Richard Warman

Nina wins

http://www.thenownewspaper.com/issues06/014106/news/014106nn3.html

Jan. 25

Nina Grewal rides Conservative wave to Ottawa

Marisa Babic

As soon as the first poll results were flashed on the TV screen, it was clear the race between incumbent Conservative MP Nina Grewal and Liberal challenger Brenda Locke was going to be a tight one.

After a seesaw battle all night, at times with only 600 or 700 votes separating the two candidates, Grewal won the riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells by a slim margin.

Grewal received 14,577 votes and Locke trailed with 13,762.

In an interview with the Now after her victory, Grewal acknowledged the squeaker.

"I'm really humbled and honoured. The constituents of Fleetwood-Port Kells put their trust in me," Grewal said at her celebration party at the Days Inn. "I'm feeling great. I was confident right from the beginning that we would win this race."

Grewal wasn't feeling quite so confident earlier in the evening when she showed up at her campaign headquarters to support her volunteers and campaign team. She offered cautious comments about her personal chances of victory, although she was still musing about a possible Tory majority.

She was at a loss to explain the close race between her and Locke.

"I don't know. I have no idea," said Grewal who showed up at her campaign headquarters without her husband, Gurmant Grewal, who was embroiled in a bizarre taping controversy last summer.

She denied the scandal cost her votes.

"I have done lots and lots of door knocking and nobody came up with that taping thing," she said.

Gurmant Grewal, a three-term Reform and Conservative MP, was at the celebration party but Nina entered the room to cheering supporters on her own.

Grewal stepped aside for this election, claiming he wanted to spare his party further controversy. Although he was pleased by the election results, he admitted he was disappointed at not being part of the victory as his party finally tastes power. He believes he would have played "a significant role" in government.

With spare time on his hands, Grewal said he might be writing a book, possibly a tell-all about the taping scandal and other machinations in Ottawa.

Nina Grewal finessed a question about a possible cabinet post.

"Let's see. Let's hope for the best. I can't say much, it depends on Mr. Harper," she said.

Grewal acknowledged that Canadians' expectations have been raised with the Conservative victory, especially in the West, which has felt alienated over the years by centrist Ontario-Quebec governments. She rejected a suggestion her team lacks experience and insists they are up to the job of governing the country.

"We have all the experience. We are offering hope, vision for the country and we are a good alternative to the Liberals and we will give that hope and vision," she said.

Locke admitted it's tough to lose when you're so close.

She said her campaign team put up a good fight and warned Grewal she'll be back for a re-match in the next election.

"I'm definitely in it for next time," Locke said at her campaign headquarters, where supporters included Gulzar Cheema, who failed to win the riding in the 2004 election.

"I'll be working on delivering Fleetwood-Port Kells and I'll watching every step that Nina Grewal makes and she better do a better job or she'll have me and a whole bunch of other people to answer to.

"She's not getting another chance."

Locke said she'll use the time until the next election to build a stronger base of support.

Grewal supporters were jubilant when Conservative leader Stephen Harper was projected to become the next prime minister early in the evening while Grewal was still fighting for her seat.

"Excited - a western prime minister and a young man," said 82-year-old Jenny Leach who came to campaign headquarters to wait for the results with her husband Fred Leech, 83.

"He's a western prime minister for a change. That's what counts," said her hubby.

"It will mean we'll get an even break for a change."

NDP contender Barry Bell captured 10,961 votes. Independent candidate Jack Cook received 3,202 votes and Green party candidate Duncan McDonald garnered 1,059 votes.

David Sweet

David Sweet Watch is a new blog following David Sweet

Globe and Mail: Harper failed to meet ethics czar on Grewal

Harper failed to meet ethics czar on Grewal
By CAMPBELL CLARK
Thursday, January 26, 2006 Posted at 5:22 AM EST
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Stephen Harper failed to meet federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro despite repeated attempts over four months to interview him for an inquiry into the Gurmant Grewal affair, Mr. Shapiro noted in a report released yesterday.

Despite a code of conduct that says it is an MP's duty to co-operate with an inquiry by the commissioner, Mr. Harper's office told Mr. Shapiro he could not find time in his schedule to answer his questions between August and November of last year. Instead, Mr. Shapiro spoke to an aide.

The report was ready last Friday but delayed to prevent accusations of political favouritism in the last days of an election campaign. In the report, Mr. Shapiro wrote that he wanted to ask Mr. Harper when he knew about the surreptitious recordings of conversations that Mr. Grewal, then a Conservative MP, had with senior Liberals about switching sides for a crucial no-confidence vote.

In the end, Mr. Shapiro concluded that it is unclear whether Mr. Grewal was really seeking a reward for crossing the Commons floor, or whether he wanted merely to entrap the Liberals -- but that at the very least, his actions flew in the face of the principles of the code of conduct for MPs.

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On the eve of a no-confidence vote last May 19 that the Liberals won by one vote, Mr. Harper's office released excerpts of recordings Mr. Grewal made, and asserted that Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, chief of staff to Prime Minister Paul Martin, offered him and his wife, Nina, also an MP, patronage jobs if they switched sides.

Two weeks later, under pressure, Mr. Grewal began releasing versions of all the conversations -- the first with 14 minutes missing. The last version showed that while Mr. Murphy and Mr. Dosanjh said he would be welcomed to the Liberals and did not rule out appointments, they refused to make any deal.

In his report, Mr. Shapiro cleared Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Murphy of violating the code.

He said there is no evidence that they offered a specific inducement, such as a cabinet post or diplomatic appointment for Mr. Grewal or Ms. Grewal, who was re-elected on Monday. They both corroborated Mr. Martin's testimony that he had instructed them not to make any deal.

But Mr. Shapiro wrote that Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Murphy should have stopped the "conversational dance" with Mr. Grewal -- who did not seek re-election in Monday's federal election -- when he repeatedly asked for a reward for switching sides.

Mr. Dosanjh said in an interview he was "relieved" that Mr. Shapiro found he did not violate the code of ethics, but he charged that Mr. Harper knew about and condoned the taping of conversations.

"It's troubling for me that the decision to actually go public with the tapes was made in the office of the then-Leader of the Opposition, now prime-minister-designate Harper," Mr. Dosanjh said.

"I shudder to think that a person who wants to be the prime minister of the country and is parroting words such as openness, integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency, hid from the Ethics Commissioner while he has an obligation as a member of Parliament to co-operate fully with the Ethics Commissioner."

A spokesman for Mr. Harper, William Stairs, noted that the Conservative Leader's former communications director, Geoff Norquay, met with the Ethics Commissioner, and said Mr. Harper did meet with members of the RCMP who also looked into the affair.

"I understand that Dr. Shapiro got all the information he needed from the members of our staff," he said.

Mr. Harper said publicly last spring that he did not speak to Mr. Grewal about his meetings with the senior Liberals until the morning of May 18, two days after the talks began.

He said he told Mr. Grewal not to tape a conversation with Mr. Martin if he met with him.

Although Mr. Grewal continued to tape conversations later that day, Mr. Harper defended his MP, saying that tape-recording conversations is legal.

The Ethics Commissioner wrote that Mr. Norquay corroborated that version of events, but that he was unable to speak to Mr. Harper despite "numerous attempts" to clarify that it was only on May 18 that Mr. Grewal told him "that he was tape recording conversations with the Liberals about crossing the floor and the offers that were being discussed."

The MPs' code of conduct calls for them to maintain high ethical standards and enhance trust in their integrity.

"Regardless of which is, in fact, the case, Mr. Grewal's actions were in my view entirely inappropriate and deserving at the very least, of reproach," he wrote.

Reached yesterday, Mr. Grewal said he had not yet read the Ethics Commissioner's report.

story about Gordon Stamp, campaign manager

Riding offices ho-ho-hold the vote
Christmas Day just another workday for elections-office staff as voters cast special ballots across the country

Jason Markusoff and Alex Hutchinson, The Edmonton Journal; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, December 26, 2005

Of all the traditional things there are to do on Christmas, voting is not one of them.

Changes in Canada's electoral law since the last winter campaign in 1979-80 stipulate that offices in all 308 ridings must be open every day from the time the writ is dropped until six days before the election, a spokesman for Elections Canada said.

And with no traffic, no lineups and mild weather in many areas of the country, at least some voters were taking advantage of the opportunity.

The Edmonton Centre returning office at Westmount Shopping Centre had a slow but steady stream of voters.
Karen Cuthbert and Glyn Williams are heading on a Thailand vacation early Tuesday, and needed to vote in advance. They were surprised at a 15-minute wait on Christmas Day.

"We could have gone yesterday (on Christmas Eve), but it would have been really busy at the mall," Cuthbert said. "This was a perfect time to go when it was quiet."

A Grant MacEwan College student grinned widely as he came out from behind the cardboard voting booth. "I couldn't think of anything more perverse to do on Christmas Day than go vote," he said, unwilling to offer his name, let alone his voting preference.

Jean Perley, who was filling out her ballot at the Ottawa-Vanier returning office, said: "I thought I was hearing things on the radio when they said I could come and vote today."

After phoning Elections Canada to make sure she had heard correctly, Perley and her husband, Alan, decided to exercise their franchise, since they will be in Florida on election day.

Many of the people taking advantage of the special ballot option are snowbirds like the Perleys, said Daniel Laurin, the supervisor of special ballots in Ottawa-Vanier.

"There are a lot of senior citizens living in this riding," Laurin said.

"Some of them are already in Florida; others will be heading there after Christmas."

The special ballot differs from the advance polls that will be held on January 13, 14 and 16, since candidates have until January 2 at 2 p.m. to declare their candidacy. As a result, no ballots are printed, and voters instead have to write in the name of their preferred candidate.

While this demands an additional measure of political awareness, voters needn't worry about getting the spelling exactly right.

"The idea is that the intention must be clear," an Elections Canada spokesman said.

"If it's badly written, but the intention is clear, then it will still count."

Josephine Stamp's vote in Edmonton East was a sort of Christmas gift to her new country. Originally from Indonesia, this was her first ballot as a Canadian citizen.

"Now is a day that I've waited for for a very long time," she said. "I'm doing my duty as a citizen."

She also brought coconut shortbread cookies for the returning office staff, a little gift from the riding's Conservative campaign. Stamp's husband, Gordon Stamp, is campaign manager for incumbent candidate Peter Goldring.

"I didn't believe they should be open today, so I thought this would be something nice to do," Josephine said.

Surrey Leader: Grewal trailed in poll, but it wasn't a factor

Grewal trailed in poll, but it wasn't a factor

By Dan Ferguson Staff Reporter
Dec 02 2005

I could have won, insists Newton-North Delta MP

A Conservative Party of Canada poll carried out before Newton-North Delta MP Gurmant Grewal resigned showed the controversy-plagued MP faced an uphill battle for re-election. "I was running behind," Grewal told The Leader on Wednesday, the day after he announced he would not be running in the current election.

Grewal would not reveal the exact numbers in the recent poll, except to say he wasn't behind by much. "It was neck and neck."

Grewal said the poll results did not prompt his decision, adding he's won come-from-behind victories three federal elections in a row. "Every single time I was underestimated."

He said he made his decision to withdraw on Monday after learning the Liberals were planning to revive the controversy that erupted when he secretly taped discussions with senior Liberals about him joining the party.

It would be a "smear campaign," Grewal said, one that would twist the facts and paint him as a person of questionable ethics.

Grewal has said the Liberals sought him out and dangled plum jobs to get him to cross the Commons floor, while the Liberals claimed Grewal was the one who made the approach and angled for the postings.

He maintains there are no new revelations that could be used against him. "If I look in my closet, there is not enough inventory in it," he said.

Another factor in his decision was the delayed release of a report on the taping by Parliament's ethics commissioner. Grewal understood the report would be released before the election, and had heard rumours that it would be critical of the Liberals' conduct during the discussions. But without those findings, Grewal said he knew it would be easier for the Liberals to distract voters and divert attention from the governing party's sponsorship scandal. "The dogs (would) keep barking," he said.

Grewal admitted to some frustration, even anger at the way the taping controversy played out. He is proud of having a tough hide, but he tensed and his eyes narrowed for a moment when he was asked about Conservative leader Stephen Harper's decision to crack a joke during a parliamentary press gallery dinner in Ottawa about Grewal re-editing a video tape of a hockey game.

Then, he shrugged it off and said Harper was simply poking fun at news coverage, and he remains confident of his leader's support.

Beyond working "as a family member" to help his MP wife Nina get re-elected, he said he hasn't decided what comes next. He confirmed he has been sounded out about being a talk-show host on a local Punjabi-language radio station, but described it as a tentative offer and only one of several possibilities open to him.

"I'm an optimistic man," he said. "I have an MBA (master of business administration degree). I have options."

He said he may write a book about his experiences as one of the first South Asians to be elected to parliament in Canada.

Grewal is proud of his record, listing off accomplishments that include forcing the federal government to remove radioactive material from Surrey storage sites, campaigning to win legal protection for whistle-blowers and the elimination of taxes on taxes.

In nine years as MP, he said he never took a vacation.

The 47-year-old will not be eligible to collect a parliamentary pension until he turns 55.

"I used to think politics is a noble profession," he said. Now, he said the battering he took over the tapes and other issues has left him "somewhat cynical" about the way the political game is played.

(Unrelated: Cindy Silver, North Vancouver)

Harper jokes about Grewal's editing skills

Over at CFRA radio is a story about last night's Press Gallery Dinner, an annual event at which politicians and press get together to roast one another.

Stephen Harper had what looks like the evening's best line:Harper added that the reason why Tory MP Gurmant Grewal missed the gala was because he was "at home taping the hockey game for his boss" and "editing it to make sure his team won."

Oct. 22, 2005: Harper makes joke about Grewal's editing skills

http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=1&nid=33203

Governor General Admits ... She's 'Hot'
Darren McEwen
Sunday, October 23, 2005 2:46 AM

Members of Parliament and Canada's new Governor General took time out of their busy schedules to roast each other and the media Saturday night. The annual Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner was held at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.

Governor General Michaelle Jean jokingly admitted the real reason why Prime Minister Martin selected her to be the GG.

"He chose me because I'm hot!" Jean said to a jovial audience.

But not everyone was bragging about their looks. "I'm probably the only person here who looks like their passport photo," said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

Harper added that the reason why Tory MP Gurmant Grewal missed the gala was because he was "at home taping the hockey game for his boss" and "editing it to make sure his team won."

Prime Minister Martin, NDP Leader Jack Layton and even former prime minister Brian Mulroney addressed the crowd.

Oct. 4, 2005: Grewal speaks on whistle-blowing legislation

From Hansard Oct. 4, 2005:

Mr. Gurmant Grewal (Newton—North Delta, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today on behalf of the constituents of Newton—North Delta to participate in the report stage debate on Bill C-11, the public servants disclosure protection act. Bill C-11 creates a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoing in the federal public sector. If enacted, this bill would finally give Canada whistleblowing legislation, something other nations have had for decades.

When we look into the background of the bill, we see that this government has had 4,350 days to fulfill its promise and introduce effective whistleblowing legislation. That is how long this government has had.

The former government House leader, the hon. member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, said in 1992, while in opposition, “Public servants must be able to report about illegal or unethical behaviour that they encounter on the job without fear or reprisal”. In his speech, the hon. member then went on to quote a Liberal caucus-approved document, “Public Sector Ethics”, calling for whistleblowing legislation.

However, once secure in office, the Liberals quickly forgot about their promises. In the end, it took the sponsorship scandal for this weak-kneed government to dust off its decade-old promise.

Meanwhile, we have witnessed billions of taxpayers' dollars disappear. The sponsorship scandal could have been avoided or at least quashed years ago if whistleblowing legislation had been in place. The same holds true for the HRDC boondoggle, the George Radwanski affair, the gun registry cost overruns and so on.

Public service integrity officer Edward Keyserlingk, referring to the sponsorship program scandal, said that whistleblowing legislation could have saved taxpayers millions of dollars by giving public servants “the confidence to come forward”.

It is little wonder no one blew the whistle on this scandal. In the absence of any whistleblowing legislation, even well-meaning public servants are reluctant to come forward because they know that making trouble will be a career ending move.

This government claims to support whistleblowers, but its actions indicate otherwise. Let us look at the case of the three scientists from Health Canada who were fired in June 2004: Margaret Haydon, Shiv Chopra and Gérard Lambert.

They were among this country's most outspoken whistleblowers. They raised issues such as the safety of a bovine growth hormone proposed for use in dairy herds to boost milk production, the influence of corporations in government drug approvals, and the need to keep animal parts out of the feed supply to keep beef safe. All three were fired on the same day for undisclosed reasons, which, Canadians were told, had nothing whatsoever to do with their whistleblowing. The government must think Canadians are hopelessly naive.

The Liberals have been boasting about Bill C-11 and everything they are doing for public servants who disclose wrongdoing. However, firing dissenting research scientists sends another message. It tells public servants that debate is discouraged in the federal government and no one's job is safe.

As far as Bill C-11 is concerned, in its original form the bill would have done more harm than good for whistleblowers. However, after a lot of hard work by Conservatives in committee, some of the major flaws have been corrected.

À (1010)

I do not want anyone to get me wrong. The bill is still far from perfect but thanks to the pressure applied by the Conservative Party, the government has relented and tabled amendments to create an independent commissioner to hear and investigate disclosures of wrongdoing. This was an essential change to the proposed legislation.

Other amendments have not been forthcoming, including: having the commissioner report directly to Parliament instead of to a minister; prohibitions of reprisals against those who make disclosures of wrongdoing to the public, media, police or anyone outside the narrow process prescribed in the bill; elimination of provisions to change the Access to Information Act to allow departments to refuse to release information about internal disclosures of wrongdoing for five years; and, the bill would still allow cabinet to arbitrarily remove government bodies from protection under Bill C-11.

The bill represents an improvement over the status quo but it remains clear that the government is more interested in managing whistleblowing than protecting and encouraging public servants who uncover evidence of wrongdoing.

