[H3]Harper to be investigated by ethics commissioner[/H3][P class=timeStamp]Updated Fri. Mar. 3 2006 3:00 PM ET
[P class=storyAttributes][SCRIPT language=DOH!script type=text/XXXXscript] var byString = ""; var sourceString = "CTV.ca News Staff"; if ((sourceString != "") && (byString != "")) ( document.write(byString + ", "); ) else ( document.write(byString); )[/SCRIPT]CTV.ca News Staff
Ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro is launching a preliminary inquiry into conflict-of-interest allegations against Prime Minister Stephen Harper, CTV News has learned.
Shapiro says he will look into what influence may have been wielded in the decision by former Liberal David Emerson to cross the Commons floor and join Harper's Conservative government cabinet.
"The ethics commissioner is apparently investigating ... whether Mr. Harper induced Mr. Emerson to come over with the offer of a cabinet post," CTV's Robert Fife told Newsnet Friday.
"It's a very serious thing when an ethics commissioner is investigating a prime minister and a cabinet minister over party switching."
In a letter to several MPs who complained about the switch, Shapiro says he will issue one report on the conduct of both Harper and Emerson, who is now international trade minister.
"There was no investigation when Belinda Stronach switched and when Scott Brison switched. This ethics comissioner has opened a Pandora's Box today with this investigation," Fife added. Emerson won his east Vancouver riding as a Liberal in the Jan. 23 election, winning by a solid majority over veteran New Democrat Ian Waddell. The Conservative candidate was a distant third.
However, just days after leading the Liberals' B.C. campaign attack on the Tories, Emerson jumped ship and joined the new Conservative government.
Amid an increasing uproar, Emerson later apologized for the switch in letters that arrived in the mailboxes of his constituents.
"I know many of my constituents are having difficulty with the choice I have made," he said in the letter. "To those of you who are upset with my decision, I apologize."
Despite the controversy, Emerson recently pledged to run again for Vancouver-Kingsway in the next federal election, saying hard work on B.C. issues such as softwood lumber, the Olympics and the Pacific Gateway trade initiative will win over the dissenters.
"I'm driving those issues hard and I strongly believe that people will look at the specifics of my job and my performance in the next election," he told reporters last month.
Emerson, former CEO of forest giant Canfor Corp. and once a senior B.C. government bureaucrat, was initially flummoxed by the backlash his floor-crossing spawned.
A reluctant recruit to partisan politics, Emerson contemplated quitting but then said he believes he was right to jump.
He is the only Tory MP in Vancouver's urban core.
[img height=120 alt="Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now under investigation by the federal ethics commissioner." src="vny!://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060127/160_harper_060127.jpg" width=160 border=0]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now under investigation by the federal ethics commissioner.
[img height=250 alt="Former Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson, now minister of International Trade at the Conservative caucus meeting in Ottawa. (CP / Tom Hanson)" src="vny!://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060208/160X_cp_emerson_060208.jpg" width=160 border=0]
Former Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson, now minister of International Trade at the Conservative caucus meeting in Ottawa. (CP / Tom Hanson)
So much for accountability. hypocrite.
