The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, May 20, edition the Prime Minister's chief of staff Nigel Wright was influential helping the government mull the virtues and drawbacks of foreign state owned enterprises buying Canadian energy firms. The Globe's Nathan VanderKlippe writes that Mr. Wright had a say in the takeover of Nexen by CNOOC. Mr. Wright resigned on Sunday, just days after the disclosure that he had written a personal cheque for $90,000 to Senator Mike Duffy to help him repay erroneously claimed expenses. That decision removed from the centre of power a man for whom big business and big deals were familiar territory. "He brought a unique, valued and very timely perspective -- given the focus on the economy -- to the intersection of business and politics, and the loss of that insight will be hard to replace," said Hill and Knowlton lobbyist Goldy Hyder, which represented CNOOC on the $15.1-billion (U.S.) deal that Ottawa eventually approved. Mr. Hyder said, "Nigel Wright was perhaps the most impactful prime minister's chiefs of staff we have seen in some time." Mr. Wright had gone to Ottawa from Onex, where he had brokered substantial deals as managing director.