News

The Conservatives whisked Surrey North candidate Dona Cadman out the door Tuesday night before reporters following Stephen Harper's campaign could speak to her.

Ms. Cadman is at the centre of the so-called Cadman-affair: She has said the party offered her dying husband, the late independent MP Chuck Cadman, a $1-million insurance policy for his vote in a crucial 2005 confidence vote.

But when reporters asked to speak to her after Mr. Harper gave a speech to a Surrey rally, she was instead whisked out of the back door, and out the building.

Reporters tried to reach her as she and other candidates were rushed off the stage by Mr. Harper's aides after the rally behind the Conservative Leader, but RCMP officers shielded the media.

Mr. Harper's spokesman, Kory Teneycke, said it was not the local candidates' priority to speak to national media, but rather to get elected. When it was pointed out that local reporters were present, he said he has not said it was their priority to speak to local media, either.

He said Mr. Harper's entourage had not asked Ms. Cadman if she would speak to reporters, as they had requested.

“Local candidates' priority is campaigning in their local ridings and not talking to the national media,” Mr. Teneycke said.

He said that journalists following Mr. Harper's campaign can ask questions of Mr. Harper.

While local candidates for most parties are usually willing to speak to reporters at campaign stops, Conservatives usually appear on stage at rallies, but don't speak to reporters following their leader.

“The objective of a national campaign is to present the prime minister as a spokesman, answer questions of the media.”

Ms. Cadman's husband, Chuck Cadman, was a Reform and Canadian Alliance MP who lost a Conservative Party nomination race, but was elected as an independent in 2004.

In May of 2005, he voted with the then-Liberal government of Paul Martin on a confidence matter, which kept the government alive by one vote.

Ms. Cadman told B.C. journalist Tom Zytaruk that two party officials offered her husband, ailing with cancer, a life-insurance policy worth $1-million.

Mr. Zytaruk reported that in a book, and released a taped interview in which Mr. Harper spoke of knowing that party officials would make a financial offer to Mr. Cadman – but Mr. Harper's press spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, has claimed the tape was doctored.

Mr. Harper has launched a libel lawsuit against the Liberals for a website calling on him to explain the tape, but the case has not been tried in court.

Ms. Cadman is running as a candidate for the Conservatives in Surrey North, where she has adopted the same tough-on-crime plank that her late husband held dear.

Week 3 of the campaign

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