Opposition also says Tories foot-dragging on investigation into
Mulroney-Schreiber

May 12, 2008 04:30 AM
Les Whittington
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–With MPs scheduled to head home soon for the summer, opposition
parties are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of stalling on two
high-profile investigations that could prove embarrassing or awkward
for his government.

Harper is under increasing pressure to get to the bottom of leaks on
NAFTA and to move ahead with a public inquiry into the Mulroney-
Schreiber affair – a probe he promised in November.

The Prime Minister is taking much too long to investigate the leak
from his office on Feb. 26 that led to American complaints that Canada
interfered in United States domestic affairs, says NDP deputy House
leader Joe Comartin.

It has been nine weeks since Harper said the government would
investigate this so-called NAFTA-gate incident, which caused an uproar
because it set back Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential
nomination.

"The report should have been out for sure by now and we're still not
seeing any signs of it," Comartin said in an interview. "There's no
reasonable explanation why it should have taken this long."

The Windsor-Tecumseh MP said Harper appears in no hurry to dig into
NAFTA-gate because it touches very prominent figures in the
Conservative government.

The incident arose after informal comments by Ian Brodie, Harper's
chief of staff, led to a report by CTV News in Washington suggesting
that Obama's call to reopen the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free-trade deal was
merely political posturing.

Harper admitted the leak proved "extremely unfair" to Obama and said
Kevin Lynch, the government's top public servant, would look into how
it happened.

But the Prime Minister rejected opposition demands to have Brodie and
Michael Wilson, the ambassador to the U.S. who was also said to be
involved in the leak, step down while the investigation went ahead.

And it later came out that Lynch had outsourced the probe to a private
Ottawa security firm.

Liberal MP Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South) said holding
back results of a probe of such importance to Canada-U.S. relations
would be unconscionable.

But he said Harper may delay the disclosure until "a time period when
the Conservatives will get the minimum amount of exposure," such as
the Commons' summer break slated to start June 6.

Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan recently told the Commons
that Lynch was assigned the probe to "ensure that it is fully
independent and thorough." A Lynch spokesperson said the probe is
ongoing; the government has pledged to make the results public.

On the Brian Mulroney controversy, the government is being criticized
for the length of time it has taken to launch a public inquiry – first
promised by Harper on Nov. 14 – into the former prime minister's
dealings with arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber.

University of Waterloo president David Johnston, asked by Harper to
set out terms of reference for a quasi-judicial inquiry, delivered his
final recommendations in the first week of April.

Opposition MPs, annoyed by the latest month-long delay, say the
government appears in no hurry to convene public hearings that will
focus public attention on the questionable activities of a former
Progressive Conservative leader. Unless someone is named quickly to
head the inquiry, it might not get underway until next autumn, the
opposition warns.

In the Commons on Friday, Liberal MP Judy Sgro (York West) said that,
despite promises of prompt action, the government appears to be taking
its "own sweet time" with the appointment.

Van Loan replied that an appointment is expected "very soon."

There is speculation the government may have run into trouble finding
a qualified judge to act as inquiry commissioner because of the
limited mandate Harper is expected to assign to the probe.

In his report, Johnston recommended a tightly focused inquiry that
would concentrate on the timing and motivation for Schreiber's cash
payments – at least $250,000 – to Mulroney shortly after the prime
minister left 24 Sussex Dr. in 1993. Johnston said there's no point
probing all the allegations and controversies that have arisen in
connection with the two men's dealings stretching back more than two
decades.

Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Harper, says the government hopes
to announce an inquiry commissioner soon.

http://www.thestar.com/article/424387