http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...ingwall_tories_060205/20060205?hub=TopStories
The Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of keeping David Dingwall's severance package under wraps, a "cover-up" they say may have cost them a majority win.
CTV News has learned the deal to pay the former president of the Royal Canadian Mint $417,780 along with associated pension benefits was approved Jan. 20, three days before Canadians voted in the federal election.
"I believe that could have been the difference between a Conservative minority and a majority," Jason Kenney, the Calgary-area MP, told CTV's Question Period.
"This was a cover-up that affected the result of the election and I think in away subverted democracy."
Conservative MP Jay Hill agrees, saying ethics played a prominent role in the recent election campaign, and knowledge of Dingwall's severance could have swayed more voters.
"We can only be left to surmise what difference it would have made if they were honest to Canadians and this had come out the Friday before the Monday election," said the British Columbia MP.
Privy Council Office announced the settlement package on Saturday following the decision of an independent arbitrator, George Adams, who concluded that Dingwall had not resigned, as the government suggested at the time, but had been fired.
The Conservatives are considering various avenues they can take to investigate the matter further, Hill said.
"Perhaps it would be possible to call Mr. Dingwall back towards the standing committees once those committees are reconstituted in this new Parliament and ask him why he misled the committee," he said.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Bill Graham, who has been named leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, defended the actions of his party.
"There was an arbitrator's decision that Mr. Dingwall was entitled to the money and that the responsible decision by the bureaucrats was that it should be paid," said Graham, who said he wasn't aware of the severance package until he read the newspaper Sunday morning.
Graham contended the only other alternative would have been for Dingwall to sue the government to receive the funds.
"So I think it was a responsible decision to pay it, and I think, frankly, (prime minister-designate Stephen) Harper should be glad that this page can be turned now rather than himself being involved in a lawsuit over the years."
The Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of keeping David Dingwall's severance package under wraps, a "cover-up" they say may have cost them a majority win.
CTV News has learned the deal to pay the former president of the Royal Canadian Mint $417,780 along with associated pension benefits was approved Jan. 20, three days before Canadians voted in the federal election.
"I believe that could have been the difference between a Conservative minority and a majority," Jason Kenney, the Calgary-area MP, told CTV's Question Period.
"This was a cover-up that affected the result of the election and I think in away subverted democracy."
Conservative MP Jay Hill agrees, saying ethics played a prominent role in the recent election campaign, and knowledge of Dingwall's severance could have swayed more voters.
"We can only be left to surmise what difference it would have made if they were honest to Canadians and this had come out the Friday before the Monday election," said the British Columbia MP.
Privy Council Office announced the settlement package on Saturday following the decision of an independent arbitrator, George Adams, who concluded that Dingwall had not resigned, as the government suggested at the time, but had been fired.
The Conservatives are considering various avenues they can take to investigate the matter further, Hill said.
"Perhaps it would be possible to call Mr. Dingwall back towards the standing committees once those committees are reconstituted in this new Parliament and ask him why he misled the committee," he said.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Bill Graham, who has been named leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, defended the actions of his party.
"There was an arbitrator's decision that Mr. Dingwall was entitled to the money and that the responsible decision by the bureaucrats was that it should be paid," said Graham, who said he wasn't aware of the severance package until he read the newspaper Sunday morning.
Graham contended the only other alternative would have been for Dingwall to sue the government to receive the funds.
"So I think it was a responsible decision to pay it, and I think, frankly, (prime minister-designate Stephen) Harper should be glad that this page can be turned now rather than himself being involved in a lawsuit over the years."
