OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Stephen Harper stood by his chief of staff, Ray Novak, as evidence in court suggested his senior aide was kept in the loop about a plan to have Nigel Wright reimburse Sen. Mike Duffy’s inappropriate expenses.

“These are the actions of Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright. You hold people responsible for their own actions. You certainly don’t hold subordinates responsible for the actions of their superiors. These are the two people responsible and they are being held accountable,” Harper said Friday during a campaign stop in Hay River, N.W.T.

Novak, a long-time aide to Harper, was promoted to chief of staff when Wright left the post four days after Canadians learned he had personally given Duffy $90,172 in February 2013 to reimburse inappropriate living expense.

Emails released his week as evidence presented at the trial of Duffy show that Novak was kept in the loop on much of the plan to have Duffy — then a high-profile member of the Conservative caucus — tell Canadians he would repay the money, blaming the mistake on ambiguous expense forms, in exchange for an investigation into his living expenses being rendered moot, and assurances his eligibility to sit as a senator for P.E.I. would not be in doubt.

The original plan was to have the Conservative party cover the expenses, but they balked when they discovered Duffy owed nearly three times as much as they originally thought, according to court documents.

Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust and the trial is ongoing. Wright was investigated by the RCMP but never charged.

In an email addressed to Novak and Benjamin Perrin, then legal counsel for the PMO, on March 23, 2013, Wright wrote: “I will send my cheque on Monday.”

Conservative campaign spokesman Kory Teneycke told reporters Thursday that Novak never saw that particular email.

“This wasn’t a file that Ray was ever managing or particularly a part of and he was unaware,” Teneycke told the Canadian Press.

Harper rejected the premise of questions Friday that Novak had been involved in deceiving the public, or hiding the truth of the situation from Harper.

“The reality is that there are two people who are responsible: his superior, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Duffy. They are being held accountable for their actions,” Harper said Friday.

Harper was also reminded by a reporter that even after the truth of Wright’s involvement had been made public, cabinet ministers continued to say in the House of Commons that Wright was the only person who knew and there were no documents regarding the transaction.

Timeline: Who knew what when?

“Why did you allow that to continue when you knew that it wasn’t the truth (and) that there were more people involved?” Harper was asked.

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“We were all told that Mr. Duffy had repaid his expenses. Mr. Duffy said that on national television, he had borrowed money from the bank, etc.” Harper said, referring to a statement Duffy had provided to CTV News as it was investigating the story that it was in fact Wright who had paid.

“That is what we all understood to be the truth. That is what the vast majority of, that’s not only what the entire caucus thought, and I thought, that’s what the vast majority of our staff also believed was the case,” Harper said.

Earlier Friday, New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair shared his disbelief that Novak did not read the email.

“There is no credibility whatsoever to that. I’m going to let Canadians decide that one. That is part of this election campaign,” Mulcair said at a campaign stop in Toronto.

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