It would be interesting to know if there could have been a better way to protect whistleblowers. Like the members for New Brunswick Southwest and Winnipeg Centre, as well as Senator Kinsella, I have for years been lobbying for a strong whistleblower protection. In October 2000, I introduced Bill C-508, the whistleblower human rights act, which was probably the first bill introduced in that session about whistleblowing protection.

My legislation, drafted with the help of actual whistleblowers, including Joanna Gualtieri, Brian McAdam, Robert Reid and many others, would have given people the confidence to come forward but the Liberals could not muster up the courage to support an opposition member's bill.

When the bill finally came to a vote in February 2003 as Bill C-201, because I had reintroduced the same bill, government members refused to lend their support to my initiative. If the government had been sincere about whistleblowing, Liberal members would have voted differently that day. We know the government did not want to pass the bill at that time. Instead, it revealed how phoney its promise had been.

The last time I participated in the debate on Bill C-11, I highlighted a good comparison of my bill, which was drafted by whistleblowers, to Bill C-11 at that stage. There was a big contrast. Many members on the Liberal side were nodding their heads in favour of some of the things that I was proposing in my bill.

The government needs to do more to encourage the reporting of wrongdoing and should stress that it is an important civic responsibility. In fact, it should be the stated duty of every employee to disclose any wrongdoing that comes to their attention.

Based on the experiences of the whistleblowers I have met, their careers and personal lives have been devastated. I believe an employee who has alleged wrongdoing and suffers from retaliatory action as a consequence should have a right to bring a civil action before a court. As well, allegations of wrongdoing should be rewarded like in California where whistleblowers are entitled to 10% of the money government saves as a result of their vigilance.

It is vital that the threat of employer retaliation be eliminated to encourage government employees to speak up. This will assist in curtailing the misuse of taxpayer dollars. Every day there seems to be new reports of corruption and scandal with the government that could be eliminated.

When I blew the whistle on whistleblowing, the Liberals had their ears plugged. Four years ago, in the face of government opposition, I introduced legislation which the Liberals refused to support at that time. Now is the time they should be serious about making this bill effective. Since it was first introduced some important amendments have been made but it is still flawed. I think we will let it pass so that a Conservative government will have the opportunity to make it stronger.

Aug. 12, 2005: Canoe. RCMP press release on completion of review of Gurmant Grewal's recordings

RCMP will not launch criminal investigation into Grewal tapes

OTTAWA (CP) - The RCMP will not launch a criminal investigation into the Gurmant Grewal affair, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a probe into allegations of bribery and related wrongdoing.

In a statement Friday, the Mounties said they have reviewed complaints surrounding surreptitious audio recordings the Conservative member of Parliament made of conversations with Liberal MPs last spring. The RCMP say they listened to the tapes, interviewed those involved and determined no criminal investigation is warranted.

"We're pleased that the RCMP has cleared Mr. Grewal," said Williams Stairs, the communications director for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

"We were confident all along of his integrity and the RCMP has confirmed our judgment," Stairs said.

Grewal, MP for the B.C. riding of Newton-North Delta, was unavailable for comment.

Grewal claimed that Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, had offered him and his wife Nina, also a British Columbia MP, positions if they joined the Liberals just before a crucial budget vote May 19.

Dosanjh said he was pleased to hear of the RCMP decision.

He was, however, critical of Harper's support of Grewal through what he called an "unseemly affair."

"I think it is important, however, for Canadians to reflect with concern on the fact that this sorry episode had its origins in the scheme by Mr. Grewal and the Office of the Leader of the Opposition to publicly besmirch my reputation and integrity with allegations of vote buying and bribery based on surreptitiously recorded tapes," Dosnajh said in a news release on Friday.

Also troubling Dosanjh was the fact that the tapes contained edits and splices.

Experts said the tapes may have been altered.

The minority government survived the vote with the support of the NDP and independent MPs.

Speaker Peter Milliken, a Liberal, broke the tie with his own vote, keeping Martin in power and averting a spring election.

In June, two Opposition parties asked for investigations into Martin's role in the secret-tapes affair.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked the RCMP to investigate, noting it is a criminal offence for an MP to sell his vote.

NDP Leader Jack Layton also asked Parliament's ethics commissioner to investigate Martin's role, too, after the commissioner, Bernard Shapiro, concluded that Murphy is not a public office holder and is therefore out of his jurisdiction.

"Mr. Murphy co-operated fully with the RCMP review and is pleased with the outcome," Melanie Gruer, a spokeswoman in the Prime Minister's Office, said Friday.

Grewal made headlines again in June when he was seen a Vancouver airport trying to get someone to take an envelope full of audio tapes to Ottawa.

He later went on stress leave.

The RCMP cleared him of wrongdoing in the airport incident but are still investigating complaints that contributors to Grewal's 2004 campaign have not received tax receipts for their money.

The Conservative party has said the cheques went to a supplier for campaign expenses.

Grewal has called allegations part of a Liberal party strategy to tarnish his image so the Liberals "can get off the hook (for) the taping incidents."

Dosanjh, a former NDP cabinet minister in British Columbia, said the donations were made "long before" he joined the Liberals and entered federal politics.

According to Elections Canada, a campaign contribution can be made directly to a candidate but receipts must be issued and funds must be deposited into the campaign or riding association account.

Aug. 12, 2005: RCMP press release on completion of review of Gurmant Grewal's recordings

Here is the RCMP press release:

RCMP completes review of Gurmant Grewal's recordings

Ottawa, August 12, 2005 — The RCMP has completed its review of complaints of criminal wrongdoing with respect to MP Gurmant Grewal’s audio recordings.

Persons the RCMP believed may have relevant information were interviewed and the tapes were examined.

The RCMP has determined that no criminal investigation is warranted at this time. It has advised the complainants and those whose conduct was being examined that the review is now concluded.

For more information, please contact:
RCMP Media Relations
(613) 993-2999

Aug. 12, 2005: National Post: RCMP will not investigate Grewal tapes

No criminal investigation into tapes

Canadian Press
August 12, 2005

CREDIT: CP PICTURE ARCHIVE/Tom Hanson
Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal stands in the House of Commons.

OTTAWA -- The RCMP will not launch a criminal investigation into the Gurmant Grewal affair, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a probe into allegations of bribery and related wrongdoing. In a statement Friday, the Mounties said they have reviewed complaints surrounding surreptitious audio recordings the Conservative member of Parliament made of conversations with Liberal MPs last spring. The RCMP say they listened to the tapes, interviewed those involved and determined no criminal investigation is warranted.

"We're pleased that the RCMP has cleared Mr. Grewal," said Williams Stairs, the communications director for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. "We were confident all along of his integrity and the RCMP has confirmed our judgment," Stairs said.

Grewal claimed that Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, had offered him and his wife Nina, also a British Columbia MP, positions if they joined the Liberals just before a crucial budget vote May 19. Experts said the tapes may have been altered.

The minority government survived the vote with the support of the NDP and independent MPs.

Speaker Peter Milliken, a Liberal, broke the tie with his own vote, keeping Martin in power and averting a spring election.

In June, two Opposition parties asked for investigations into Martin's role in the secret-tapes affair.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked the RCMP to investigate, noting it is a criminal offence for an MP to sell his vote.

NDP Leader Jack Layton also asked Parliament's ethics commissioner to investigate Martin's role, too, after the commissioner, Bernard Shapiro, concluded that Murphy is not a public office holder and is therefore out of his jurisdiction. "Mr. Murphy co-operated fully with the RCMP review and is pleased with the outcome," Melanie Gruer, a spokeswoman in the Prime Minister's Office, said Friday.

Grewal made headlines again in June when he was seen a Vancouver airport trying to get someone to take an envelope full of audio tapes to Ottawa. He later went on stress leave. The RCMP cleared him of wrongdoing in the airport incident but are still investigating complaints that contributors to Grewal's 2004 campaign have not received tax receipts for their money. The Conservative party has said the cheques went to a supplier for campaign expenses.

Grewal has called allegations part of a Liberal party strategy to tarnish his image so the Liberals "can get off the hook (for) the taping incidents." Dosanjh, a former NDP cabinet minister in British Columbia, said the donations were made "long before" he joined the Liberals and entered federal politics. According to Elections Canada, a campaign contribution can be made directly to a candidate but receipts must be issued and funds must be deposited into the campaign or riding association account.

Aug. 12, 2005: CP. RCMP will not investigate Grewal tapes

RCMP will not investigate Grewal
Friday, August 12, 2005 Updated at 5:48 PM EDT
Canadian Press

Ottawa — The RCMP will not launch a criminal investigation into the Germant Grewal affair.

The Mounties say they have reviewed complaints of criminal wrongdoing with respect to audio recordings the Conservative member of Parliament made of conversations with Liberal officials last spring.

The RCMP say they listened to the tapes and interviewed the principals involved and determined no criminal investigation is warranted.

Mr. Grewal claimed that Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, had offered him and his wife Nina, also an MP, patronage positions if they joined the Liberals just before an important budget vote May 19.

Mr. Grewal made headlines again in June when he was spotted at a Vancouver airport trying to get someone to take an envelope full of audio tapes to Ottawa. He later went on stress leave.

For a discussion of this and other stories related to Gurmant Grewal, his tapes, and other scandals follow this link.

Aug. 4. 2005: Winnipeg Sun satire

Winnipeg Sun (Manitoba)
August 4, 2005 Thursday
SECTION: EDITORIAL/OPINION; Pg. 11

LENGTH: 537 words
HEADLINE: CANADIAN POLITICS A GREWAL WORLD
BYLINE: BY ROSS MCLENNAN

Gurmant Grewal's assistant, a large man by the name of Benjamin Farnsby, introduced me to the controversial MP and then left us alone in the hotel room. I shook hands with Grewal, and we sat down at a small table.

"Ie-k, do, iqMn ... " Grewal said in a low voice.

"Sorry?" I said.

"Did you bring a tape recorder?" he said.

"Er ... Yes, I did."

"Uh-huh. Lucky I asked, eh?"

"It's standard equipment for an interview."

"Lemme see it."

"OK," I said. "I was just about to put it on the table."

"Sure you were," he said. I gave him the tape recorder. "It's very small," he said. "Small enough to fit right into your pocket, where it can't be seen."

"Well, the big, 125-pound, war-surplus two-reeler I usually lug around with me is in the shop right now," I said, "along with the Enigma machine I use to keep the competition from stealing the stories I file."

"Now you're being a wise guy," he said.

"I take them to interviews in a suitcase and tell everybody I'm going for an accordion lesson after we're finished. That way the suckers don't know I'm secretly recording them."

"Funny you should mention Enigma." Grewal said. "I told Stephen we should use those machines for secret party communications. If they worked for the Germans, they should work for us."

"They didn't work for the Germans," I said. "The British broke the code."

"Yes, but I doubt they handed it over to the Liberals."

"Does Stephen Harper still talk to you?" I said. Grewal smiled and fingered his tie clip.

"Let's just say that things have been said which allowed me to persuade Stephen how indispensable I am to the party," he said.

"Why are you wearing that tie clip?" I asked. Grewal laced his fingers together over the tie clip and sat back in his chair, pretending to relax.

"Tie clip?" he said.

"Yeah, the one you just hid under your hands."

He smiled and shrugged. "Why does anyone wear a tie clip?" he said.

"To hold down his tie."

"Well, then."

"You're not wearing a tie."

He didn't move. "Yes, I am," he said.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not. Are you wired?"

"Of course not," he said. "Dammit, Farnsby," he muttered, "you forgot the tie."

"Farnsby? You're talking to Farnsby? He's not even in the room."

"Oh ... right ... "

"Put that tie clip on the table," I said. Grewal took the tie clip off his shirt and put it on the table. I took off one of my shoes and smashed it down on the tie clip. There was a bellow of pain from outside the room, and Farnsby came crashing through the door, a set of earphones dangling around his neck.

"That's it, Grewal," he shouted. "No more tapes. No more recordings. I don't care what you have on that Harper tape about how much he hates making small talk with 'those bloody barbecue bozos,' I'm through, finished -- ".

Grewal held up his hand and smiled at Farnsby. "Ben, Ben," he said. "Have you forgotten about your ill-advised tete-a-tete with Carolyn Parrish?" Farnsby raised a shaking fist, opened and closed his mouth soundlessly and then turned abruptly and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Now, Mr. Swakhammer," said Grewal, "shall we continue with the interview?" He leaned forward, fiddling with the top button on his shirt. "Only, I wonder if you could speak a little louder. My hearing isn't as good as it used to be."

NOTES: Winnipeg Sun ace investigative reporter Emile Swakhammer has filed this exclusive interview with B.C. Conservative MP Gurmant (Tape Worm) Grewal ...

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For a discussion of this and other stories related to Gurmant Grewal, his tapes, and other scandals follow this link.

August 4, 2005: G&M: Tories lose bid to rein in MP over Grewal

Tories lose bid to rein in MP over Grewal
B.C. member won't retract comments about colleague's 'antics,' sources say
By BRIAN LAGHI
Thursday, August 4, 2005 Page A10
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF; With a report from Gloria Galloway

The Conservative Party leadership tried and failed to extract a retraction from one of their B.C. MPs, who said recently that the "antics" of controversial MP Gurmant Grewal are hurting the party.

Sources said that John Cummins, MP for the riding of Delta-Richmond East, was asked by party Whip Rob Nicholson to sign a statement renouncing comments he made in a radio interview last month, in which he said Mr. Grewal's "antics have hurt the party." Mr. Cummins told Mr. Nicholson that he would not sign the retraction, the sources said.

In a brief interview, Mr. Cummins would neither confirm nor deny he was asked to retract his remarks, saying the issue was two weeks in the past. Mr. Nicholson also would not comment.

However, the issue will almost certainly come up for discussion at today's Tory summer caucus meeting in Toronto.

Although no other Tory MPs have spoken against Mr. Grewal in the controversy over tapes he made of discussions with senior Liberals about crossing the floor, some, such as deputy leader Peter MacKay, refused to support him on the matter.

The Grewal controversy has bubbled beneath the surface since the member for Newton-North Delta secretly taped two senior Liberals -- Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Paul Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy -- during discussions to get him to cross to their side of the House.

Last week, Mr. Grewal admitted in a written statement that Stephen Harper told him to stop taping talks with senior Liberals about leaving the Tories, a demand that was apparently made before Mr. Grewal's taped meeting with the senior Liberals.

Mr. Harper has not commented on the matter, but the party leaders continue to be sensitive about it, seeking the retraction from Mr. Cummins and, most recently, asking Mr. Grewal for public clarification of statements about the taping that he made to a newspaper in his riding.

One MP told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Harper's defence of Mr. Grewal has harmed the party's efforts to criticize the Liberals for ethical lapses.

"If you don't deal with it, it makes it much more difficult for you to turn around and criticize the government for its actions. And I think that's the issue," the MP said. "If Grewal was a minister they'd be going after him like there was no tomorrow."

But Peter Van Loan, a Conservative MP from Ontario, said that he does not believe Canadians are focused on the Grewal saga.

"I have spoken to literally thousands of people, and I don't think Mr. Grewal's name has come up once," said Mr. Van Loan, who has been going door to door in his York-Simcoe riding since the Commons broke for the summer.

He said most of the discussion at today's meeting is likely to centre on ways to communicate party policy before the coming election. "I think there's an increasing curiosity and appetite to hear what we would like to do in government."

The Conservatives continue to trail the Liberals in most opinion polls by about 10 percentage points. Those trends are also reflected in the voting intentions in British Columbia, a key part of the Tories' western stronghold, although polling experts said the sample sizes in most of those polls are too small to count on.

Tim Woolstencroft, managing partner of polling firm the Strategic Counsel, said the increasing popularity of the New Democrats may be eating into Tory support.

He added that the Tories may find themselves having to spend more time in B.C. in the next campaign than they would like. To win the election, Mr. Harper must expand the party's popularity in Ontario, an increasingly difficult prospect if he is obliged to protect the party's heartland seats in B.C.


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For a discussion of this and other stories related to Gurmant Grewal, his tapes, and other scandals follow this link.

August 1, 2005: The Hill Times on Grewal's clarification of Harper's role

At the bottom of this story in the Hill Times is a summary of what Grewal said about Harper's role.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal (Fleetwood-Port Kells, B.C.), who has been under a cloud of controversy since May over controversial and secretly-taped discussions with Tim Murphy, chief of staff to the Prime Minister, and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh (Vancouver South, B.C.), again made national headlines last week. Mr. Grewal has said he taped the discussions in order to prove the Liberals were trying to buy votes, but the Liberals say Mr. Grewal was selling his loyalty.

Last week, through the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition, Mr. Grewal stated in an official press release that Mr. Harper told him to stop the taping after Mr. Grewal said he had the possibility of taping Prime Minister Paul Martin (LaSalle-Émard, Que.).

Mr. Grewal issued the statement to clarify a Surrey Leader news report in which he suggested that Mr. Harper had approved the efforts to tape Mr. Murphy and Mr. Dosanjh, but not the Prime Minister.

In last week's statement, Mr. Grewal said that he informed Mr. Harper of what he was doing, but that "no approval was sought or given."

"An interview published in this week's Surrey Leader concerning the taping of conversations between myself, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Tim Murphy, regarding the attempt to purchase my Parliamentary support in the spring of 2005 contains a statement to the effect that Conservative leader Stephen Harper gave his permission for me to tape these conversations. Once I had begun taping I informed Mr. Harper that I was doing so. No approval was sought or given. Subsequently when I told Mr. Harper that I had an opportunity to meet with and tape the prime minister, Mr. Harper told me to end the taping process."

It's expected that this issue will be discussed at this week's national caucus meeting.

Meanwhile, Jim Holt, president of the Newton-North Delta Electoral District Association, sent out a letter on July 14 to members of the riding association and to the constituents, saying that Mr. Grewal has been unfairly treated by the media and urged party members to write letters to local news organizations and radio talk shows to express their concerns about the coverage of the story.

