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“They come for an event and if they’re staying overnight, we might try to schedule an event, a breakfast or whatever we can,” he said. Duffy came just for the speech at a $50-a-head party affair. The riding association paid for his hotel room and breakfast, Cannan said.

Duffy’s diary, entered as evidence in the trial, doesn’t indicate he did anything in Kelowna other than have lunch with Cannan and appear at the fundraiser. Heather Duffy went on a wine tour.

Duffy is facing 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, mostly related to how he spent Senate money. Among them are allegations he spent his Senate travel allowance improperly, including on trips that were personal or partisan, even if they occasionally had superficial elements of legitimate Senate business.

His defence lawyer, Donald Bayne, has emphasized that the Senate’s rules say partisan activity is an inherent part of a senator’s job. Just how much partisan activity can reasonably be billed to taxpayers is the question Judge Charles Vaillancourt will have to answer.

The rules say that some activities, “such as” working on an election to the House of Commons or for a party nomination, are forbidden.

“Every day is an election period in the world of politics,” Cannan said when Bayne asked whether the Kelowna event was during an election campaign. At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper led a minority government and there was some thought of an election in the fall, so tensions were high. But no, strictly speaking, there was no election on and no nomination race being fought.

After a lunchtime break, the case was expected to continue with testimony from another MP.