[3] Wright left the Prime Minister's Office[2] after it was reported that he had used his own money to permit Senator Mike Duffy to repay the government for housing expenses that were, at the time, the subject of media and political controversy.
"[8] At college, Wright was a campus activist for Brian Mulroney and co-founded The University of Toronto Magazine; as editor, he emerged as an admirer of Margaret Thatcher.
[6][7] Robert Prichard, chair of Torys LLP and former head of University of Toronto's law school, called Wright "among the very best and brightest of his generation.
During his time as a subdeacon at St. Thomas's Anglican Church, he was granted semi-private audiences with Pope Benedict XVI, and his predecessor, John Paul II.
He accompanied a group led by Father Raymond J. de Souza, Roman Catholic chaplain at Queen's University, on a tour of holy sites in Israel.
[11] In 1984, Wright was asked by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to go on hiatus from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and work for Charley McMillan, his senior policy adviser.
[11] Wright has committed his time to three major charities: LOFT Community Services, which provides housing for people in need; Out of the Cold, a multi-denominational program for the homeless; and Camp Oochigeas, a Muskoka facility that caters to children with cancer.
[11] During his work in Prime Minister's Office, Wright pulled back from active participation but was known to have asked staff members who travel to collect shampoo bottles provided by hotels for use in a women's shelter.
In accepting the position, Wright left behind a seven-figure salary for a job described by Derek Burney as "exhilarating but more strenuous than anything else I did in the public or private sector".
He led many of Harper's big priorities, from the high-profile talks about the trans-Pacific free trade zone, to drafting the policy that limits foreign investment by state-owned enterprises in the oil sands.
[6] Wright disclosed in writing to investigators that during his time in the Prime Minister's Office, he did not file a single expense claim, paying all his flights, hotels, meals and other costs from his own pocket.