"Although the media might not publish or broadcast your comments, I urge you to write a letter to the mainstream Vancouver newspapers, or call in to the local radio talk shows, and let them know just how angry you are at what has transpired," Mr. Holton wrote in his letter.

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For a discussion of this and other stories related to Gurmant Grewal, his tapes, and other scandals follow this link.

Surrrey Leader: Grewal, leader at odds over secret taping

Grewal, leader at odds over secret taping

By Dan Ferguson and Jeff Nagel
Jul 31 2005
Recordings continued despite leader's order to stop

The day after he says he was ordered to stop secretly recording conversations with Liberal party brass, Gurmant Grewal made at least two more tapes The Newton-North Delta MP said that Conservative party Leader Stephen Harper told him to "end the taping process" during a meeting in which Grewal raised the possibility of recording Prime Minister Paul Martin

The meeting with Harper, according to previous statements by both Grewal and Harper, took place on May 17. Yet Grewal's own records, posted publicly on his website, indicate that on May 18, the day after he said Harper ordered him to cease taping, he carried a hidden recording device into a meeting with Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy. The same records show Grewal also recorded at least one telephone conversation with a senior Liberal on May 18.

Grewal has said he made the tapes to prove his claim that the Liberals were engaging in "vote buying" by offering cushy appointments to induce him and his MP wife Nina to switch parties and vote with the minority Liberal government. During an interview with The Leader published last Wednesday, Grewal said that Harper knew and approved of his taping activities, and only forbade him from recording the prime minister.

Grewal said when he proposed secretly taping Martin should they meet, Harper initially said yes, then changed his mind.
"... first he (Harper) said, okay go ahead and do it, until I tell you otherwise. Then ... immediately in the same discussion he said, 'Gurmant, I think it's not a good idea.' And I agreed with him." The day after the interview appeared in print, Grewal issued a written "clarification" in which he said that Harper did know about the taping, but did not specifically approve the activity

"Once I had begun taping I informed Mr. Harper that I was doing so," Grewal said. "No approval was sought or given. Subsequently, when I told Mr. Harper that I had an opportunity to meet with and tape the prime minister, Mr. Harper told me to end the taping process."

William Stair, a spokesman for the Conservative party leader, appeared to contradict Grewal's claim that Harper was informed of the taping before the May 17 meeting. "That isn't true," Stairs told The Leader on Friday.

"They spoke (about the taping for the first time) on the 17th of May."

Stairs declined to discuss Grewal's apparent contravention of Harper's stop-taping order. "I don't know what sort of conclusion you can draw from that," Stairs said when asked about the May 18 recordings. "This is an issue between the two of them (Harper and Grewal)."

Stairs offered a muted defence of Grewal, saying the MP has "done nothing wrong that anyone has proven."

July 29, 2005: G & M report that Grewal ignored Harper order

The Globe and Mail :

By BRIAN LAGHI
Friday, July 29, 2005 Updated at 5:00 AM EDT
From Friday's Globe and Mail

Ottawa — Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal continued to secretly tape talks with a Liberal Party official over the possibility of switching parties last May even though he says his own leader told him to stop.

In a statement released yesterday, the British Columbia MP said that Stephen Harper told him to stop the taping after Mr. Grewal said he had the possibility of taping Prime Minister Paul Martin.

"When I told Mr. Harper that I had an opportunity to meet with and tape the Prime Minister, Mr. Harper told me to end the taping process," Mr. Grewal said in the statement.

According to the dates of conversations on his own website, Mr. Grewal met with and taped a conversation with Tim Murphy, Mr. Martin's chief of staff, the next day.

Yesterday's admission suggests that Mr. Harper has continued to keep Mr. Grewal in the party even though the MP appears to have disobeyed him.

Mr. Grewal issued the statement yesterday as a clarification to an interview he gave to a B.C. newspaper.

The newspaper story said Mr. Harper had approved the efforts to tape Mr. Murphy and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh over talks that would have seen him move to the Liberal side of the House.

In his clarification yesterday, Mr. Grewal said he informed Mr. Harper of what he was doing, but that "no approval was sought or given."

Mr. Harper himself told the media earlier this year that he spoke with Mr. Grewal on May 17, the day before the last Murphy taping, when the Conservative Leader was in Regina meeting the Queen during her visit to Western Canada.

Mr. Harper did not say at that time whether he forbade Mr. Grewal to continue to tape.

He said he did not know that Mr. Grewal continued to make recordings, but defended Mr. Grewal all the same, saying Mr. Murphy should have known that all conversations are on the record.

He also said he was not aware that Mr. Murphy had been recorded subsequent to his May 17 chat with Mr. Grewal.

"My view in this business is that you assume you're on the record at all times," he said.

Asked yesterday if Mr. Grewal had broken the rules set down by the leader, a spokesman for Mr. Harper said that would be up to the party's MPs to decide.

"That's a decision that he and the caucus will have to make -- what to do," William Stairs said. "I can't speak for him."

Mr. Stairs said the real story is the role Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Murphy played in the drama, and their discussions of a possible reward for Mr. Grewal should he cross the floor. Mr. Grewal could not be reached for comment last night.

Meanwhile, the Conservative caucus meets next week and the Grewal affair is almost certain to continue to be among the discussions. Some MPs have quietly expressed concerns that Mr. Grewal has become a drag on the party in British Columbia.

The RCMP and the Ethics Commissioner are investigating the taping matter, which led to Mr. Grewal leaving the Commons for a short time on stress leave.

The B.C. MP has been involved in a number of controversies over the past few months, which he says are attributable to a Liberal smear campaign. In the B.C. article, he said he has every intention to run in the next election.

July 27, 2005: Letter to the Now: Grewal has no credibility

MP claims no involvement; counts herself in on plan

The Editor,

Re: "Nina stands by her man," the Now, July 23.

Nina Grewal's statement that her husband's actions in making the tapes was because: "we (note, "we") wanted to catch them red-handed," contains not a molecule of credibility.

If even a half-wit had planned a "sting" operation such as Gurmant Grewal now claims he did, he would have ensured that others were aware of his plans so his motives could be confirmed later. He would, for example, have signed an affidavit outlining his plan and had it notarized for date. He, Gurmant Grewal in this case, would certainly have told his MP wife although she now claims (despite the "we") that she had nothing to do with the tapes. The after-the-event claim of a "sting," is clearly bogus.

The question becomes: Is either of the Grewals an appropriate representative of large numbers of Canadian citizens in the parliament of the nation, even with the loyal support of the Conservative party?

Dave Poole, Surrey

July 15, 2005: Grewal donor acknowledges ties to Dosanjh

Grewal donor who wants tax receipt acknowledges ties to Dosanjh
Beleaguered MP under investigation over '04 campaign

Nicholas Read
CanWest News Service

Friday, July 15, 2005


VANCOUVER - The Vancouver businessman who is demanding a tax receipt for money he gave Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal two years ago says he is a member at large of Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh's riding association.

Sarup Mann insisted that has nothing to do with his now public demands that Mr. Grewal provide him with tax receipts for a $600 donation he made to Mr. Grewal in 2003 and a $1,800 donation he made to Mr. Grewal's wife, Nina, in 2004.

Mr. Grewal is currently being investigated by the RCMP for donations made to his 2004 re-election campaign.

Mr. Grewal has said the donations were made before new election financing rules came into force and called this latest controversy the work of a smear campaign by the Liberal party, which Mr. Mann denies.

''We've been trying to get a tax receipt from him since February of 2003, and Mr. Dosanjh wasn't even in the picture then,'' Mr. Mann said in a phone interview.

''The fact that I'm a Liberal and a member of the riding association doesn't mean I don't support other people as well.''

Mr. Mann's admission follows one from Barj Dhahan, who is also demanding a tax receipt for a $600 donation he made to Mr. Grewal in 2003, that Mr. Dhahan and his wife hosted a coffee-and-dessert party for Mr. Dosanjh during the last federal election.

Mr. Dhahan admitted that again yesterday, but said he is not a member of any federal party, including the Liberal party. He became a member of the B.C. Liberal Party, he said, when he understood that former Vancouver mayoral candidate Jennifer Clarke would be the Liberals' candidate in Vancouver-Langara.

Instead, Carole Taylor ran for the Liberals in that riding and is now B.C.'s Finance Minister.

''I'm not a Reform or Canadian Alliance,'' Mr. Dhahan said. ''I'm not a Liberal or an NDPer. The matter is very simple. All we want is for tax receipts to be given for the donations we made.''

He said he hosted the party for friends and neighbours in Mr. Dosanjh's Vancouver South riding simply as a way for them to get to know the now-Health Minister.

''People who came, they're not Liberals,'' he said. ''We went through our list of friends and people we know who live in that riding, and invited them. That's all we did.''

But B.C. Conservative MP John Reynolds says it sounds suspicious to him.

''It seems to me rather strange that these gentlemen, one who is a member of [Mr. Dosanjh's] riding association and the other who had a coffee party for Mr. Dosanjh, would all of a sudden come out with these accusations,'' Mr. Reynolds said.

The circumstances of all three donations -- none of which was reported to Elections Canada -- are now being investigated by the RCMP.

Mr. Grewal said in an earlier interview that he was not able to issue receipts for cheques made out to him personally because ''I do not have a charitable organization for Gurmant Grewal.'' He added Mr. Mann and Mr. Dhahan should have known that.

Both Mr. Mann and Mr. Dhahan reiterated yesterday that if it weren't for the fact that news of their donations was leaked to the media, the matter never would have been made public.

They also denied any involvement in a Liberal party plot to discredit Mr. Grewal.

''Mr. Dosanjh wasn't even in the picture when he started dealing with him [Grewal],'' Mr. Mann said.

''I have stated from the first day that there's no plot,'' Mr. Dhahan said. ''I'm not involved in a plot. I asked for a receipt. I was promised a receipt and it never came.''

July 14, 2005: Tory MP attacks Grewal's 'antics'

From the Globe and Mail:

Tory MP attacks Grewal's 'antics'
Surrey politician falls under renewed fire as Mounties interview campaign donors
By PETTI FONG
Thursday, July 14, 2005 Updated at 5:17 AM EDT
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Vancouver — Gurmant Grewal has been cleared by the Conservative Party of wrongdoing but a continuing RCMP review into political contributions given to the Surrey MP and criticisms from a fellow MP and organizers continue to follow the controversial politician.

John Cummins, MP for the riding adjacent to Mr. Grewal's, said there was a clear mishandling of funds.

"Absolutely, no doubt, Mr. Grewal's antics have hurt the party," Mr. Cummins said on the Rafe Mair radio show. "When you start getting cheques made out to you personally, you're asking for trouble. Is that personal income or is that money going to the constituency association? If it's personal income, is it money being used to influence you and the decisions you make?"

Conservative MP John Reynolds, chair of the national campaign, said Mr. Grewal has been targeted because the MP tried to discredit the Liberals with his allegations they tried to recruit him to join their party.

RCMP officers interviewed one of the two men yesterday who say they did not receive tax receipts for political contributions they made to Mr. Grewal in late 2003 and the Conservative party has told them there is no record of the money they donated.

The contributors say that Mr. Grewal asked them to make the cheques out to him personally and assured them they would get a receipt for the $600 each donated.

The Conservatives and Mr. Grewal say the contributors are not entitled to a tax receipt under current legislation. It wasn't until January, 2004, that parties were required to give tax receipts.

"In those days [before the changes], every MP received cheques for their nominations or when they were between elections that did not qualify for tax receipts."

Mr. Cummins, the MP for Delta-Richmond East, said he has always had contributions made out to his constituency association, and Vancouver Island North Conservative MP John Duncan said he has never received cheques from donors made out to him.

"I've never done that because I never even thought of doing it. I knew it was allowed under the rules, but I just wanted to stay away from it. I thought it made it much easier to explain if everything was clearly in the constituency association account," Mr. Duncan said.

Mr. Duncan said the Conservative Party has addressed most of the concerns about the cheques that donors say they sent without getting a receipt.

Four of the cheques did not qualify for a tax receipt, a fifth was given an official receipt, and Mr. Duncan said mystery surrounds a sixth cheque made out to Mr. Grewal. Although the back of the cheque shows a deposit in Vancouver with Mr. Grewal's signature, the Conservatives have records that clearly show the Surrey MP was in Ottawa that day, Mr. Duncan said.

New Westminster-Coquitlam-Burnaby MP Paul Forseth said Mr. Grewal, who was not talking to reporters yesterday, has been cleared in every allegation of wrongdoing in the past.

"He has tried to do everything properly," Mr. Forseth said. "The Liberals keep trying to make him look bad and they keep stirring things up."

Mr. Grewal also received support from Don McCrimmon, president of the Langley Conservatives riding association, and Menno Froese, president of the Abbotsford riding association.

"What it does reflect is how easy it is to take away the focus from where the issues really are," Mr. McCrimmon said.

Mr. Froese, whose riding includes a large and growing politically influential Indo-Canadian population, said the issue has dominated discussions within the Indo-Canadian community.

"Mr. Grewal is four constituencies away from our constituency, and it hasn't been an active issue among supporters here," Mr. Froese said. "But I hear that it's quite controversial on the Indo-Canadian radio shows."

Manjit Dhillon, who is also on the Abbotsford riding executive and an organizer among the Indo-Canadian community in the Fraser Valley, said Conservative Party members have told him they want quicker action from Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

"We are tired of seeing every few days something popping up involving Gurmant Grewal. There are 300 MPs, why does everything have to involve Mr. Grewal? For the community and the party's sake, we hope to stop seeing that," Mr. Dhillon said. "We also want Mr. Harper to be more decisive about whether he is supporting Mr. Grewal or not."

For more on Grewal and the Grewal tapes, see Buckets of Grewal.

The Now on Grewal's campaign finance

Gurmant Grewal in new pickle

Brooke Larsen

Now Contributor

Trouble has reared its ugly head again for Gurmant Grewal.

Two Vancouver men say they made donations to Grewal's 2004 re-election campaign, but didn't receive receipts.

Barj Dhahan said he made a $600 donation to Grewal's campaign in December 2003, and has since phoned Grewal's office numerous times asking for a receipt.

"I gave him the donation but I didn't get the receipt. I don't think that's acceptable," he said.

Sarup Mann, who also made a donation to Grewal, said he called the MP several times asking for a receipt but got nowhere.

Mann said that in 2003 he handed Grewal a cheque for $600 for his campaign, and in July 2004 he gave Grewal another $1,800 cheque for Nina Grewal's campaign.

But the Newton-North Delta MP says both men asked if they could make their cheques out to Grewal personally, not to his campaign, so that their names would not appear on lists of campaign supporters, which are public information.

"They didn't want to be associated with my campaign or the party, so they made the cheque out to me, Gurmant Grewal," he said.

Grewal says he took the cheques, endorsed them, and used them to pay for a party at the Grand Taj, a Surrey banquet hall.

"The cheques were used for a Gurmant Grewal appreciation party - for food, the banquet hall, the entertainment."

Grewal said he wasn't required to issue receipts to Mann and Dhahan because their donations were made before the official start of the campaign period.

According to Elections Canada' s website, candidates are required to issue receipts to all donors, but only after their candidacy is confirmed.

But Grewal may have violated another campaign rule.

In a section titled "Important reminders for candidates and their official agents," the Elections Canada website says all candidates should "ensure that all money is first deposited into the campaign bank account."

Grewal said the cheque made out to Nina Grewal's campaign was deposited in the campaign account, but that the receipt got lost.

Neither Dhahan's nor Mann's names showed up on the Elections Canada lists of contributors to Nina and Gurmant Grewal's campaigns.

Grewal is also being investigated by police and a parliamentary ethics commissioner for taping his conversations with the federal finance minister and an aid to Prime Minister Paul Martin.

posted on 07/13/2005

Vancouver Sun: "Donations Legal:Grewal"

Donations legal: Grewal

Donations legal: Grewal
Controversial Conservative MP says cheques were made out to him directly because donors were 'shy'

Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun

Newton-North Delta MP Gurmant Grewal said Tuesday that cheques made out to him personally were within Elections Canada guidelines.


Surrey Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal says he did not break any laws or campaign rules by accepting donations that are now being investigated by the RCMP.

Grewal released copies of the controversial donation cheques at his office Tuesday -- two $600 cheques that were made out to Grewal personally and a third cheque for $1,800 that was made out to his wife Nina's political campaign -- and defended his reasons for taking the personal cheques without giving receipts or reporting the donations to Elections Canada.

"If he [Barj Dhahan, the man who wrote one of the controversial cheques] wanted a receipt, he could have made it to the [constituency association]," Grewal said.

Explaining why Dhahan wrote one of the cheques directly to him and not to the association, Grewal said: "He was shy and he chose to do that because then his allegiance to the Canadian Alliance would not be made public."

He said the second donor, Sarup Mann gave the same reason for writing a cheque directly to him.

Grewal said he is not able to issue receipts for cheques written directly to him because "I do not have a charitable organization for Gurmant Grewal," and added that Dhahan and Mann should have known that.

Dhahan and Mann came forward this month, saying they each made $600 campaign contributions directly to Grewal in December 2003, and that neither of them have received proper receipts.

Photocopies of the cancelled cheques released Tuesday show that Grewal, MP for Newton-North Delta, endorsed the cheques, and that the cheques had been deposited and cleared.

Grewal said he did not put the money into his personal account, but handed it over to the Grand Taj Banquet Hall to help pay for an appreciation dinner being held in his honour. No one could be reached Tuesday at the Grand Taj.

Grewal also said that under guidelines set out by Elections Canada at the time he took the donations, it was not against the rules to accept a cheque made out directly to him without reporting it.

"When he gave this cheque, it was outside the campaign period," Grewal said. "At that time there was no requirement [by] Elections Canada to issue a receipt."

While defending the cheques, Grewal added there "could be some more" cheques that were made out to him personally, but that he did not know for sure.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Tom Seaman confirmed Tuesday that police are "reviewing information to ascertain if any laws have been broken" with regards to the donations, but said he could not speak about specifics.

Asked about the police investigation, Grewal replied: "Let them do their job. I have nothing to hide."

