Duffy earned at least $91,000 for speeches
Senator continued to be booked through speakers’ agencies, says events were OK’d by Senate’s ethics officer
OTTAWA — In addition to the expenses for which he stands accused of fraud, Sen. Mike Duffy topped up his $132,000 annual Senate salary by charging as much as $15,000 per event to speak to lobby groups and trade associations.
The suspended senator’s calendar, entered into evidence in his ongoing trial on fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges, records numerous references to speaking engagements.
During cross-examination Thursday, Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes pressed Duffy for details of speaking events he performed after his appointment to the upper chamber.
Duffy’s speaking work was featured in a 2012 Ottawa Citizen report that showed, nearly three years after his Senate appointment, that he was continuing to offer his services as a paid orator through two speaker booking agencies, The Speakers Spotlight and the National Speakers Bureau.
At the time, Duffy told the Citizen he did “very little” paid speaking and that it had all been approved by the Senate ethics officer.
Until his calendar became public through the trial and testimony, the number and identity of the organizations and the fees they paid him were not known.
Based on calendar references and his testimony in court, the Citizen has identified at least $91,000 in speaking fees paid to Duffy by 11 different groups since he became a senator, and four other events that were arranged through a speakers’ agency but where the amount of fees paid, if any, is unknown.
Some of the events were booked before Duffy was named to the Senate in late December 2008.
While MPs and senators are allowed to earn extra money on the speaking circuit, the practice of parliamentarians charging for work similar to their official duties has become contentious. In 2013, the Conservatives repeatedly denounced then-Liberal MP Justin Trudeau when the Citizen reported he had accepted payment for numerous speeches after he became an MP but before he ran for his party’s leadership.
Multiple notations in Duffy’s calendar refer to events with the citation “MDMS” — in reference to Mike Duffy Media Services Inc., which he described in his 2012 Senate conflict-of-interest declaration as “a corporation involved in media consulting and public appearances.” During cross-examination, Duffy said he had formed MDMS when he worked as a journalist.
In February 2009, the month after he was sworn in, Duffy travelled to Saskatoon where he gave two speeches, one to the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association for $10,000, and another to Junior Achievement, for $5,000. Duffy told the court Thursday that he donated the fees from the Junior Achievement speech because he felt it was his “newfound duty as a senator.”
SUMA agreed to pay for Duffy’s airfare, hotel, meals, ground transportation and parking. Between 2009 and 2012, Duffy continued making speeches to trade associations and, in one case, a labour union, in addition to his Senate work. Duffy stopped charging for speeches after the Citizen reported that he and several other senators were listed with professional speakers’ bureaus.
Duffy did not respond to an email sent by the Citizen in April asking about the speaking work, but his lawyer, Donald Bayne, wrote in an email on Friday: “Sen. Duffy cannot reasonably be expected to comment on matters and evidence still very much before the court and awaiting the judge’s decision. At an appropriate time, Sen. Duffy may well be willing to answer your inquiries.”
In October 2010, Duffy gave the keynote speech at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s 75th anniversary dinner at the Château Laurier in Ottawa. Duffy was paid $15,000 for the speech, according to CFA director of communications Jessica Goodfellow.
Duffy travelled to Edmonton in June 2012 to speak to the Alberta Association of Food Processors. The association paid the speakers’ bureau a $10,000 fee and paid for his travel, according to its general manager, Melody Pashko.
On Dec. 4, 2012, Duffy travelled to Toronto to give a speech to members of the Ontario Agricultural Businesses Association.
Ron Campbell, the member services co-ordinator for the group, said Duffy was booked through a speakers’ bureau and paid a fee for the 2012 speech, but he couldn’t recall the amount.
Three days after the 2011 election, Duffy collected a $10,000 fee for a speech to the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. At the time, the CADA was registered to lobby government on budget measures related to automobile taxation, greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and making more credit available to car dealers and their customers. The organization never lobbied Duffy personally, either before or after the speech.
In September 2009, his calendar showed, he gave an MDMS speech to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Prince Edward Island. The entry referred to Marilyn Cassidy, who booked speaking events for Duffy through her agency, the Speakers Group, but no fee is cited. The event was booked before Duffy entered the Senate.
When the Citizen reported in December 2012 that Duffy was offering his services through speakers’ agencies, he said in an email, “Everything I do on the public appearance circuit (very little) is with the knowledge and approval of the ethics counsellor.”
In her 2013-14 annual report, the Senate ethics officer said that senators can accept honorariums for speaking, but only if their participation in the conference is not related to their parliamentary functions.
“However, the senator may accept an honorarium if the speech is given in connection with an outside or professional activity, the expertise was acquired before the senator was appointed to the Senate, and the honorarium cannot reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the senator,” the report says.