Nigel S. Wright

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Wright wrote a personal cheque of $90,172 to Senator Mike Duffy, covering the cost of residency expenses. At the time, Duffy was under intense media pressure over these expenses. A Conservative Party spokesman confirmed the money was a gift from Wright, with no expectation of repayment. Shortly before his resignation, the Ethics Commissioner confirmed it was investigating Wright for his repayment of these expenses. [20] Wright then left government service. On October 28, 2013, PM Harper stated in an interview that Wright did not resign, but was in fact dismissed. [21] Wright decided to stay in Ottawa until the RCMP finished its investigation of the Senate. [22]

On April 15, 2014, the RCMP dropped its nearly year-long investigation into Wright, saying "the evidence gathered does not support criminal charges against Mr. Wright." [23] The RCMP would later lay 31 charges on Duffy on July 17, 2014.; [24] Duffy was exonerated of all 31 charges on April 21, 2016 and Wright's actions were condemned by Justice Charles Vaillancourt as "mindboggling and shocking" and "unacceptable" "in the context of a democratic society". [25]

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References

  1. Jane Taber (September 24, 2010). "Onex executive Nigel Wright becomes Harper's chief of staff". Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  2. 1 2 Christina Commisso (May 19, 2013). "Stephen Harper's right-hand man resigns over expense crisis". CTV. Toronto. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  3. McNish, Jacquie (24 November 2014). "Nigel Wright pilots $5-billion in deals for Onex". The Globe and Mail. Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  4. Michael Woods and Teresa Smith (May 28, 2013). "Senate committee votes to send Mike Duffy expense investigation to the RCMP". Vancouver Sun. Vancouver. Retrieved May 29, 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. 1 2 Kinsella, Warren (November 2, 2013). "Harper fights for survival: PM putting the blame on former chief of staff Nigel Wright wasn't just dishonest, it was disgusting". Toronto Sun. Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 (subscription required) "Who is Nigel Wright, the man who bailed out Mike Duffy?". The Globe and Mail. May 19, 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Nigel S Wright, Onex Corp: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 12 January 2021.[ dead link ]
  8. Chase, Steven. "From our archives: Who is Nigel Wright, the man who bailed out Mike Duffy?". Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  9. "Bay Street sings praises of Nigel Wright". Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  10. Stevens, Geoff (14 November 2013). "In defence of Nigel Wright" . Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 Posner, Michael. "MISTER RIGHT". The Walrus. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  12. Chase, Steven (May 18, 2013). "From our archives: Who is Nigel Wright, the man who bailed out Mike Duffy?". Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  13. 1 2 "Nigel S. Wright Esq". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
  14. "Nigel Wright, Harper's ex-chief of staff, returns to Onex". cbc.ca. CBC. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  15. Erman, Boyd; LeBlanc, Daniel (June 4, 2014). "Ex-Harper chief of staff Nigel Wright rejoins Onex". Globe & Mail. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  16. McParland, Kelly. "Kelly McParland: Nigel Wright, a good man caught in an ugly world". National Post. Retrieved January 22, 2014.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. G+M: "Read the RCMP's documents on Nigel Wright's cheque to Duffy" 20 Nov 2013
  18. "The Top 100 Most Influential People in Government and Politics: The List". Hill Times. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  19. "The 25 most important people in Ottawa". Maclean's. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  20. "What we know about Mike Duffy and the $90,172 repayment". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. May 16, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  21. "Harper says Nigel Wright dismissed". CBC. October 28, 2013.
  22. Stevens, Geoff (14 November 2013). "In defence of Nigel Wright". Rabble.ca. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  23. "RCMP drop investigation into Nigel Wright over $90,000 Duffy cheque". The Globe and Mail. April 15, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  24. "Suspended senator Mike Duffy faces 31 charges". CTV News. July 17, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  25. "Duffy is clear, but condemnation of Harper PMO is there for posterity: Tim Harper". thestar.com. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
Nigel S. Wright
13th Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister
In office
January 1, 2011 May 19, 2013