In regards to the donation made to his wife's campaign, Grewal acknowledged a receipt should have been issued for the $1,800 cheque, and said the error was "simply an oversight on the part of a volunteer who was supposed to issue a receipt."

Reached Tuesday, Dhahan took issue with Grewal's version of events, saying the Surrey MP had specifically requested his cheque not be made to the riding association, and that Grewal had promised a receipt would be issued for the donation.

"I do not make personal gifts to people," Dhahan said, explaining Grewal asked the cheque be made out in his own name because he was not yet certain where he was planning to run.

"I gave him the money on the understanding that the party he represents would give me a receipt," he said.

" 'A receipt will be issued.' Those were his words."

Mann could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Grewal said he does not recall promising Dhahan a receipt, and accused Dhahan and Mann of being part of a Liberal "smear campaign."

In May, Grewal released secretly recorded tapes that he said show Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, and Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff were trying to entice him across the floor before a crucial budget vote.

He said he believes Dhahan and Mann have ties to Ujjal Dosanjh, and said that they have come forward as part of a larger attempt to discredit his reputation.

"Once they [the Liberals] are caught on tape, they are trying to smear my reputation," Grewal said. "This is completely a smear campaign."

Dhahan denied the allegation. He said he has hosted an event at his house for Dosanjh, but that he does not know him personally, and is not tied to him politically.

"I'm not out here for some personal grudge or vendetta against Mr. Grewal," Dhahan said. "I have nothing to gain from anyone."

Letter of Jim Holt (President of Grewal's Riding Association) to Terry Milewski, CBC

July 11, 2005 To: Terry Milewski, CBC Vancouver From: Jim Holt, President Newton North Delta EDA, Conservative Party of Canada.
Verification Information re Six Cheques that Mr. Milewski is investigating.

Reference our discussions of the past three business days, our EDA has been tracking down information on a total of six cheques that have come to your attention as a reporter with CBC.
Given the time lines associated with these items, it hasn't been as difficult as we had first anticipated regarding re-constructing information on these items. One just had to make contact with the appropriate persons, and the task became quite easy actually. In examining this matter, we have found that rather than focus on each cheque, we should perhaps focus on the donor.

This way we feel a picture of just what we feel is going on starts to become a whole lot clearer.

Firstly, we have a Mr. Kandola, who for some reason contacted you (or was referred to you by others) to indicate that he hadn't seemed to have received a receipt for a $200. political donation. To your credit Terry, and we thank you for saving us some time, you yourself were able to determine by examining public Elections Canada records that his cheque was indeed properly receipted. But I guess a question we have back to Mr. Kandola, via you, is just why did he make such a claim in the first place, and why was he in apparent error re the veracity of his claim?

Next we have a Mr. Dhahan. Here we have a person who in addition to attending a political dinner for Gurmant Grewal back in December of 2003 (two thousand three) happens also to be a good friend of Ujjal Dosanjh. And Mr. Dhahan, nearly one and half years after a cheque was written and cleared, is now asking for a receipt for his "donation". In checking this one out, we have determined that the item was countersigned over to The Grand Taj Hall in Surrey to help pay for the dinner, it cleared through their bank, and then presumably went back to Mr. Dhahan's.

We trust that someone is asking (or perhaps maybe someone will be asking) Mr. Dhahan to explain why an event that occurred some time in the distant past didn't seem to need a receipt then, but does now. It would also be interesting to determine if this item was an "outstanding item" in accounting terms, and we guess that only a formal examination of Mr. Dhahan's Income Tax records would determine if this item had been in fact processed as a normal business expense for either 2003 (when the cheque was written), or in 2004 (when the item cleared the bank), or can it indeed be demonstrated by Mr. Dhahan or his auditors that this payment has been kept on his books as an unresolved item all these many months (and through at least one Income tax cycle). For if this item had indeed already been processed in accounting terms, then the accuracy and substance of Mr. Dhahan's claims to you will represent an entirely different legal matter altogether.

Next we have a Mr. Mann. As backgrounder on this complainant, it is a well-known fact that he is a very good friend of Ujjal Dosanjh. So good a friend is he of Mr. Dosanjh that just after the Taping Incident became public, and Mr., Dosanjh's central and principle role in that event became known to the public, Mr. Mann telephoned Mr. Grewal and voiced extreme displeasure with Mr. Grewal's actions. And then just a few short weeks later, up pops a complaint relayed to you regarding two cheques. Mann has provided you with two items, one for $1800. and another for $600. In the matter of the item for $600., our research shows that this item followed the same pattern as Mr. Dhahan's above. Namely, it was used to help pay for the December 2003 dinner, this cheque cleared in nearly identical fashion to that of Mr. Dhahan's, and all of the above questions must be asked of Mr. Mann.

Regarding the cheque in the amount of $1800. our research shows that this cheque was made payable to the Nina Grewal Campaign. This item represents the approximate cash value of the telephone call centre system Mr. Mann supplied to be used by both the Gurmant and Nina Grewal campaigns in June 2004. The reverse of that cheque clearly shows it was properly endorsed by the Registered Agent for Nina Grewal, and deposited to the EDA account. The lack of receipt on this account appears to be a simple clerical error related to the change in volunteer Registered Agents for the Fleetwood-Port Kells campaign. The new Registered Agent assumed his predecessor had issued all official receipts up to the time of the changeover. Our investigation indicates that all of the paperwork and reports are correct, and an official receipt will be issued to Mr. Mann forthwith. (On a perhaps embarrassing note, this sort of thing does happen from time to time, given the large number of items processed by volunteers during a campaign, but we do try to do our best)

This brings us to the Imperial Plumbing cheque in the amount of $1000. Here we must admit we are a bit stumped, not the least due to the fact that the copy of the cheque you forwarded to us doesn't appear to have been endorsed by anyone on the reverse, and the cheque seems to have been cleared at the Khalsa Credit Union the same day it was drawn. Equally baffling is the fact the item was processed at a branch of that credit union about 20 miles from where the cheque was prepared. We are even more baffled by this one, when we examine the date the transaction(s) occurred. Our research indicates that on that date, Mr. Grewal was in Ottawa, and either in his office, or in the House of Commons ("Hansard" can actually verify this).

[Cheque shown at top of page]

This would place Mr. Grewal at a considerable, and verifiable distance from where this cheque was issued, which would have made it remarkably difficult for him to have cashed this cheque made payable to him personally.

This leaves us with the Jas Atwal cheque in the amount of $500. made out to Gurmant Grewal and dated January 14, 2003, which was subsequently deposited into Mr. Grewal's personal account in February of 2003. This cheque is perhaps the most vexing, and infuriating one from our perspective. In investigating this one, we have determined that this cheque had nothing whatsoever to do with politics, or with so-called political donations. Nothing whatsoever! This cheque was countersigned over to Mr. Grewal for a portion of a small private business debt owed to him by a Mr. Gill, who among other things is a respected individual in the Indo Canadian Community. He is also a journalist, and owner of Surrey media outlet "Radio India".

Mr. Gill is prepared to provide a record of the Atwal debt owed to him, and also a sworn statement attesting to the fact that the Atwal cheque was in fact countersigned over to Mr. Grewal for a small and entirely unrelated (to Mr. Atwal) private debt. Further, Mr. Grewal is adamant that the words "For Fund Raiser" which appear on the memo line of this cheque must have been added at a later date (which would be ever so easy to do, and with the actual cheque in the right formal investigative hands, would also be ever so easy to verify). Notwithstanding the fact this item is over two years old, to make a claim that it was a political donation takes us right back up to the hard questions that should be asked of Mr. Mann and Mr. Dhahan.

To conclude, we very much have appreciated the time you have given us in which we could examine the above items, and we trust in turn that you will reciprocally appreciate the time and effort (most of it from committed volunteers) that we have put into providing the answers you have been seeking. We trust that our answers have given you much in the way of additional information, and as is often the case, additional questions to ponder.

We would like to conclude with two important thoughts though. The first is that the common denominator in all of the above is not so much the matter of missing receipts, but rather the fact that loyalty to Ujjal Dosanjh figured large, and often, in our inquiries. This is perhaps not surprising at all, given it is the Liberal Party's sworn intention to do everything it can to deflect attention away from Mr. Ujjal Dosanjh by attempting to shoot the messenger (that would be our Member of parliament) at every opportunity. Even the most flimsy of claims against Mr. Grewal are trotted out in the achievement of the goal of shielding Mr. Dosanjh from additional, or centre-stage scrutiny. We have heard for some time now that there would be a challenge to Mr. Grewal in the form of cheques. Given what we have seen with the above six items, we feel that the strategy of the Liberals will continue, as will our ability to defend our MP.

In addition, our experience during the examination of these items also leaves us with the knowledge of the profound vulnerability of ANY public official who at some later date might have completely logical personal financial transactions dragged out into the public arena. Events turn, opinions change, or agendas are unleashed, and all of a sudden seemingly mundane financial transactions become potential problems (the Atwal item above is the best/worst of the preceding six in this regard). Given this vulnerability, it is incumbent that those investigating such claims must ask all of the pertinent questions of those doing the complaining. It is likely that in a formal legal forum, each of the above claims would have received short shrift (at best) from those doing the examining and in a worst case, were there Audited and/or Income Tax records indicating facts to the contrary, then those doing the complaining would find themselves in quite a bit more trouble than just having to say "Oops, I'm so sorry. I guess that wasn't a political donation after all".

July 11, 2005: Holt writes to Milewski about cheques

July 11, 2005 To: Terry Milewski, CBC Vancouver From: Jim Holt, President Newton North Delta EDA, Conservative Party of Canada.
Verification Information re Six Cheques that Mr. Milewski is investigating.

Reference our discussions of the past three business days, our EDA has been tracking down information on a total of six cheques that have come to your attention as a reporter with CBC.
Given the time lines associated with these items, it hasn't been as difficult as we had first anticipated regarding re-constructing information on these items. One just had to make contact with the appropriate persons, and the task became quite easy actually. In examining this matter, we have found that rather than focus on each cheque, we should perhaps focus on the donor.

This way we feel a picture of just what we feel is going on starts to become a whole lot clearer.

Firstly, we have a Mr. Kandola, who for some reason contacted you (or was referred to you by others) to indicate that he hadn't seemed to have received a receipt for a $200. political donation. To your credit Terry, and we thank you for saving us some time, you yourself were able to determine by examining public Elections Canada records that his cheque was indeed properly receipted. But I guess a question we have back to Mr. Kandola, via you, is just why did he make such a claim in the first place, and why was he in apparent error re the veracity of his claim?

Next we have a Mr. Dhahan. Here we have a person who in addition to attending a political dinner for Gurmant Grewal back in December of 2003 (two thousand three) happens also to be a good friend of Ujjal Dosanjh. And Mr. Dhahan, nearly one and half years after a cheque was written and cleared, is now asking for a receipt for his "donation". In checking this one out, we have determined that the item was countersigned over to The Grand Taj Hall in Surrey to help pay for the dinner, it cleared through their bank, and then presumably went back to Mr. Dhahan's.

We trust that someone is asking (or perhaps maybe someone will be asking) Mr. Dhahan to explain why an event that occurred some time in the distant past didn't seem to need a receipt then, but does now. It would also be interesting to determine if this item was an "outstanding item" in accounting terms, and we guess that only a formal examination of Mr. Dhahan's Income Tax records would determine if this item had been in fact processed as a normal business expense for either 2003 (when the cheque was written), or in 2004 (when the item cleared the bank), or can it indeed be demonstrated by Mr. Dhahan or his auditors that this payment has been kept on his books as an unresolved item all these many months (and through at least one Income tax cycle). For if this item had indeed already been processed in accounting terms, then the accuracy and substance of Mr. Dhahan's claims to you will represent an entirely different legal matter altogether.

Next we have a Mr. Mann. As backgrounder on this complainant, it is a well-known fact that he is a very good friend of Ujjal Dosanjh. So good a friend is he of Mr. Dosanjh that just after the Taping Incident became public, and Mr., Dosanjh's central and principle role in that event became known to the public, Mr. Mann telephoned Mr. Grewal and voiced extreme displeasure with Mr. Grewal's actions. And then just a few short weeks later, up pops a complaint relayed to you regarding two cheques. Mann has provided you with two items, one for $1800. and another for $600. In the matter of the item for $600., our research shows that this item followed the same pattern as Mr. Dhahan's above. Namely, it was used to help pay for the December 2003 dinner, this cheque cleared in nearly identical fashion to that of Mr. Dhahan's, and all of the above questions must be asked of Mr. Mann.

Regarding the cheque in the amount of $1800. our research shows that this cheque was made payable to the Nina Grewal Campaign. This item represents the approximate cash value of the telephone call centre system Mr. Mann supplied to be used by both the Gurmant and Nina Grewal campaigns in June 2004. The reverse of that cheque clearly shows it was properly endorsed by the Registered Agent for Nina Grewal, and deposited to the EDA account. The lack of receipt on this account appears to be a simple clerical error related to the change in volunteer Registered Agents for the Fleetwood-Port Kells campaign. The new Registered Agent assumed his predecessor had issued all official receipts up to the time of the changeover. Our investigation indicates that all of the paperwork and reports are correct, and an official receipt will be issued to Mr. Mann forthwith. (On a perhaps embarrassing note, this sort of thing does happen from time to time, given the large number of items processed by volunteers during a campaign, but we do try to do our best)

This brings us to the Imperial Plumbing cheque in the amount of $1000. Here we must admit we are a bit stumped, not the least due to the fact that the copy of the cheque you forwarded to us doesn't appear to have been endorsed by anyone on the reverse, and the cheque seems to have been cleared at the Khalsa Credit Union the same day it was drawn. Equally baffling is the fact the item was processed at a branch of that credit union about 20 miles from where the cheque was prepared. We are even more baffled by this one, when we examine the date the transaction(s) occurred. Our research indicates that on that date, Mr. Grewal was in Ottawa, and either in his office, or in the House of Commons ("Hansard" can actually verify this).

[Cheque shown at top of page]

This would place Mr. Grewal at a considerable, and verifiable distance from where this cheque was issued, which would have made it remarkably difficult for him to have cashed this cheque made payable to him personally.

This leaves us with the Jas Atwal cheque in the amount of $500. made out to Gurmant Grewal and dated January 14, 2003, which was subsequently deposited into Mr. Grewal's personal account in February of 2003. This cheque is perhaps the most vexing, and infuriating one from our perspective. In investigating this one, we have determined that this cheque had nothing whatsoever to do with politics, or with so-called political donations. Nothing whatsoever! This cheque was countersigned over to Mr. Grewal for a portion of a small private business debt owed to him by a Mr. Gill, who among other things is a respected individual in the Indo Canadian Community. He is also a journalist, and owner of Surrey media outlet "Radio India".

Mr. Gill is prepared to provide a record of the Atwal debt owed to him, and also a sworn statement attesting to the fact that the Atwal cheque was in fact countersigned over to Mr. Grewal for a small and entirely unrelated (to Mr. Atwal) private debt. Further, Mr. Grewal is adamant that the words "For Fund Raiser" which appear on the memo line of this cheque must have been added at a later date (which would be ever so easy to do, and with the actual cheque in the right formal investigative hands, would also be ever so easy to verify). Notwithstanding the fact this item is over two years old, to make a claim that it was a political donation takes us right back up to the hard questions that should be asked of Mr. Mann and Mr. Dhahan.

To conclude, we very much have appreciated the time you have given us in which we could examine the above items, and we trust in turn that you will reciprocally appreciate the time and effort (most of it from committed volunteers) that we have put into providing the answers you have been seeking. We trust that our answers have given you much in the way of additional information, and as is often the case, additional questions to ponder.

We would like to conclude with two important thoughts though. The first is that the common denominator in all of the above is not so much the matter of missing receipts, but rather the fact that loyalty to Ujjal Dosanjh figured large, and often, in our inquiries. This is perhaps not surprising at all, given it is the Liberal Party's sworn intention to do everything it can to deflect attention away from Mr. Ujjal Dosanjh by attempting to shoot the messenger (that would be our Member of parliament) at every opportunity. Even the most flimsy of claims against Mr. Grewal are trotted out in the achievement of the goal of shielding Mr. Dosanjh from additional, or centre-stage scrutiny. We have heard for some time now that there would be a challenge to Mr. Grewal in the form of cheques. Given what we have seen with the above six items, we feel that the strategy of the Liberals will continue, as will our ability to defend our MP.

In addition, our experience during the examination of these items also leaves us with the knowledge of the profound vulnerability of ANY public official who at some later date might have completely logical personal financial transactions dragged out into the public arena. Events turn, opinions change, or agendas are unleashed, and all of a sudden seemingly mundane financial transactions become potential problems (the Atwal item above is the best/worst of the preceding six in this regard). Given this vulnerability, it is incumbent that those investigating such claims must ask all of the pertinent questions of those doing the complaining. It is likely that in a formal legal forum, each of the above claims would have received short shrift (at best) from those doing the examining and in a worst case, were there Audited and/or Income Tax records indicating facts to the contrary, then those doing the complaining would find themselves in quite a bit more trouble than just having to say "Oops, I'm so sorry. I guess that wasn't a political donation after all".

July 9, 2005: Grewal hands over more tapes to RCMP--Police probe extended

Grewal hands over more tapes to RCMP
Police probe extended

Simon Doyle
CanWest News Service

July 9, 2005

OTTAWA - Embattled Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal handed over additional tapes to the RCMP within the past two weeks, a move that suggests the recorded talks between himself and senior Liberals that he had earlier made public were incomplete.

Mr. Grewal made recordings available in late May that showed he had been in talks with Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, about exchanging rewards, such as a Cabinet post or Senate seat, for crossing the floor or abstaining from key confidence votes.

At the time, the Conservatives insisted Mr. Grewal had handed over "all of the tapes" to Opposition leader Stephen Harper, and the party posted "the complete audio file" on to Mr. Grewal's Web site for public scrutiny. The party also said it would give the tapes to the RCMP.

However, the RCMP says it has received new tapes that will extend the original timeline of its review of the affair.

