator 90 thousand dollars to obstruct an audit. If that were true, the PM should have fired Nigel Wright on the spot. Instead he spent five days defending him and calling him honourable. Has the Prime Minister grown so out of touch that he actually expects Canadians to believe this story?”

Harper: “The facts here are simple – whether or not the opposition particularly likes them. The facts are simple and they are clear. It was the belief of Mr. Wright that Mr. Duffy should repay any inappropriate expenses. Mr. Wright decided on his own, using his own resources to assist Mr. Duffy in that repayment; a matter he kept to himself until Wednesday, May 15th.”

Even though Prime Minister Harper says he was informed of the cheque the morning of May 15th, critics argue the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement the night before, saying no taxpayer money was used for the repayment.