John Stewart

August 13, 2008

Any move by the Conservative Party to discourage witnesses from appearing before his House of Commons ethics committee would be "a serious matter," Mississauga South MP Paul Szabo told reporters in Ottawa yesterday.

After adjourning a hearing of the ethics committee he chairs, Szabo said that three former official agents for Conservative candidates who were ordered to testify before the committee have indicated they were advised by the party not to attend.

"This is a serious matter," the 15-year Parliamentary veteran said. "It has to do with interfering with witnesses. This is a committee of Parliament."

Last week, Szabo issued summonses to several high-ranking Conservative officials as part of his committee's investigation into the so-called "in and out" funding scheme used by the Tories in the last campaign.

Election Canada officials say the practice, where funds were temporarily deposited by the federal campaign into the campaign coffers of local candidates in order to avoid national advertising spending limits, appears to be a violation of federal election law.

Cambridge Conservative MP Gary Goodyear flatly denied that his party had discouraged witnesses to attend. "I am telling you very clearly, the national party did not tell any of the witnesses to ignore their summons," he said.

Szabo admitted to reporters there is little that he can do to force testimony from reluctant witnesses.

"The chair of a standing committee does not have the authority to take any further steps with regard to this matter," he said. He is seeking advice from the House of Commons law clerk about how to proceed from here.

Liberal MP Derek Lee, who has written textbooks on Parliamentary procedure, said that if the Conservatives did discourage attendance of officials, the party could technically be found to be in contempt of Parliament.