"We have received additional tapes from the previous tapes that we had," Sergeant Gilles Deziel said. The RCMP received the first batch on June 1, he said, one day after Mr. Grewal made the recordings available on his Web site. The police force said it received the newest batch of tapes within the past two weeks.

Mr. Grewal, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Dosanjh, now under investigation by ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro, are also under the scope of the RCMP to determine whether the matter deserves a formal investigation for possible violations of anti-bribery measures under the Criminal Code.

The Liberals have cried foul over the recordings, pointing to the comments of audio experts who said they had been edited.

"If true, it certainly serves to highlight the cautious, careful wisdom of Mr. Harper that the tapes were pristine, complete and unaltered," Scott Reid, Paul Martin's communications director, wrote in an e-mail. "We look forward to the release of the director's cut."

Mr. Grewal says the government tried to lure him into abstaining or crossing the floor, but the Liberals say it was Mr. Grewal who approached them first, looking for rewards.

The RCMP would not confirm whether the additional tapes were recordings of a May 16 meeting with Mr. Dosanjh, which Mr. Grewal has alluded to but has never been released, and which the Conservatives say was not recorded.

Nor would the RCMP confirm whether the new tapes were those that one witness alleged Mr. Grewal tried to give to an airline passenger to transport from Vancouver to Ottawa in early June.

NDP MP Pat Martin said the senior ranks of the Conservative party have to take responsibility for Mr. Grewal's actions because Mr. Harper and Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay stood up for him, even after experts said the tapes were edited. Mr. Harper also supported Mr. Grewal's move to take a stress leave from the House in early June.

"The CPC [Conservative Party of Canada] had a choice. They could hang Grewal out to dry, or they could rally around him," Mr. Martin said.

"The party leadership has to answer for this now. It ceased to become just one rogue MP's responsibility when the party sent him home on stress leave and assumed responsibility for the file."

Support for Mr. Grewal within the Conservative party appeared to wane last month, however.

William Stairs, a Tory communications strategist, said he had not heard of any additional tapes, and said he cannot comment until the RCMP finishes its work.

"I don't know anything about what's going on about Gurmant, his lawyers and the RCMP," Mr. Stairs said.

Conservative campaign chairman John Reynolds recently told CanWest News Service that he expects Mr. Grewal to be cleared of any wrongdoing after the RCMP and the ethics commissioner are through with their investigations.

Grewal votes in house: receives standing ovation from Conservative MPs

Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal (left) receives a standing ovation from fellow MP's after voting on extending debate on C-48 in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Thursday, June 23.(CP/Tom Hanson)

June 22, 2005: Ethics Commisioner clears Grewal on visa bonds controversy

940 News

Ethics commissioner clears Gurmant Grewal in immigration case at 19:15 on June 22, 2005, EST.

OTTAWA (CP) - Gurmant Grewal's only sin was having a bad idea. The Tory MP was cleared Wednesday of ethical wrongdoing for setting up a parallel immigration system in his B.C. constituency office. People came to his office and posted bonds of up to $100,000 in exchange for visitors' visas for friends or family. At least 232 people signed written guarantees to make that payment if their loved ones lingered in Canada past the visa expiry date.

Parliament's ethics commissioner slammed the scheme as a misguided error in judgment that may have appeared like a conflict of interest. But Bernard Shapiro defended Grewal's character. He said the Tory MP had honest intentions, never planned to pocket any money, and in fact never collected a cent.

"There was no real conflict of interest," said Shapiro's report, released Wednesday. "No personal profit to Mr. Grewal was either intended or realized. . . . I believe that his actions were an error in judgment made in good faith."

It was the latest piece of good news in recent days for Grewal after a brutal month that forced him to take a stress leave. He is embroiled in a separate scandal after he released tapes of secret negotiations with two senior Liberals and the tapes were found to be partly altered.

Transport Canada has cleared Grewal following an incident at Vancouver airport that originally caused him to take his stress leave. He tried using other passengers to ship the controversial tapes back to Ottawa. Grewal has remained out of the public eye since then, and did not respond to a request for an interview Wednesday.

But he said in a statement that he had always maintained his innocence since the immigration allegations first surfaced.

His riding president now says Grewal's feeling well enough to return to work.

Immigration Minister Joe Volpe had asked the ethics commissioner and the RCMP to investigate the bond-posting scheme in April.

"I believe that the ethics commissioner's report speaks for itself," Grewal said in a statement.

"I am pleased that the ethics commissioner has looked into the matter and determined that the minister's allegations were baseless."

Grewal began his unusual practice in 2002, and has long lobbied for legislation that would allow Canadian residents to sponsor foreign visitors.

It was Grewal himself who revealed details of his scheme while promoting his own private member's bill to change immigration rules.

Shapiro said that the practice - "however innocently intended" - did not fall within the federal government's rules.

Volpe said he accepted Shapiro's findings. "I left it with the ethics commissioner to come up with a decision for us," he said in an interview. "He's done it and I'm going to respect that."

But he warned other MPs not to follow Grewal's example. "These things have the tendency to give off the appearance of conflict that's unhelpful to the parliamentary process."

It was the second high-profile ruling in Shapiro's brief tenure - and second in two days following months of silence from his office. The rookie commissioner faces a grilling before a parliamentary committee Thursday and the NDP is calling for his removal.

Critics jumped Shapiro's report this week on ex-immigration minister Judy Sgro, a piece of work that cost $170,000, took seven months to complete, and offered no clear verdict on how the government should have handled a scandal involving residence permits.

June 21, 2005: Ethics report

To download the Ethics' Commissioner's full report click here.

Here are scans of the most important pages:

June 21, 2005: Vancouver Province. Grewal ready to return

Canadian Press NewsWire
June 21, 2005
SECTION: Pg. n/a

HEADLINE: MP Gurmant Grewal looking at returning to some political duties: official

VANCOUVER (CP) - Stressed-out Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal is feeling well enough to return to work after taking a leave from some of his political duties.

Jim Holt, president of Grewal's riding association in the Vancouver-area riding of Newton-North Delta, said the MP wants to get back to Ottawa to work on constituency issues. "I'm pretty sure he's going back to Ottawa to work," Hold told the Vancouver Province on Tuesday. "He indicated he was feeling better and he'd like to get back."

Holt based his suggestion on a chat with Grewal, who last month accused federal Liberals of trying to buy his and his wife's parliamentary support with political jobs. Grewal taped conversations with federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy.

Holt said Grewal has seen a doctor, but declined further comment, saying "that's a personal matter."

Grewal has largely refused to comment on his situation since announcing earlier this month he was taking a stress leave from his parliamentary duties to deal with the controversy.

Geoff Norquay, a spokesman for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, said from Ottawa that he wasn't aware of any plans by Grewal to return to work.

(Vancouver Province)

June 20, 2005 Martin says Grewal Not Welcome As Liberal Candidate.. Harper Regrets Putting Wrong Tape On Website

Paul Martin says he wouldn't welcome Gurmant Grewal as a Liberal candidate

Canadian Press

June 20, 2005

Prime Minister Paul Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper cross paths as they take turns at a live radio show in Ottawa, Monday. (CP/Fred Chartrand)

ADVERTISEMENT

OTTAWA (CP) - The Conservative MP who says he was offered a plum job with the Liberals if he crossed the floor would no longer be welcome in the party.

Prime Minister Paul Martin said Monday he doesn't want Tory MP Gurmant Grewal in his caucus.

Martin told CKNW radio that Grewal could buy a membership in the Liberal party if he wanted to, but would be prevented from standing as a candidate.

"Well, someone can buy a membership," he said, "but if your question is do we want him as a candidate, the answer is unequivocally no."

Grewal came under scrutiny after he secretly taped discussions with the federal health minister and the prime minister's top aide about his future.

Experts said the tapes had been altered.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said he doesn't regret backing Grewal:

"I don't think there's anything wrong with blowing the whistle and I don't think there's anything wrong with somebody trying to bribe you. What's wrong is if you take the bribe, and he didn't."

Harper, who was interviewed immediately following Martin, did say it was regretful that "the incorrect tape was posted on our website."

Grewal went on stress leave after the tape incident.

Told that Martin doesn't want Grewal now, Harper replied: "After (Grewal) turned down their offers to join them - that's kind of the old fable of the sour grapes, right?"

Harper sidestepped answering whether Grewal would be welcome to run again as a Conservative.

"In the end the various authorities will sort this out," he said.

The RCMP is examining the tapes and Parliament's ethic commissioner has also been asked to look into the affair.

© The Canadian Press 2005

June 17, 2005, NDP Calls For Resignation Of Ethics Commissioner

Macleans:June 17, 2005 - 14:53

NDP to call for resignation of "incompetent" ethics commissioner

SUE BAILEY

OTTAWA (CP) - Parliament's independent ethics watchdog is an incompetent "wet noodle" who should be replaced, critics say.

Bernard Shapiro, named ethics czar by the Liberals last year, has been asked in recent months to look into at least two cases of alleged conflict in the Liberal cabinet.

He has not released final reports in either case, and has been cast by the opposition as a bumbling foot-dragger.

Now, the NDP says Shapiro has declined to expand an inquiry into the controversial Grewal tapes affair to include the prime minister.

They have demanded an explanation, and MP Ed Broadbent says he will formally call for Shapiro's resignation next week.

Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay threw his weight behind the growing push to oust the commissioner.

"Mr. Shapiro seems to be demonstrating daily that he's just as anemic as his predecessor," MacKay said Friday outside the Commons.

"He's a wet noodle on this issue," he said of the ethics commissioner's probe of secretly recorded discussions between Tory MP Gurmant Grewal and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, the prime minister's top aide.

"And yes, I think (Shapiro) should resign. I think we should have someone there who's competent, independent and prepared to hold to account government officials that were involved in what appears to be a vote-buying exercise in return for cabinet positions."

No one from Shapiro's office was immediately available.

But a spokesman for the prime minister brushed off calls for Shapiro's dismissal.

"Mr. Shapiro is an officer of Parliament," said Scott Reid. "If we were to excuse these officers every time they made a decision one politician or another disagreed with, we'd defeat the purpose of independent officers altogether."

But disdain for Shapiro's performance is not limited to opposition MPs.

Duff Conacher, spokesman for the public interest group Democracy Watch, is even more critical.

"I think it's generous to say incompetence when it amounts to bias."

The group plans to press Shapiro to step aside while his work over the last year is independently reviewed. If he refuses, Democracy Watch will ask a court to order such a probe by the end of July, Conacher said.

He has repeatedly assailed Shapiro for appointing Borden Ladner Gervais, a law firm with close Liberal ties, to investigate allegations that former Immigration Minister Judy Sgro was in conflicts of interest.

She resigned in January to clear her name. But Shapiro, citing various delays and legal snags, has still not released his final report.

Conacher says Shapiro has shown a disturbing tendency to protect public officials rather than investigate legitimate complaints of rule-breaking.

Shapiro has also been asked to probe the propriety of negotiations about Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal's possible support for the Liberals in exchange for plum jobs for him and his Tory MP wife, Nina.

Grewal went on stress leave after his secret tapes became public. He made headlines again earlier this month when he was spotted at a Vancouver airport trying to get additional tapes delivered to Ottawa in a hurry.

The RCMP has cleared him of wrongdoing in the airport incident.

Cpl. Dave Williams says the Mounties never launched a full-scale investigation because Grewal had cleared airport security before his actions drew attention.

"It was a safety concern for the airline, but once everybody goes through security - and he was on the secure side - you can exchange packages as long as everybody knows what's in the package.

"If we found out that it had come in from a non-secure method, we may have been involved," Williams said from Richmond, B.C. "But we had no evidence to even suggest that."

Transport Canada has also cleared Grewal in the airport incident. Air Canada is still conducting its own investigation.

Debate was raging at the time of the airport incident over the authenticity of the tapes. Several audio experts concluded that the recordings had been altered before being made public.

June 17th 2005, Grewal Cleared In Airport Incident

Grewal cleared in airport incident

CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The Mounties and federal transportation regulators have dropped their investigations of Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal over an incident at Vancouver International Airport.

Grewal had tried on June 4 to get other passengers in a waiting area of the airport to carry a package for him to Ottawa.

But the RCMP say there was nothing criminal about the Newton-North Delta MP's actions.

Transport Canada has also cleared Grewal of any wrongdoing.

In a letter to the MP, the agency's manager of security operations says Grewal did not contravene the Aeronautics Act.

Grewal went on stress leave a few days after the incident, and gave up his parliamentary duties.

Air Canada is still conducting its own investigation.

June 16, 2005 "No Cabinet Job Was Promised" Re Belinda Stronach Crossing

Thu, June 16, 2005

No cabinet job was promised
Before Stronach defected: Grit
By STEPHANIE RUBEC, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER

OTTAWA -- Belinda Stronach was handed a plum cabinet job only after deciding to join the Liberals, says a spokesman for the prime minister.

Scott Reid, the Paul Martin's director of communications, says negotiations over Stronach's responsibilities in a Liberal government weren't launched until she had made up her mind to leave the Conservatives.

'EXCEPTIONAL'

But Reid said former Ontario premier David Peterson didn't have to exert too much pressure on Martin to secure a cabinet post.

"In Belinda Stronach's case, her talents are exceptional and obvious," Reid said of the millionaire auto-parts heiress.

"There was never any question that someone of her stature was going to enter cabinet."

Reid outright dismissed complaints by the Conservatives that the Liberals lured Stronach over with a cabinet post.

"She made it clear that she was going to cross the floor," he said. "She had made her decision that she could no longer tolerate a party led by Stephen Harper that was narrow and that was ungenerous."

Conservative MP John Reynolds has complained to the Law Society of Upper Canada about Peterson's role in negotiating Stronach's cabinet post.

He asked the Law Society Monday to investigate whether Peterson broke the Criminal Code by negotiating the plum position.

"It's a joke. The whole issue is a farce," Reid said of the complaint.

June 15, 2005 Tory MP Reynolds Files Complaint Against Top Liberals In Grewal Matter

Tory MP files complaints against three top Liberals

STEPHEN THORNE, CP 2005-06-15 02:52:41

OTTAWA -- A Conservative MP has filed complaints with two law societies against three Liberals -- former Ontario premier David Peterson, federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and the prime minister's chief of staff, Tim Murphy.

In separate letters of complaint written Monday, Tory John Reynolds says the three -- all lawyers -- offered Conservative MPs compensation in exchange for their support in key confidence votes on the Liberal minority government's budget.

Reynolds alleges the actions of Peterson, Dosanjh and Murphy compromise the integrity of the legal profession.

He says they also could violate Section 119(1) of the Criminal Code, which prohibits people from offering members of Parliament "valuable consideration, office, place or employment" to influence their work in any way.

In letters to Ontario's Law Society of Upper Canada, Reynolds says Peterson, Ontario Liberal premier from 1985 to 1990, and Murphy may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and Canada's Criminal Code.

In a letter to the Law Society of British Columbia, he says Dosanjh may have violated the provisions of its Professional Conduct Handbook, as well as the Criminal Code.

Reynolds provides transcripts he claims indicate that Dosanjh and Murphy offered a cabinet position to Tory MP Gurmant Grewal or a "significant position" for Grewal's wife, Nina, also a Tory MP, in exchange for their votes.

He also provides transcripts he says indicate that Peterson offered former Tory Belinda Stronach a cabinet position in exchange for joining the Liberals.

Stronach left the Conservatives last month to become human resources minister in Paul Martin's government.

Stronach said yesterday she was considering her options when she ran into Peterson and his wife, Shelley, who had been "dear friends" for years.

She said she told Peterson of "serious concerns" she had with the coming vote and the direction the Conservative party was taking.

Asked if Peterson offered her a cabinet post, she said: "I'm in this for reasons of public service," and Peterson was a "go-between."

Spokesperson Lisa Riley said the Law Society of Upper Canada only comments if a disciplinary hearing is called.

Grewal recorded his conversations with Dosanjh and Murphy.

The prime minister says he authorized the talks, but no job offers were made in exchange for votes. The Bloc and NDP have asked the RCMP to look into Martin's involvement.

Dosanjh says portions of the tapes were altered to erase parts of conversations, and to move other parts to suggest wrongdoing.

"Mr. Reynolds is obviously also in need of some stress leave," said Dosanjh spokesperson Ken Polk.

June 14, 2005 CTV Reports MP Reynolds Files Complaints Against 3 Liberals

MP Reynolds files complaints against 3 Liberals

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A Conservative MP has filed complaints with two law societies against three Liberals -- former Ontario premier David Peterson, federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and the prime minister's chief of staff Tim Murphy.

In separate letters of complaint written Monday, Tory John Reynolds says the three -- all lawyers -- offered Conservative MPs compensation in exchange for their support in key confidence votes on the Liberal minority government's budget.

Reynolds alleges the actions of Peterson, Dosanjh and Murphy compromise the integrity of the legal profession.

He says they also could violate Section 119(1) of the Criminal Code, which prohibits people from offering members of Parliament "valuable consideration, office, place or employment'' to influence their work in any way.

In letters to Ontario's Law Society of Upper Canada, Reynolds says Peterson, Ontario Liberal premier from 1985 to 1990, and Murphy may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and Canada's Criminal Code.

In a letter to the Law Society of British Columbia, he says Dosanjh may have violated the provisions of its Professional Conduct Handbook, as well as the Criminal Code.

Reynolds provides transcripts he claims indicate that Dosanjh and Murphy offer a cabinet position to Tory MP Gurmant Grewal or a "significant position'' for Grewal's wife Nina, also a Tory MP, in exchange for their votes.

He also provides transcripts he says indicate that Peterson offered former Tory Belinda Stronach a cabinet position in exchange for crossing the floor to the Liberals.

Stronach left the Conservatives last month to become human resources minister in Paul Martin's Liberal government.

Stronach said Tuesday she was considering her options when she ran into Peterson and his wife Shelley, who had been "dear friends'' for years.

She said told Peterson of "serious concerns'' she had with the coming vote and the direction the Conservative party was taking.

