Yukon MP says no taxpayer money used in robocalls defence

Yukon MP Ryan Leef says no taxpayer money was used defending him and six other Conservative MPs from allegations in the "robocall" scandal, where voters were directed to the wrong polling places in the last federal election.

The Conservative Party is now asking a judge to award it $355,907 for legal fees it says were spent defending the MPs from the fraud allegations.

In May, a Federal Court judge threw out the case because it couldn't be proven that the results of the election had been affected by the robocalls. He did, however, find there had been a "concerted campaign" of electoral fraud conducted by persons who had access to a database of voter information.

Leef said he doesn't know how much of the $355,907 was used to defend him specifically against allegations of fraud.

"My segment of that, really to be honest I don't know what it was," he said.

But whatever the amount, Leef isn't happy about having to have spent donations to the Conservative Party on legal fees.

Even though supporters who contributed to the Conservative Party were able to claim up to 75 per cent of the donations back as tax breaks, Leef maintains taxpayers did not contribute directly to his defence.

"None of those costs will be borne by the taxpayers of Canada," he said.

The claim for legal fees is still before a judge and Elections Canada is continuing its investigation into allegations of voter fraud in hundreds of ridings including Yukon, during the last election.