Stéphane Dion will not apologize to Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the Chuck Cadman affair despite the threat of a libel lawsuit, the Liberal Leader says.
Mr. Harper filed a notice of libel suit Monday against Mr. Dion, two other top members of his caucus and the party. Court documents obtained by CTV and The Globe and Mail say two articles published on the Liberal website were “devastatingly defamatory” to the Prime Minister.
The notice of libel, which also names Liberal Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff and House Leader Ralph Goodale, takes on the Opposition for saying that Mr. Harper knew Conservative party officials attempted to bribe Mr. Cadman to vote against a Liberal budget in the spring of 2005.
“It's going to take much more than [the] threat of [a] lawsuit from stopping us from getting to the truth,” Mr. Dion told the House of Commons during yet another boisterous session of Question Period.
“Is the Prime Minister willing to change his story? Is he willing to tell the truth?” Mr. Dion demanded.
Mr. Harper responded by accusing the Liberals of using “more and more extreme accusations” to distract from their own internal problems – “going to the point last week ... of publishing on their website a series of false and unfounded allegations of criminal misconduct on my part,” the Prime Minister said.
“The truth is that this will prove to be, in court, the biggest mistake the leader of the Liberal Party has ever made.”
A Liberal Party statement issued Monday accused the Conservatives of using libel chill to stifle the debate that has gripped Parliament Hill since last week.
“What we are witnessing is yet another example of the Prime Minister silencing his critics and shutting down debate by threat and intimidation ... Rather than using the courts to intimidate critics, the Prime Minister should simply provide credible answers to straightforward questions.”
Mr. Cadman's wife, Dona Cadman – who is also a Conservative candidate – and her daughter and son-in-law say the dying MP told them that two men representing the Conservatives approached him in the days before the vote and offered a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his support in bringing down the Liberals.
DONA CADMAN BACKS HARPER
Ms. Cadman also released a statement Monday saying she asked Mr. Harper a few years ago if he had been aware of the insurance policy offer, and he flatly denied it. She attributed the offer to the “overzealous indiscretion of a couple of individuals whose identity Chuck never revealed to me.”
Mr. Harper “looked me straight in the eyes and told me he had no knowledge of an insurance policy offer,” Ms. Cadman said in the statement.
“I knew he was telling me the truth; I could see it in his eyes. He said, yes he'd had some discussions with two individuals about asking Chuck to rejoin the party, but he'd told them they were wasting their time trying to convince Chuck.”
Ms. Cadman said in the statement she wouldn't be running for the Conservatives if she didn't trust the Prime Minister.
“Chuck liked, respected and trusted Stephen Harper. I like, respect and trust Stephen Harper,” she said.
‘DEVASTATINGLY DEFAMATORY'
The articles that are the subject of the lawsuit threat are headlined “Harper knew of Conservative bribery” and “Harper must come clean about allegations of Conservative Bribery.”
The articles allege that Mr. Harper, when he was opposition leader, was aware that the party officials were trying to bribe Mr. Cadman in exchange for his vote – and ask whether Mr. Harper was aware that such attempts to influence an MP were criminal, according to the notice of libel.