"I had to make a very, very tough decision which I agonized over and it was a question of fate and circumstance.''

Asked if Peterson offered her a cabinet post, she said: "I'm in this for reasons of public service,'' and Peterson was a "go-between.''

Spokeswoman Lisa Riley said the Law Society of Upper Canada only comments if a disciplinary hearing is called.

Grewal recorded his conversations with Dosanjh and Murphy.

The prime minister says he authorized the talks, but no job offers were made in exchange for votes. The Bloc and NDP have asked the RCMP to look into Martin's involvement.

Dosanjh says portions of the tapes were altered to erase parts of conversations, and to move other parts to suggest wrongdoing.

The conversations and a meeting with Dosanjh and Murphy took place on the eve of a confidence motion that threatened to defeat Martin's government.

Grewal has said he recorded two to four hours of audio, but only 90 minutes were initially released publicly. RCMP have the recordings.

Parliament's ethics commissioner is also investigating. A spokesman says the commissioner must decide whether to agree to an NDP request to include Martin in the probe.

Toronto Star; DEc. 17, 2000: profile of Promise Keepers Canada

Law society complaints filed against Liberals
Jun. 14, 2005. 05:11 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — A Conservative MP has filed complaints with two law societies against three Liberals — former Ontario premier David Peterson, federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and the prime minister’s chief of staff Tim Murphy.
In separate letters of complaint written yesterday, Tory John Reynolds says the three — all lawyers — offered Conservative MPs compensation in exchange for their support in key confidence votes on the Liberal minority government’s budget.

Reynolds alleges the actions of Peterson, Dosanjh and Murphy compromise the integrity of the legal profession.

He says they also could violate Section 119(1) of the Criminal Code, which prohibits people from offering members of Parliament ``valuable consideration, office, place or employment” to influence their work in any way.

In letters to Ontario’s Law Society of Upper Canada, Reynolds says Peterson, Ontario Liberal premier from 1985 to 1990, and Murphy may have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct and Canada’s Criminal Code.

In a letter to the Law Society of British Columbia, he says Dosanjh may have violated the provisions of its Professional Conduct Handbook, as well as the Criminal Code.

Reynolds provides transcripts he claims indicate that Dosanjh and Murphy offer a cabinet position to Tory MP Gurmant Grewal or a ``significant position” for Grewal’s wife Nina, also a Tory MP, in exchange for their votes.

He also provides transcripts he says indicate that Peterson offered former Tory Belinda Stronach a cabinet position in exchange for crossing the floor to the Liberals.

Stronach left the Conservatives last month to become human resources minister in Paul Martin’s Liberal government.

Stronach said today that she was considering her options when she ran into Peterson and his wife Shelley, who had been “dear friends” for years.

She said told Peterson of “serious concerns” she had with the coming vote and the direction that the Conservative party was taking.

“I had to make a very, very tough decision which I agonized over and it was a question of fate and circumstance.”

Asked if Peterson offered her a cabinet post, she said: “I’m in this for reasons of public service,” and Peterson was a ``go-between.”

Spokeswoman Lisa Riley said the Law Society of Upper Canada only comments if a disciplinary hearing is called.

Grewal recorded his conversations with Dosanjh and Murphy.

The prime minister says he authorized the talks, but no job offers were made in exchange for votes. The Bloc and NDP have asked the RCMP to look into Martin’s involvement.

Dosanjh says portions of the tapes were altered to erase parts of conversations, and to move other parts to suggest wrongdoing.

The conversations and a meeting with Dosanjh and Murphy took place on the eve of a confidence motion that threatened to defeat Martin’s government.

Grewal has said he recorded two to four hours of audio, but only 90 minutes were initially released publicly. RCMP have the recordings.

Parliament’s ethics commissioner is also investigating. A spokesman says the commissioner must decide whether to agree to an NDP request to include Martin in the probe.

June 13, 2005: Grewal Sought Bond, $50,000 for Visa Guarantees

Jun. 13, 2005.
Toronto Star
Document shows Grewal sought bond for visitors
MP wanted visa guarantees of $50,000 and up
Being investigated for possible breach of conduct code

LES WHITTINGTON
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA—Gurmant Grewal, the Conservative MP now on a stress leave, has asked constituents seeking to bring a visitor to Canada to sign a "personal guarantee" that the visitor will not overstay the term of his or her visa.

Grewal revealed his use of the bonds in March, when he told a House of Commons committee he had demanded guarantees of between $50,000 and $100,000 from constituents seeking visas for their relatives.

The guarantee form, a copy of which was obtained by the Toronto Star, is believed included in the information being studied by the federal ethics commissioner to determine whether Grewal has breached the code of conduct for MPs.

As part of the undertaking on the form, the person seeking a visa is asked to sign the statement: "THAT MY/OUR current net worth is assessed at a value of $50,000. And that I/We agree to place a bond against our guarantee in the sum of ..."

The amount of the bond is not specified and the name of the person seeking to bring a visitor to Canada is blacked out on the copy of the form that has come to light.

The guarantee begins: "THAT I/WE the undersigned, residents of...in the city of Surrey in the Province of BC, seek the assistance of Gurmant Grewal, MP for Newton-North Delta, in the matter of the issuance of a Visitor Visa for. ..."

It continues: "THAT I/WE provide a personal guarantee (Joint or Severed) that the above applicant for a visitor's visa and any family members travelling with the applicant, shall leave Canada on or before the expiry of the visa. ..."

Grewal told MPs studying immigration questions on March 24 that he agreed to help out visa-seeking constituents "when they sign it (the guarantee)." And he has told the media he made such arrangements with constituents "maybe 20" times.

Grewal subsequently said he only used the guarantees to test the potential reliability of visitors before vouching for them himself. He denied he had accepted any bonds, let alone any cash payments.

But his use of the bonds in exchange for his support in visa applications continues to reverberate in immigration and government circles.

Richard Kurland, a well-known Vancouver immigration lawyer, says he has never seen anything like it.

"This is unheard of," said Kurland. "There's no place for that in our system."

Critics of Grewal's scheme say there is no indication on the forms who would get the promised bond payment if the visitor failed to leave Canada when the visa expired. Kurland said it is obviously unacceptable that any such payment would go to the MP involved.

In the past, Grewal has said he would turn the guarantee over to the federal government for possible collection if a visitor overstayed a visa. He has also said the personal guarantees were probably legally unenforceable.

Rather, the MP said the bonds were a test for those wishing to bring in visitors. He explained to the MetroValley Newspaper Group in B.C.: "You can judge a person if they refuse to sign it," he told the newspaper group.

"If the sponsor is not sure that the visitor will go back to the country of origin, why should I be vouching for that person?"

Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has asked federal ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro to investigate Grewal's use of the bonds. Volpe also asked the RCMP to look into the matter.

Grewal has denied any wrongdoing. "I have, in fact, come up with a solutions-oriented approach to a serious problem in the immigration system" of visitors staying on in Canada after their visas expire.

Grewal is at the centre of a controversy over his secretly taping conversations he had with senior Liberals, allegedly involving political rewards he would be given if he switched parties. The MP, who left Ottawa for Vancouver last week after going on stress leave, could not be reached for comment.

Jun 11, 2005 G&M Backgrounder on Nina Grewal

SURREY, B.C.; OTTAWA -- She learned everything she needed to know about politics from watching the parliamentary channel CPAC, her husband Gurmant Grewal says, but Nina Grewal's continued silence has a growing number of critics wondering if she was watching on mute.

She won her first election in a seat Mr. Grewal didn't want.

Both put their names forward in two adjacent ridings and he, as the senior politician in the household, decided which constituency he wanted, leaving her with his second choice.

When she gave a CBC radio interview after they both won for the Tories in the 2004 election, making history as the first husband-and-wife team elected at the same time, he whispered the answers to her.

As her husband stumbled from taped conversations to negotiated stress leave, Ms. Grewal, the Conservative MP for the Surrey riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, has remained resolutely silent.

Both in Ottawa and in her own political backyard, she has a reputation as more a quiet supplicant than an active participant in public life.

In the hours of conversation Mr. Grewal had with the Liberals, she is referred to simply as his "wife" as the talk centres on a possible Senate seat for her -- part of a deal that would have seen the couple leave the Conservative party or sit out the budget vote.

Mr. Grewal boasts in the recordings that he will win easily in the next election while she may not.

His own personal story is "very brilliant," he says. Hers is virtually unknown.

There is growing uneasiness about her silence, her inexperience and the mounting damage that has been done to the Conservatives.

Manjit Dhillon, a Conservative organizer with the Fraser Valley's Indo-Canadian community and an executive in Conservative MP Randy White's Abbotsford riding, said her silence, combined with her husband's actions, has hurt the credibility of politicians in general and the politically active ethnic community in particular.

"It will take 10 years for the Indo-Canadian community to regain any trust, whether what happened on the tape is true or false and keeping quiet on her part doesn't help," he said. "We see that Stephen Harper is standing behind Gurmant Grewal, but his wife is not saying anything. Even Hillary stood behind Bill Clinton when things turned."

Ms. Grewal has no intention of talking now. She turned down interviews, and in a brief talk outside the family's home in upscale Panorama Ridge, Jay Grewal said his mother is supporting her husband. "She won't talk to you. No one in her office will talk about this now. We're just supporting each other through this," he said. "She wants to continue her work."

Her life before she got started in politics remains something of a mystery.

Born in Osaka, Japan, where her father had business interests, Ms. Grewal, 46, and her family moved to Liberia in West Africa when she was 4½ years old. From there, she was sent to Shimla, India, to study in a convent, finishing her college degree in history and English literature before getting married in 1982.

"My father placed a matrimonial advertisement in The Tribune newspaper and Gurmant's parents responded," she said in a rare interview in November, 2004, for an Indian website.

After their marriage, the young couple moved to Liberia where their sons Japjot (Jay) and Livjot, now 19 and 21, were born.

Mr. Grewal, 47, once told a Vancouver reporter he was an adviser to Liberian dictator Sam Doe, although he has since denied it. He says he worked as a professor of agriculture, and started a number of ventures, including a cellphone company and pest control business. Ms. Grewal's website says only that she worked in the family business while in Liberia.

Civil war led the family to leave, and they made their way to Canada after stays in Britain and the United States. Despite the fact that, on tape, Mr. Grewal says he came here with little money, he was able to acquire a carpet business shortly after arriving.

Mr. Grewal first ran for political office as a B.C. Liberal in 1995, but was unsuccessful. He won federally two years later as a Reformer. Ms. Grewal would often attend functions and give speeches on his behalf when his schedule got too busy. "This was good political training," she told IndiaNest.com.

While Ms. Grewal's first brush with political life had been as a stand-in, her husband's controversies often propelled him to the front lines. He once claimed he taped an offer of a deputy cabinet position from the B.C. Liberals, and later hired Rachel Marsden in his riding office, a right-wing pundit who had pleaded guilty to stalking a radio personality.

In 2004, Mr. and Ms. Grewal announced their intentions to run in two different ridings and signed up substantial number of new Conservative members within the Indo-Canadian community. In the riding Ms. Grewal subsequently ran in, she fended off a high-profile contender, Mary Polak, the former Surrey school board chair, who withdrew her bid for the nomination, arguing her opponent had an unfair advantage because of her husband's access to membership lists.

Community activist Manpreet Grewal, no relation to the family, said she has often asked people if they had heard of Ms. Grewal before she entered the race.

"Not one person that I know has ever remembered her doing anything in the community. It's a big mystery about where she came from, what she did," she said. "People here resent the fact that someone who was only known as the wife of a politician suddenly becomes a politician herself with nothing to show with any community involvement."

But Chris Mathisen, an organizer for the Conservatives in Surrey and White Rock, said he has sat with Ms. Grewal at policy conventions and in election preparation meetings.

"I've chatted with her and we've discussed issues. She has her opinions," he said. "She's also a nice lady."

The new riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, created in a 2004 redistribution, is 20-per-cent Indo-Canadian, with a growing affluent population. It was considered a safe Tory seat when the election was called.

When questions arose during the campaign about her qualifications, her husband said she watched CPAC, the parliamentary TV channel "all the time for the last seven years. We don't watch movies at home. We only watch CPAC."

In their household, Ms. Grewal has said they "eat, breathe and talk all the time [about] politics."

She won her seat with 36 per cent of the vote, compared with 30 per cent for her Liberal opponent, former B.C. cabinet minister Gulzar Cheema.

Dr. Cheema had three campaign managers, including Ron Churchill, a former organizer with the Reform and then the Alliance party.

"It really hurt losing to someone like her. We tried everything we knew, the three of us, with all of our experiences, to convey the message voters should elect a person, not the party," Mr. Churchill said. "She was the invisible candidate. She wasn't even the peekaboo candidate. She was fully hidden. I didn't see the boo."

Mr. Churchill said that at an all-candidates meeting at Kwantlen College during campaign, Ms. Grewal's staff directly intervened with signs to help her answer questions.

The rumour around Parliament Hill, and in Surrey, is that Mr. Grewal controls everything in his wife's office from hiring or vetting staff, to checking her correspondences and dealing with constituent matters in Fleetwood-Port Kells.

B.C. communications consultant Colin Metcalfe, who worked on the Tory campaign in the last election, and knows Ms. Grewal professionally, says she is simply a "very private woman."

Mr. Metcalfe said Ms. Grewal is not "a shrinking violet," but does have trouble with English, which is not her first language.

Mr. Grewal has returned to the family's home in Surrey, one of four properties the couple own either together or separately in the Lower Mainland. Though Mr. Grewal returned home earlier this week accompanied by RCMP, Ms. Grewal was expected back only this weekend.

For now, the family lives in a 7,600-square-foot home in Panorama Ridge, with six-bedrooms, four bathrooms and a Canadian flag flying. Although no sign is up, real estate listings show the house is currently for sale and listed for $978,888.

Neighbours in their enclave say they do not know the couple well.

"These homes are half-acre lots. We have a long and heavy retaining wall between each other and the person who is your next door neighbour is actually a half a block away," said one neighbour, who said she rarely sees the family, and declined to be named.

In Ottawa, the couple rarely socialize with other caucus members. By most accounts, Ms. Grewal stays close to her husband during and after office hours, and has no close friends in caucus.

But she does appear to be well-liked and does not shy away from the microphone during closed-door caucus sessions.

Her seatmate in the House of Commons Alberta Tory Lee Richardson says Ms. Grewal is capable of joining in the rowdiness and has shown her agitation with some of the catcalls from the other side. Mr. Richardson dismisses the notion that Ms. Grewal's ethnic heritage has kept her in the shadows.

"Women in that community are pretty strong, just in a very subtle way. And obviously it works because people have a different impression than how it really is, I think. I think she stands up pretty well."

Carol Skelton, another fellow MP, said Ms. Grewal just quietly goes about doing her job and shines when she's in front of the cameras.

"That's the whole Ottawa mentality. You look at someone that's quiet, that's not in the media a lot and you say, 'Oh you know, they're under somebody's shadow,' and that's not true," she said. "As women parliamentarians, we go around doing our jobs and try to stay out of the media."

Ms. Grewal is interested in immigration and women's issues, with a focus on raising the age of consent.

But some Tory MPs are not exactly clear on what drives her.

"Honestly, there is nothing that jumps into my mind what Nina's passion is," says a Tory colleague who asked not to be named.

She is the vice-chair of the status of women committee. The chairwoman, Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville, says that some of the issues the committee is dealing with, such as gender-based analysis and pay equity, are quite "new" to Ms. Grewal.

"I'm sort of reluctant to talk about her," said Ms. Neville. "I don't really know her. She attends most meetings.. . .She's quiet but diligent."

One Tory MP notes that in the last election, the party had to send in MPs to replace her in several all-candidates debates because it felt she couldn't handle the issues.

Rob Terris, the head of the Tynehead Community Association and the Ratepayers Association in her riding, said yesterday that whenever he approached Ms. Grewal for assistance in projects such as building a pool in the riding or erecting a monument, she referred him to Mr. Grewal.

"On every issue I have raised with her, she told me to go to her husband instead," said Mr. Terris. "She has never responded with her own thoughts or her own ideas, just deflected it to him or she would ask me what she should do."

Jaspreet Dhanju, a dentist who lives in the riding, said she questions whether Ms. Grewal should be representing the community.

"She shouldn't be pushed down because of her husband. But as a regular person just listening and trying to understand what's going on, I wonder if she will ever stand up at all," Dr. Dhanju said.

June 11, 2005: the Grewals' strange odyssey

The Toronto Star
June 11, 2005 Saturday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A06

HEADLINE: Nina and Gurmant's strange odyssey

BYLINE: Daniel Girard, Toronto Star

SURREY, B.C. On the morning after the election last June 28, Gurmant and Nina Grewal were the toast of the country, reporters lining up to tell their story.

Having just become the first husband-and-wife team elected to the House of Commons, they invited journalists to their home in this city east of Vancouver and politely answered questions and posed for photographers like movie stars promoting a new film.

The Grewals were no less in demand this week when they returned from Ottawa. But rather than make themselves available, the couple stayed for more than an hour out of sight of the cameras awaiting them at the Vancouver airport, eventually getting an RCMP escort out a back door and being swiftly driven to their car in the parking lot.

One year on, the two Conservative MPs have gone from electoral novelties to the centre of a political storm that has rolled over Ottawa and much of Canada, with its sordid tales of secretly taped conversation, dubious job offers and allegations of immigration fraud.

The mess prompted Gurmant, 47, a three-term MP, to take stress leave this week. Meanwhile Nina, 46, a parliamentary rookie, has been dogged by questions about what she may have known about her husband's negotiations last month with senior Liberals, allegedly involving political rewards for the Grewals if they helped the minority government survive a non-confidence vote.

"The whole Indo-Canadian community was proud that we were the first people who elected a husband-and-wife team to Parliament," said Harjinder Thind, a talk-show host with Sher-e Punjab Radio, where the Grewal affair has dominated the daily call-ins.

"They have really disappointed people," said Thind, noting the overwhelming majority of callers are angry with the Grewals as well as Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, who appears on one of the tape-recorded conversations to be offering a deal for them to switch parties.

