If Stephen Harper is to survive the Mike Duffy scandal that’s threatening his re-election campaign, it means he will have to hang onto his grip on strongholds like the London region.

The prime minister’s Conservatives held nine of the region’s 10 seats in the last Parliament, but the tricky task of keeping them looked tougher than ever Wednesday — his London campaign debut — as his job-creation agenda was drowned out by the reverberations of an Ottawa bombshell a day earlier.

The Mike Duffy trial heard that Ray Novak, then a Harper aide but now his chief of staff, knew of the plan by then-colleague Nigel Wright to cover the repayment of $90,000 in questionable expenses that Duffy filed as a Conservative senator.

In the fallout, Harper arrived in London, a region where one-third of his MPs are quitting politics, leaving the area’s power balance up for grabs.

For voters, the timing created a close-up look at Harper — dogged for days now by the Duffy scandal — on arguably the rockiest day so far of the longest modern election campaign in Canadian history.

But it may not have been entirely bad for Harper, says one political expert, who found a silver lining in the prime minister’s embattled re-election bid.

“If bombshells have to go off in the media, late August is not a bad time to have them go off,” said Cristine de Clercy, who teaches political science at Western University.

“For a variety of good reasons, most voters don’t engage in serious political thinking and participation through the summer months.”

The Duffy scandal, de Clercy noted, may have faded by the time voters plug back in after Labour Day in the final weeks before the Oct. 19 election: “We just don’t know.”

Harper was asked repeatedly Wednesday about the status of Novak, a Western University alumnus, who appeared to not be at Harper’s regional, seven-riding Wednesday evening in London.

In a morning event, in a sit-down question-and-answer session with Dan Kelly, head of the Canadian Federation of Small Business, Harper vowed a re-elected Conservative government would do more to reduce red tape for small business owners. He made the pitch to a group of about 70 business leaders.

Red tape at all levels in Canada costs businesses $37 billion a year, Kelly said.

But most of the few media questions allowed afterward were about disclosures made during the trial of Duffy, facing 31 counts of breach of trust and fraud. He has pleaded not guilty.

Harper was asked by reporters why Canadians should believe he did not know of Wright’s repayment plan, and why Novak still held his trust.

Harper said he wasn’t about to discuss a matter before the courts.

He said the facts in court “certify exactly what I’ve said” and that he didn’t know about the payment until after the fact.

“I told Mr. Duffy in February that he should be repaying expenses I simply thought were not justifiable. In March I was told that he was repaying those expenses. When I found out in May he wasn’t, I took the appropriate action.”

The morning and evening rallies — both held at London’s Lamplighter Inn — attracted small groups of protesters, with representatives of public-sector unions at the latter.

In a region hit hard by job losses following the closing of large factories — including a Kellogg cereal plant, a Ford auto plant and a locomotive factory — Harper told the morning crowd that small business needs less red tape to encourage its growth and prosperity.

He promised to continue reforming small business legislation and practices and to simplify how people who work from home offices can claim expense deductions.

In an announcement that affects even a smaller niche group of voters, he also promised to harmonize Canada’s car-seat rules with those of the United States.

Harper said manufacturing remains important in the London area and made note of a massive, $15-billion contract that General Dynamics Land Systems won to build armoured vehicles for Saudi Arabia. He said keys to stimulating industry and jobs include lower taxes, more training, innovation and immigration.

He also addressed changes to Ottawa’s temporary worker program — which many in the farming industry have panned — by saying “we only need foreign workers where Canadians are not actually available to work, and that they actually be temporary, that there actually be a plan to employ Canadians.”

Later, at the rally with riding candidates from Brantford to Chatham, Harper focused his 45-minute speech largely on the economy while mocking the financial plans of “Justin’s Liberals” and the NDP.

He also pitched himself as the only leader who can “keep Canadians safe” from terrorism.

WHAT OTHERS SAID:

"Our MPs that are here are in trouble, Ed Holder and Susan Truppe, so he’s here to openly prop them up." - Protester Stewart Wise

“Canada is not potash and tar sands. It’s the auto sector and there’s not much left here.” - Auto worker Paul Desrosiers, a Harper supporter

"(Harper is) a great friend to London and a great friend to business." - London West Conservative candidate Ed Holder