Harper 'trying to stall for time' with Mulroney-Schreiber hearings
Federal opposition parties are accusing the government of trying to delay a public inquiry into Brian Mulroney's business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday that the federal government will launch a public inquiry to investigate the matter, but only once the House of Commons ethics committee probing the matter wraps up.
"They're trying to stall for time," Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said. He is calling for the committee to either suspend or shorten its work so the inquiry can quickly get underway.
The ethics committee hasn't said when it will complete its investigation.
Nova Scotia Liberal Robert Thibault said it could be the spring session before the committee finishes its work, raising the likelihood of an election sidelining the inquiry.
"It's a minority government. He knows he'll get to an election before this inquiry ever gets on its feet," said Thibault.
NDP MP Thomas Mulcair, an ethics committee member, said the committee has already cut the 27 proposed witnesses down to 12, meaning proceedings could finish in up to six days once they start.
Inquiry will be 'limited': opposition
Opposition parties also expressed disappointment at the scope of the inquiry.
University of Waterloo president David Johnston, who was appointed to advise the government on the inquiry's terms of reference, recommended limiting its parameters.
He suggested the inquiry stay away from further examination of the Airbus affair — allegations probed by the RCMP for eight years that Mulroney accepted kickbacks from Air Canada's 1988 purchase of Airbus planes.
No charges were ever laid in the affair and Mulroney sued the federal government for defamation, later receiving a formal apology and a $2.1 million settlement.
The report also suggested focusing on the money Mulroney received from Schreiber, who faces extradition to Germany on tax, fraud and bribery charges.
Mulroney has acknowledged receiving cash payments from Schreiber after the former prime minister left office in June 1993. He said $225,000 was paid in three instalments for lobbying efforts.
Schreiber says the total was $300,000 and that the arrangement was reached while Mulroney was in his last days in office. He said Mulroney did nothing to earn the money.
Thibault said the inquiry's scope will be "so limited that it would be insignificant."