Tories stand by accusation linking Liberals to organized crime...more crooked politicians...quel surprise...

Tories stand by accusation linking Liberals to organized crime

Canadian Press

Friday, November 25, 2005

Prime Minister Paul Martin is demanding a pre-election apology from Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. (CP PHOTO/Adrian Wyld)

OTTAWA (CP) - Tories stood defiantly by their allegation linking the Liberals to organized crime and dared their opponents Friday to make the accusation a campaign issue.

They flatly rejected Liberal calls to apologize. Prime Minister Paul Martin demanded a retraction and his office threatened to sue over the comments by Stephen Harper, who told the Commons on Thursday that the sponsorship program was 'a front for massive kickbacks involving organized crime, used by the Liberal party to fill its own election coffers.'.

But the Conservative leader said he has nothing to apologize for. One of his top lieutenants dared Liberals to keep pushing the issue during the upcoming election.

'The prime minister has got it backwards,' Harper said in an interview.

'It's the Liberal party that needs to apologize to Canadians.'

Harper added that 'a Conservative government will ask the appropriate authorities to pursue the Liberal party for the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars that are still missing.'

With pre-election mud-slinging setting the stage for a nasty campaign, the prime minister said his opponents should retract their allegation.

'Yesterday in the House of Commons, Mr. Harper made a statement concerning organized crime which is false,' Martin said on his way into a Kelowna, B.C. conference on aboriginal people.

'He should apologize and he should withdraw that statement.'

John Reynolds, the Tory election co-chair, was adamant there will be no apology:

'He's not getting one. It was a crime that was well-organized.'

Reynolds then cited testimony from the Gomery inquiry, which heard about envelopes stuffed with cash being handed out in restaurants and false paper trails hiding cash transfers to Liberals.

The sponsorship scandal has resulted in the criminal conviction of Montreal ad man Paul Coffin, while Jean Brault, another ad exec, and retired bureaucrat Chuck Guite also face charges.

And the RCMP is still looking into other possible crimes.

'There were crimes involved. The RCMP are investigating, money under the table, bags of cash,' Reynolds said.

'These were Liberals - no other political party in Canada. If they want to make this an election issue, good for them. . .

'Obviously when there's still $40.5 million missing that even (Justice John Gomery) with all his experts couldn't find, that's a very well organized crime.'

The dispute was just one of several slurs tossed back and forth between Tories and Liberals as the pre-election jockeying continues.

Martin wore a sombre expression as he spoke to reporters.

'This is not the first time Mr. Harper has made statements such as this in the shadow of an election campaign,' the prime minister said.

'Canadians deserve better. They want to see a national debate. They do not want to see a repetition of the kinds of acts and activities that we have seen during question period in the House of Commons over the course of the last year and a half.'

The Liberals are clearly hoping to exploit once again public distaste for campaign rough-tumble that crosses the line of good taste.
? The Canadian Press 2005"