"Our Indo-Canadian people like to see honest politicians because they come from a country where politicians are very dishonest and do unethical things," Thind said.

The Grewals, natives of India's Punjab, had an arranged marriage in 1982. Shortly after marrying, the well-educated Sikhs moved to the West African nation of Liberia, where Nina's parents had once lived. He taught at the University of Liberia and they began a successful import/export business and raised two now-adult sons.

The Grewal family was holidaying in India in 1990 when the civil war in Liberia led to a revolt that resulted in the overthrow and assassination of Gen. Samuel Doe, who had ruled the country for a decade after taking power in a bloody coup.

The Grewals never went back to Liberia, but lived in several different countries before settling in Surrey.

A proud Canadian, Gurmant Grewal likes to boast that he has the record for the fastest ascent from landed immigrant to MP, accomplishing the feat in less than six years.

"This tells more about Canada than about us," he told the Toronto Star after he was re-elected last June in the new riding of Newton-North Delta and his wife won neighbouring Fleetwood-Port Kells. "It shows that the multicultural fabric of Canada is being strengthened.

"I lived in Africa for almost nine years and was not even able to participate in parliament. Canada is a wonderful country that has given me the opportunity to represent Canadians."

But Grewal, who along with his wife did not respond to requests for interviews for this story, is certainly no stranger to controversy during his decade on the B.C. political scene.

Grewal has faced questions about whether he actually advised Liberia's Doe and has been accused of dirty tricks in the nomination process, both of which he has denied. He was also taken to task last year for hiring - then firing after the media found out - a woman to work in his office when she was facing criminal charges for stalking. She pleaded guilty.

And, in the mid-1990s, he was involved in a controversy similar to the one now engulfing him. It involves tape recordings and alleged job offers in exchange for political favours.

"I have no sympathy," said Sandy Powar, president of the Surrey-Newton riding association for the British Columbia Liberal Party. "He deserves what he's getting now."

Powar was charged with verbally abusing and threatening Grewal in 1996 and was forced to resign as party secretary in a bizarre incident that capped Grewal's political debut.

In 1995, Grewal was hoping to run for the Liberals in an election expected the next year. He planned to contest a nomination against the party president but withdrew from the race following a meeting with Liberal brass, saying he didn't want to hurt party morale.

But Grewal later told the media he was set up. He alleged Powar tried to bribe him with a deputy minister post in a Gordon Campbell government if he stepped aside. He soon quit the Liberals, ran for the B.C. Reform Party and was badly defeated in the 1996 election.

Grewal said he received a threatening call from Powar on election night. On another line he dialled 911 so that the conversation would be recorded. The charges were dropped soon after.

Powar, who has always maintained that was not his voice on the tape and that he wasn't in a position to offer a top job to Grewal, remains bitter nearly a decade after the incident.

"I was his first victim, that's how I feel," Powar said in an interview this week.

But there are certainly those who see Gurmant Grewal as the victim.

"I stand by my Member of Parliament and I am not alone," said Jim Holt, president of his riding association, who said he's fielded many calls of support from constituents. He takes exception with the "assassination" in the media of his MP when the actions of Dosanjh, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, Tim Murphy, and other Liberals involved in the tape controversy are not being nearly as closely scrutinized.

Former B.C. Liberal MLA Tony Bhullar, whose riding was in Grewal's, said the MP has an "excellent work ethic." But, he said, many in the Indo-Canadian community questioned his motives when he helped secure the Conservative nomination for Nina. With Gurmant's former riding being divided into two for last year's election, both Grewals filed nomination papers to run in each of the two ridings. After seeing how they fared in signing up party members, they each chose the constituency they would seek.

Opponents said they made a mockery of the process and some dropped out of the race.

GRAPHIC: Gurmant Grewal, a three-term MP, is on stress leave, while his wife Nina, a parliamentary rookie, is dogged by questions about what she knew about her husband's conversations with senior Liberals.Gurmant Grewal, a three-term MP, is on stress leave, while his wife Nina, a parliamentary rookie, is dogged by questions about what she knew about her husband's conversations with senior Liberals.

June 11, 2005 Halifax Herald "Who Cut The Tapes?"

Snip, snip, who cut the tape?

By STEPHEN MAHER / Letter From Ottawa

Someone in the Conservative party edited the Grewal tapes to make the Liberals look bad and the Tories look good.

The Tories won't say who did it, but they say the complete tapes they eventually released are the same as the tapes Gurmant Grewal first gave them. If that's true, then whoever cut the tapes was working for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

It is surprising that someone in Mr. Harper's office would be at once so stupid and so unethical.

None of this clears the Liberals of wrongdoing. There is plenty of sleaze to go around in this affair.

As the Tories keep pointing out, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, the prime minister's chief of staff, went over the line in trying to convince Mr. Grewal to give them the votes they needed to survive a budget vote in the House. The future of the government depended on a few votes, and Mr. Grewal offered two - his and his wife's - in exchange for a cabinet post for him and a job for her.

It is against the law to offer a job in exchange for a vote.

In a series of meetings that Mr. Grewal taped, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Dosanjh try to talk Mr. Grewal into abstaining. They don't quite offer him what he is asking for, but they repeatedly make vague promises of future rewards.

I don't doubt that if they had crossed the floor, the Liberals would have made Mr. Grewal the Parliamentary Secretary for Keeping Your Mouth Shut and Ms. Grewal would have become a Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on South Asian British Columbians.

But they didn't cross. Instead, Mr. Grewal went public with his story, saying he was offered a job - a bribe - in essence, for his vote.

The Tories released a snippet of tape, and lots of journalists - including this one - quoted a chunk of dialogue that seemed to bear out Mr. Grewal's story. Mr. Murphy seems to - wink-wink, nudge-nudge - offer and not offer a reward to Ms. Grewal.

"All of which is to say, that in advance of that, explicit discussions about Senate, not Senate, I don't think are very helpful, and I don't think, frankly, can be had, in advance of an abstention," he says.

"And then we'll have much more detailed and finely hued discussions after that with some freedom. And I think that what allows is negotiating room for you, in either direction."

This, and a number of other passages, makes the Liberals look pretty bad.

Two weeks later, under pressure, the Conservatives released what they said was the whole tape. It turns out that somebody - some Tory - was lying.

What they released was a heavily edited tape. In one conversation alone there are 20 cuts. About 15 minutes of tape was left out of the package they released.

After experts concluded the tape was obviously doctored, the Tories released what they now say is the complete version. An obsessive Internet blogger, at bucketsofgrewal.blogspot.com, has compiled a word-by-word comparison of the two tapes.

It shows that someone cut out things that made the Liberals look good or the Tories look bad.

Some small cuts have a big impact in changing the nature of the conversation.

There's a long passage where Mr. Murphy gives Mr. Grewal the soft soap, making vague promises that he and his wife will be taken care of if they cross the floor. One widely quoted line: "You know obviously for us continuing to expand our base in B.C. and in prominent communities in this country is a political priority for us so it's a welcome mat that has a lot of nice comfy fur on it."

But Mr. Murphy goes on to say they can't make specific promises.

"I don't even know if Ujjal knows this, there are others in your caucus who have asked. I will do this if you will do this or that or the other thing and we have said no, period. Right? In truth, I don't think that actually serves us or that individual well, right. Because, it has been a kind you know, they have asked for a reward outside of politics and I just don't think that's, the prime minister does not think that's the right thing to do. I want you to know, you might say there is an element of trust in what's been happening here, but there's a reason for that because frankly it's better for us to be honest with you. Frankly it's better for someone like you to work on that basis."

The Tories cut out the sections in italic. So, Paul Martin told Mr. Murphy not to offer MPs like the Grewals jobs outside politics - like diplomatic posts - in exchange for their votes. Mr. Murphy is trying to tell Mr. Grewal that the Liberals will take care of the Grewals, but Mr. Martin has forbidden him to offer anything specific.

The Tories cut that, because it showed Mr. Martin had set ethical ground rules for the talks.

Later in the conversations, there are big chunks edited out where Mr. Grewal makes a hard pitch for a Senate seat for his wife.

"I will not talk to the big boss (Mr. Martin) like that, but Tim I can. Ujjal, I'm contradicting your advice a little bit, OK? The understanding that if possible my wife would be the preference for the adjustment, possibly in the Senate. So that's the understanding, but Ujjal told me not to mention it like this."

There are loads of sections cut where Mr. Grewal says things that make him look terrible. He pleads for a firm offer from Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Murphy fails to give it to him.

The Tories - or, maybe, Mr. Grewal, acting on his own - cut the tape to give Canadians the wrong idea about what happened in the talks. Then, when they were caught, they released the whole tape, and issued a news release saying the missing sections were a few seconds long, and were created through a technical glitch in file transfer in Mr. Harper's office.

That's a lie.

The Tories won't say who cut the tape. They won't deny that they were edited, although on Thursday they issued a release pointing to a review of the tapes by an expert they hired. He found no evidence that the complete tapes have been edited. That says nothing about the fact that they earlier released doctored tapes.

This raises disturbing questions about the people around Mr. Harper, although I do not believe that he personally would have approved this. On the other hand, I was surprised to learn that he didn't tell Mr. Grewal to stop secretly taping these meetings when he first learned of them.

Somebody in the Conservative party used the black arts of the war room in a vain attempt to deceive Canadians with these tapes.

The Conservatives constantly emphasize the Liberal record of corruption, and claim to offer a clean, ethical alternative.

That would be more convincing if they would tell us who cut the tape.

Hat Tip: Bourque

June 11, 2005: Globe and Mail: Nina Grewal's degree in political silence

Nina Grewal's degree in political silence: With her husband firmly at centre stage in Ottawa, the MP for Fleetwood-Port Kells in Surrey, B.C., has a reputation as a quiet supplicant rather than an active participant in public life.

SURREY, B.C.; OTTAWA -- She learned everything she needed to know about politics from watching the parliamentary channel CPAC, her husband Gurmant Grewal says, but Nina Grewal's continued silence has a growing number of critics wondering if she was watching on mute.

She won her first election in a seat Mr. Grewal didn't want.

Both put their names forward in two adjacent ridings and he, as the senior politician in the household, decided which constituency he wanted, leaving her with his second choice.

When she gave a CBC radio interview after they both won for the Tories in the 2004 election, making history as the first husband-and-wife team elected at the same time, he whispered the answers to her.

As her husband stumbled from taped conversations to negotiated stress leave, Ms. Grewal, the Conservative MP for the Surrey riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, has remained resolutely silent.

Both in Ottawa and in her own political backyard, she has a reputation as more a quiet supplicant than an active participant in public life.

In the hours of conversation Mr. Grewal had with the Liberals, she is referred to simply as his "wife" as the talk centres on a possible Senate seat for her -- part of a deal that would have seen the couple leave the Conservative party or sit out the budget vote.

Mr. Grewal boasts in the recordings that he will win easily in the next election while she may not.

His own personal story is "very brilliant," he says. Hers is virtually unknown.

There is growing uneasiness about her silence, her inexperience and the mounting damage that has been done to the Conservatives.

Manjit Dhillon, a Conservative organizer with the Fraser Valley's Indo-Canadian community and an executive in Conservative MP Randy White's Abbotsford riding, said her silence, combined with her husband's actions, has hurt the credibility of politicians in general and the politically active ethnic community in particular.

"It will take 10 years for the Indo-Canadian community to regain any trust, whether what happened on the tape is true or false and keeping quiet on her part doesn't help," he said. "We see that Stephen Harper is standing behind Gurmant Grewal, but his wife is not saying anything. Even Hillary stood behind Bill Clinton when things turned."

Ms. Grewal has no intention of talking now. She turned down interviews, and in a brief talk outside the family's home in upscale Panorama Ridge, Jay Grewal said his mother is supporting her husband. "She won't talk to you. No one in her office will talk about this now. We're just supporting each other through this," he said. "She wants to continue her work."

Her life before she got started in politics remains something of a mystery.

Born in Osaka, Japan, where her father had business interests, Ms. Grewal, 46, and her family moved to Liberia in West Africa when she was 41/2 years old. From there, she was sent to Shimla, India, to study in a convent, finishing her college degree in history and English literature before getting married in 1982.

"My father placed a matrimonial advertisement in The Tribune newspaper and Gurmant's parents responded," she said in a rare interview in November, 2004, for an Indian website.

After their marriage, the young couple moved to Liberia where their sons Japjot (Jay) and Livjot, now 19 and 21, were born.

Mr. Grewal, 47, once told a Vancouver reporter he was an adviser to Liberian dictator Sam Doe, although he has since denied it. He says he worked as a professor of agriculture, and started a number of ventures, including a cellphone company and pest control business. Ms. Grewal's website says only that she worked in the family business while in Liberia.

Civil war led the family to leave, and they made their way to Canada after stays in Britain and the United States. Despite the fact that, on tape, Mr. Grewal says he came here with little money, he was able to acquire a carpet business shortly after arriving.

Mr. Grewal first ran for political office as a B.C. Liberal in 1995, but was unsuccessful. He won federally two years later as a Reformer. Ms. Grewal would often attend functions and give speeches on his behalf when his schedule got too busy. "This was good political training," she told IndiaNest.com.

While Ms. Grewal's first brush with political life had been as a stand-in, her husband's controversies often propelled him to the front lines. He once claimed he taped an offer of a deputy cabinet position from the B.C. Liberals, and later hired Rachel Marsden in his riding office, a right-wing pundit who had pleaded guilty to stalking a radio personality.

In 2004, Mr. and Ms. Grewal announced their intentions to run in two different ridings and signed up substantial number of new Conservative members within the Indo-Canadian community. In the riding Ms. Grewal subsequently ran in, she fended off a high-profile contender, Mary Polak, the former Surrey school board chair, who withdrew her bid for the nomination, arguing her opponent had an unfair advantage because of her husband's access to membership lists.

Community activist Manpreet Grewal, no relation to the family, said she has often asked people if they had heard of Ms. Grewal before she entered the race.

"Not one person that I know has ever remembered her doing anything in the community. It's a big mystery about where she came from, what she did," she said. "People here resent the fact that someone who was only known as the wife of a politician suddenly becomes a politician herself with nothing to show with any community involvement."

But Chris Mathisen, an organizer for the Conservatives in Surrey and White Rock, said he has sat with Ms. Grewal at policy conventions and in election preparation meetings.

"I've chatted with her and we've discussed issues. She has her opinions," he said. "She's also a nice lady."

The new riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, created in a 2004 redistribution, is 20-per-cent Indo-Canadian, with a growing affluent population. It was considered a safe Tory seat when the election was called.

When questions arose during the campaign about her qualifications, her husband said she watched CPAC, the parliamentary TV channel "all the time for the last seven years. We don't watch movies at home. We only watch CPAC."

In their household, Ms. Grewal has said they "eat, breathe and talk all the time [about] politics."

She won her seat with 36 per cent of the vote, compared with 30 per cent for her Liberal opponent, former B.C. cabinet minister Gulzar Cheema.

Dr. Cheema had three campaign managers, including Ron Churchill, a former organizer with the Reform and then the Alliance party.

"It really hurt losing to someone like her. We tried everything we knew, the three of us, with all of our experiences, to convey the message voters should elect a person, not the party," Mr. Churchill said. "She was the invisible candidate. She wasn't even the peekaboo candidate. She was fully hidden. I didn't see the boo."

Mr. Churchill said that at an all-candidates meeting at Kwantlen College during campaign, Ms. Grewal's staff directly intervened with signs to help her answer questions.

The rumour around Parliament Hill, and in Surrey, is that Mr. Grewal controls everything in his wife's office from hiring or vetting staff, to checking her correspondences and dealing with constituent matters in Fleetwood-Port Kells.

B.C. communications consultant Colin Metcalfe, who worked on the Tory campaign in the last election, and knows Ms. Grewal professionally, says she is simply a "very private woman."

Mr. Metcalfe said Ms. Grewal is not "a shrinking violet," but does have trouble with English, which is not her first language.

Mr. Grewal has returned to the family's home in Surrey, one of four properties the couple own either together or separately in the Lower Mainland. Though Mr. Grewal returned home earlier this week accompanied by RCMP, Ms. Grewal was expected back only this weekend.

For now, the family lives in a 7,600-square-foot home in Panorama Ridge, with six-bedrooms, four bathrooms and a Canadian flag flying. Although no sign is up, real estate listings show the house is currently for sale and listed for $978,888.

Neighbours in their enclave say they do not know the couple well.

"These homes are half-acre lots. We have a long and heavy retaining wall between each other and the person who is your next door neighbour is actually a half a block away," said one neighbour, who said she rarely sees the family, and declined to be named.

In Ottawa, the couple rarely socialize with other caucus members. By most accounts, Ms. Grewal stays close to her husband during and after office hours, and has no close friends in caucus.

But she does appear to be well-liked and does not shy away from the microphone during closed-door caucus sessions.

Her seatmate in the House of Commons Alberta Tory Lee Richardson says Ms. Grewal is capable of joining in the rowdiness and has shown her agitation with some of the catcalls from the other side. Mr. Richardson dismisses the notion that Ms. Grewal's ethnic heritage has kept her in the shadows.

"Women in that community are pretty strong, just in a very subtle way. And obviously it works because people have a different impression than how it really is, I think. I think she stands up pretty well."

Carol Skelton, another fellow MP, said Ms. Grewal just quietly goes about doing her job and shines when she's in front of the cameras.

"That's the whole Ottawa mentality. You look at someone that's quiet, that's not in the media a lot and you say, 'Oh you know, they're under somebody's shadow,' and that's not true," she said. "As women parliamentarians, we go around doing our jobs and try to stay out of the media."

Ms. Grewal is interested in immigration and women's issues, with a focus on raising the age of consent.

But some Tory MPs are not exactly clear on what drives her.

"Honestly, there is nothing that jumps into my mind what Nina's passion is," says a Tory colleague who asked not to be named.

