Intelligence officer and ex-diplomat Richard Colvin arrives at a Commons special committee on Afghanistan on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, November 18, 2009.
The federal government has relented and will pay the legal fees of diplomat Richard Colvin, who blew the whistle on possible Afghan prisoner abuse.
An official with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said Wednesday that two invoices from Mr. Colvin's former lawyer, totalling $20,000, have been paid and that payment for a third invoice, submitted in December, has been approved.
The federal government has also set aside additional funds, to a maximum of $50,000, to pay further legal expenses, said Joffre LeBlanc.
In a letter sent Monday to the Military Police Complaints Commission, Mr. Colvin's Toronto lawyer, Owen Rees, said his client believed the government was refusing to pay his legal bills in retaliation for Mr. Colvin's revelations before a special House of Commons committee in November.
Mr. Rees said the government essentially stopped paying Mr. Colvin's legal fees after his testimony.
Mr. Colvin, now an intelligence officer at the Canadian embassy in Washington, told the committee that several senior government officials were aware that Canadian Forces in Afghanistan were handing over detainees to face possible torture by Afghan authorities in 2006 and 2007.
His allegations rocked the government and led to furious denials from generals, former generals and cabinet ministers, including Defence Minister Peter MacKay, who questioned Mr. Colvin's credibility.
Tory MPs on the Afghan committee went so far as to paint Mr. Colvin as having been duped by Taliban propaganda.
Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh said he finds it outrageous that Mr. Colvin has had to fight to keep independent legal representation, and he doesn't believe that the department was simply slow to respond to the request for funds.
"The Harper Conservatives did not hesitate to pay former prime minister Brian Mulroney's legal fees," said Mr. Dosanjh. "Taxpayers paid over $2-million to cover Mr. Mulroney's legal costs at the inquiry into his dealings with [German-Canadian businessman]Karlheinz Schreiber."
A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office suggested politics played no role in either case. "In both cases, the decision to reimburse legal fees was taken at the departmental level," Andrew MacDougall said.
Meanwhile, two of the three opposition parties say they've heard the government will not reconvene the committee on Afghanistan once Parliament returns from its forced hiatus. The committee is where the most damaging revelations about the treatment of Afghan prisoners have emerged.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament meant the dissolution of all committees. It would take the unanimous consent of all parties in the House of Commons to re-establish the opposition-dominated committee.
But a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said opposition parties are getting worked up over nothing.
"Afghanistan remains a public policy priority, and the special committee on Afghanistan will be reconstituted once the new session begins," deputy press secretary Andrew MacDougall said Wednesday.
New Democratic MP Paul Dewar was skeptical. "They shut down Parliament," said Mr. Dewar, the party's foreign affairs critic. "I don't put anything past them. They could kill a committee. That's nothing."
The Liberals are equally critical, but Bloc Québécois defence critic Claude Bachand seemed prepared to give the Tories the benefit of the doubt. "I don't think they can stop the committee," said Mr. Bachand.
The demand by opposition committee members to see uncensored documents in December sparked a standoff with the Tory government.
The Liberals introduced a motion that demanded the records be produced; failing that, Mr. MacKay could be called before the "bar" in Parliament to answer questions, and be removed from his seat if deemed to be in contempt.