She is the vice-chair of the status of women committee. The chairwoman, Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville, says that some of the issues the committee is dealing with, such as gender-based analysis and pay equity, are quite "new" to Ms. Grewal.

"I'm sort of reluctant to talk about her," said Ms. Neville. "I don't really know her. She attends most meetings.. . . She's quiet but diligent."

One Tory MP notes that in the last election, the party had to send in MPs to replace her in several all-candidates debates because it felt she couldn't handle the issues.

Rob Terris, the head of the Tynehead Community Association and the Ratepayers Association in her riding, said yesterday that whenever he approached Ms. Grewal for assistance in projects such as building a pool in the riding or erecting a monument, she referred him to Mr. Grewal.

"On every issue I have raised with her, she told me to go to her husband instead," said Mr. Terris. "She has never responded with her own thoughts or her own ideas, just deflected it to him or she would ask me what she should do."

Jaspreet Dhanju, a dentist who lives in the riding, said she questions whether Ms. Grewal should be representing the community.

"She shouldn't be pushed down because of her husband. But as a regular person just listening and trying to understand what's going on, I wonder if she will ever stand up at all," Dr. Dhanju said.

June 11, 2005: Indian columnist blast the Grewals

http://www.voiceonline.com/voice/050611/headline2.php

GREWAL CONTROVERSY

Gurmant and Nina Grewal should JUST GO AWAY!

By RATTAN MALL
What's wrong with this picture?

A man who craved publicity so desperately all the time was actually RUNNING AWAY from TV cameras and reporters at Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday night!

This was the same man who claimed he was always being offered cabinet and other top posts, but principles were always holding him back from accepting those bribes.

Now a very different picture seems to be emerging and Gurmant Grewal seems pretty reluctant to get out there and face the music.

Oh no, the poor baby is all stressed out - he's actually taken stress leave - and his MP wife Nina, who kept her mouth so tightly shut all this time, now claims she knew NOTHING about what her beloved husband was doing - the same man who manipulated the Fleetwood-Port Kells riding nomination for her!

Really?

It's quite clear from the tapes that her husband himself released that he was consulting her - unless, of course, he was lying.

Well, it's time both Gurmant and Nina RAN AWAY from all of us - into retirement from politics.

Please DO NOT DISGRACE the Indo-Canadian community any further - just leave.

You evidently were only concerned with your own big fat ego. Stretching the truth and twisting facts didn't matter to you as long as you got what you wanted.

You tried to pressure reporters in the ethnic media who dared to criticize you through influential people in the community and accused those who wouldn't publish each and every press release and photo you sent them of being biased against you or of being in the pay of another political party.

You bit off more than you could chew and now that your bubble has burst, you just can't take the pressure.

But look at the fallout of your naked ambitions. Not only has the Indo-Canadian community been humiliated, indeed, THE WHOLE COUNTRY is under a cloud.

Canada's ranking on Transparency International's global corruption index is going to go down further after the sponsorship scandal, according to the chairman of the watchdog's Canadian chapter. We fell to 12th place last year from fifth a few years ago and now we are poised to sink lower - THANKS TO YOU!

After the Air India bombing tragedy, you should have been the last person to break the cardinal security rule of not allowing unaccompanied luggage or package aboard an aircraft. Yet, according to reliable media reports, you shamelessly broke those rules by getting someone to carry an envelope reportedly containing the missing tapes to Ottawa. Now Air Canada is investigating the incident and all you can say is that the allegation is false. Yet you won't face the media to answer all the questions. What are you afraid of?

A national daily brought up your past contradictory statements about your days in Liberia before emigrating to Canada.

Now Gurwinder Dhillon says that you were a carpet salesman at his company when you bought $50,000 in shares on April 15, 1993, but that you sold them back the next day and that it was all a fake deal to meet citizenship requirements at the time. (Of course, Dhillon should realize that if his allegation is true, he too was part of that illegal act.) A Conservative spokesperson claimed it was an old unfounded allegation and you are threatening to take legal action. But with all that has happened, can anyone really believe you?

An expert especially hired by a national newspaper has claimed that your tapes were ALTERED and it was UNLIKELY that the changes in the tapes were caused by digital copying, as claimed by your party members.

God alone knows what else will surface by the time this piece appears on Saturday - BUT THANKS TO YOU, your party, the Conservatives, are down to 23 per cent support across Canada in a June 2-5 Decima survey as compared to the Liberals' 37 per cent support and the NDP's 21 per cent.

Isn't it high time you and your wife, Nina, stepped down for the sake of the community and Canada?

June 11, 2005: Herb Dhaliwal comments on the Grewal controversy

http://www.voiceonline.com/voice/050611/headline1.php

GREWAL-DOSANJH CONTROVERSY

Former federal minister Herb Dhaliwal speaks out on the Grewal-Dosanjh controversy
By RATTAN MALL
Herb Dhaliwal, the first Indo-Canadian in Canada's history to become a federal minister, made the community proud with his personality, his obvious political acumen, his sophistication and his blunt honesty and courage to stand up for what he believed to be right, especially after 9/11.

He was also known for his fierce loyalty to then prime minister Jean Chretien and was instrumental in getting a consulate general in Chandigarh.

There could be no better person that Dhaliwal to comment on the sad state of political affairs in Canada, terribly vitiated by the Gurmant Grewal-Ujjal Dosanjh tapes controversy.



Here's my interview with Dhaliwal:



VOICE: What's your take on this Grewal-Dosanjh controversy?

Dhaliwal: First of all my view is that it's totally unethical to surreptitiously record a meeting with someone at any level, never mind sort of at the highest political level where people expect us to have the highest ethical standard and conduct. So I think it's totally unethical that (Grewal) recorded these conversations.

The other thing is that I think the Liberals looked way too desperate in trying to deal with the NDP first of all and having Belinda (Stronach) come over (from the Conservative party) and then trying to bring other people over. They were out fishing or trolling to get people in. I think they were just looking too desperate and it's going to hurt them in the long term, because they're looking so weak and desperate.

So I think nobody looks very good and I think Parliament and parliamentarians get discredited with all this. Although it's only one or two people, but everybody gets discredited by this. So I think the sooner they put this behind them, the better for everyone.

But what was surprising is that Stephen Harper didn't condemn this type of action of taping these conversations. He said he condoned it. So really the question will be to Stephen Harper does he say that this is acceptable behaviour to go out and surreptitiously record conversations. I think people will have to start asking him some questions. This is the guy who wants to become prime minister. So if he thinks it's okay to go around recording private conversations and then (releasing) them to the public, I just wonder what kind of ethics he has.

I can tell you from my own experience when I was political minister, we had a request from one of the Opposition members saying that he'd like to cross over but he'd like to get into Cabinet. And I remember taking to Chretien and he said: 'No. No promises are going to be made…If you want to come over and cross the floor, that's fine. But there will be no commitments made or any promises to them and they'll have to work like every other member in the Liberal caucus.'

So that was the position we took and I took at the time and we were not going to make the type of promises that are happening now for people. I think it just makes the Liberals look weak and you know Canadians want members of Parliament to have the highest ethical standards and I think that they haven't upheld the type of standards that Canadians would want them to and, unfortunately, it hurts all Parliamentarians.



VOICE: Was this Opposition MP from BC?

Dhaliwal: It was an MP from BC. (Laughs) I don't want to name anyone, but it was an MP from BC and I said just said 'no way.' And there were some MPs we just said that we were not interested in even talking to them. But these names were in confidence, so I can't give out names of anybody. It wouldn't be appropriate.



VOICE: What do you think will be the fallout from all of this?

Dhaliwal: I think first of all there's a lot of pressure on Harper (from the Conservative caucus) to have Grewal removed from caucus and the stress leave was a compromise. And I think that he will have trouble getting the nomination or getting the ticket or support from the party in the next election which is only six to eight months away. I think they will not allow him to get the nomination. So he'll have a tough fight to come back in politics. He's going to have a hell of a problem and I think the Conservatives will make it difficult for him to get the nomination.



VOICE: What implications will this have on Dosanjh's career?

Dhaliwal: I think it's probably too early to say. Obviously, he's hurt himself by being involved in this and I guess it will depend on what the Ethics Commissioner comes up with because it's now before him. He'll review all the facts and it depends on what his view and what his position is.



VOICE: Do you think there should be a comprehensive RCMP inquiry into all of Gurmant Grewal's affairs because so many things are popping up now from his past?

Dhaliwal: I think what happens in a situation like this is that the media focuses on all sorts of things, everything. Then they focus on the negative. So I don't think we should have a blanket review of everything in his past, but I think obviously if there are things that are brought to their attention, they have a responsibility to look at it. But I don't think all of a sudden they should be doing a wholesale investigation. I think that there are legitimate things they will obviously look at but I don't think they should be going out on a fishing trip.

(END)

June 11, 2005 Grewal Makes International News

Indian-origin lawmaker in the midst of controversy in Canada

Press Trust of India

Toronto, June 11, 2005

An Indian-origin Conservative lawmaker in Canada is at the centre of a controversy over his citizenship with an allegation surfacing that he faked as a businessman to gain entry into the country.

Gurmant Grewal, who came to Canada in 1991 from Liberia, obtained his citizenship by pretending that he was a business entrepreneur, alleged Gurwinder Dhillon, a former business partner of the MP, who claimed to have participated in the scheme.

Grewal, who is already facing charges of attempting to cross over to the Liberal side in exchange for a cabinet post, bought shares of a small carpet company from Dhillon in the city of Vancouver for USD 40,000, only to sell them back the next day.

Dhillon alleged that the lawmaker bought the shares just to fulfil his obligation as an investor immigrant, when he moved to Canada from Liberia, 'The Globe and Mail' reported.

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration rules in 1991 required prospective entrepreneurial immigrants to manage a business that would be set up within two years, provide employment opportunities to at least one Canadian.

The allegation could spell trouble for Grewal as the country's Citizenship and Immigration department has made it clear that it takes such charges very seriously.

"In general terms, where there are allegations that somebody has obtained their citizenship, or in fact their permanent residence on the basis of misinterpretation or fraud, that's something we take very seriously," department spokesman Greg Scott was quoted as saying in the report.

However, a conservative spokeswoman rubbished the allegation, saying it was old and unfounded.

June 10, 2005: Edmonton Journal Reports: "Expert" says Tapes Are "Unaltered"

Grewal's tapes deemed 'unaltered' by expert
Edmonton Journal
Friday, June 10, 2005
Page: A5
Section: News
Column: Canada Digest
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Three weeks after releasing a snippet of secret recordings made by a Conservative MP in conversation with two senior Liberals, the original tapes have been deemed "unaltered," according to an Ottawa sound expert hired by the Tories to audit the tapes.

But in an interview, Randy Dash, the audio engineer from Ottawa's Algonquin College who conducted the analysis, noted four points on the second of three CDs he examined in which Conservative backbencher Gurmant Grewal appears to have paused the recording device, perhaps to protect sensitive information from being contained in his conversations with Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, about supporting the government in the May 19 confidence vote.

"There were four points definitely ... If I get nervous about what you and I are saying, I might hit the pause button while it's recording. That's what I detected," Dash said.

June 10: Grewal Threatened With Being Deported For Alleged Illegal Immigration

Yahoo News Reporting
Indo-Canadian MP threatened with deportation



Three weeks after implicating Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff and a senior member of his cabinet in an alleged vote-buying scandal, an opposition lawmaker is now facing possible deportation.

Immigration officials refused to divulge Friday whether they are investigating Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal for allegedly faking a business transaction to fulfill his obligations as an investor immigrant when he moved to Canada from Liberia in Western Africa in 1991.

But spokesperson Greg Scott said: "If there is evidence that somebody obtained their citizenship through fraudulent grounds, false representation, knowingly concealing material circumstances, it is something the department takes very seriously."

Since releasing secret recordings of his conversations with Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and senior Martin advisor Tim Murphy about crossing the floor of the House of Commons to bolster the Liberal government's chances of winning a crucial confidence vote last month, Grewal has suddenly become a pariah in his largely immigrant westcoast electoral district and the target of numerous wrongdoing accusations.

A former business associate accused the Indian-born MP Wednesday of having bought a small carpet business from him in the city of Vancouver for 50,000 dollars (40,000 US dollars) in April 1993, then taking the money back the next day in a phoney transaction meant to dupe immigration officials.

Then, Air Canada announced it would investigate an incident at the Vancouver airport in which Grewal was overheard asking several passengers if they would carry a package for him on a flight to Ottawa.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Joseph Volpe hinted at a possible bad outcome for Grewal if the allegations proved to be true, telling reporters Thursday that investor immigrants who failed to meet their conditions "don't usually get to stay" in Canada.

Those comments sparked outrage from Conservative MPs who accused Volpe of threatening Grewal.

"Does threatening to deport a member of Parliament whom the Liberals have failed to buy not reflect more the politics of a banana republic than a modern democracy like Canada?" Conservative MP Jason Kenney said.

Since 1977, only 50 Canadians have been stripped of their citizenship after investigations showed they had been gained improperly, Greg Scott said.

Nonetheless, the affair has hurt the opposition party in opinion polls, precipitating a sharp drop in Conservative support.

A survey released Wednesday showed Conservatives at 23 percent compared to the Liberals' 37 percent, after leading the Liberals six weeks ago at the height of testimony at a judicial inquiry into another government scandal.

The inquiry headed by judge John Gomery is looking into allegations that the Liberals under Martin's predecessor, Jean Chretien, received kickbacks from advertising firms to whom they had given millions of dollars in government contracts to promote federalism in the province of Quebec to stem separatist sentiments.

Meanwhile, Grewal's surreptitious tapes now form the basis for an investigation by the parliamentary ethics commissioner and a complaint to the federal police.

In the recordings -- which the government claimed were edited and inaccurate -- Dosanjh and Murphy discuss a possible cabinet job for Grewal and a plum senate seat or diplomatic posting for his wife if he joined the Liberals ahead of the confidence vote.

Grewal and his wife Nina became the first spouses to be elected simultaneously to the Canadian parliament in 2004.

Grewal said he meant to show that the Liberals were offering opposition MPs illegal rewards to defect.

Former Conservative star and billionaire auto parts heiress Belinda Stronach was the only MP to actually cross the floor ahead of the vote, becoming human resources minister in Martin's government.

With her help, the Liberals passed their budget by one vote.

Grewal is now on stress leave.

June 9, 2005: Edmonton Journal Reports "Opposition MPs Want 'The Truth'"

Opposition MPs want 'the truth'
Edmonton Journal
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Page: A7
Section: News
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: CanWest News Service

OTTAWA - Opposition parties turned their guns on Prime Minister Paul Martin Wednesday, demanding to know what role he played in the taping scandal that has engulfed a cabinet minister and his closest advisor, and why he did not intervene if suspected criminal and ethical breaches occurred.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has asked the RCMP to decide if Martin was negligent in not making a complaint against Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal if, as the Liberals assert, he was looking to sell his vote for government postings for he and his wife, fellow Tory MP Nina Grewal.

"The implication of that is when you're giving an order to someone like your chief of staff to negotiate with someone ready to commit a criminal infraction, I think it's something like complicity," Duceppe said after question period.

Grewal, along with Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, are already under investigation by Parliament's Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro.

The NDP said Wednesday they'll ask Shapiro to rethink his ruling that Murphy falls outside the reach of his mandate because he isn't an elected official. If that bid fails, the NDP will immediately ask Shapiro to investigate Martin himself in order to get at his top aide.

"We don't intend to take our eye off the ultimate objective here, which is to find out the truth," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.

June 9, 2005 Edmonton Journal Reports: Harper's Confidence Takes a Hit

Harper's confidence takes a hit
Edmonton Journal
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Page: A7
Section: News
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - The man who vowed to put Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government "out of its misery" a month ago sounded far less confident Wednesday amid renewed speculation about a snap election.

From full battle cry, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has retreated to politely asking his MPs to "fulfil their parliamentary responsibilities" when it comes to next week's budget vote.

"This government can't be defeated unless people who are elected as Liberals decide to defeat it," he said Wednesday following a national caucus meeting.

The prospect of Liberals sabotaging Martin's budget because of their opposition to same-sex marriage legislation was briefly aired this week.

"There's no point in me urging people (to vote against the government) who are not in my caucus," Harper joked. "I have, some days, enough trouble urging those who are in my caucus."

With seasoned communications staff leaving for greener pastures, internal grumbling over the Gurmant Grewal debacle and a poll showing Conservative support sinking nationally, Harper has his own miseries.

June 9, 2005: CPC MP Kenney Claims Conclusive Proof That Clips/Recordings Are Not Altered

JUNE 9th. Jason Kenney announces that their expert has conclusive stated that the clips/recordings he has heard are not altered. (Press Release doesn't actually appear on the CPC website, nor is it on CPC letterhead, it is leaked by somebody to Neale News) CPC expert R.Dash, who last week claimed, along with 4 other indipendent experts that the tapes were altered... now, according to press release says they are "clean"

Here is the news release as published at Neale News:

Jason Kenney, MP
Opposition Deputy House Leader
Calgary Southeast
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2005

News Release

Original Murphy/Dosanjh recordings clean and unaltered: expert

OTTAWA – Conservative Deputy House Leader Jason Kenney today released a letter to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper from Randy Dash, Senior Editor and Manager of Operations of dMAX Media in Ottawa. The letter summarizes Mr. Dash’s analysis of copies of original recordings supplied by Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal.

“Mr. Dash’s analysis of the recordings shows that they are clean and unaltered,” Kenney said. “These recordings speak for themselves. Now, it’s time for Paul Martin, Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy to begin answering the questions about their involvement in offering rewards to members of parliament in exchange for their votes. To this day, there has been no information produced by any of these individuals to dispute the facts on these recordings.”

Kenney pointed out that Mr. Dash, a professional audio engineer specializing in post-production work, is the only expert thus far to have examined copies of the original recordings, and invited others to do the same. “There has been a lot of conjecture about the authenticity of the recordings,” Kenney said. “None of this speculation is based upon fact, and would indicate that those speculating have not taken the time to listen to or examine the entire recordings, which are publicly available.”