Mulroney asks for public inquiry into allegations

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney wants the federal government to drop an independent review of allegations he faces and proceed immediately to a full-blown public inquiry into the matter.

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has a laugh as he signs copies of his book at the launch of his memoirs in Montreal on Sept. 10.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Mulroney said an inquiry is the only way the issue which has dogged him for years will ever be put to rest.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday that he would appoint an independent adviser to review allegations in an affidavit by German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber that include a claim that while Mulroney was still in office, the two struck a deal for the former prime minister to be paid $300,000 after he left public life.

Mulroney said he will meet with the adviser but he will come to that meeting with a message.

"I have come to the conclusion that in order to finally put this matter to rest and expose all the facts and the role played by all the people involved, from public servants to elected officials, from lobbyists to police authorities, as well as journalists, the only solution is for the government to launch a full-fledged public commission of inquiry," he said in a statement.

The statement was read to the Canadian Press by longtime spokesman Luc Lavoie.

Mulroney has denied all accusations of impropriety and received a $2.1 million settlement after his name was publicly mentioned in connection with a 1995 investigation into the sale of Airbus jets to Air Canada.

He blames journalists for keeping those accusations alive.

"Twelve years later, the same people at the CBC and certain other people in the media who were at the origin of the 1995 accusations, are still conducting their vendetta."

The former prime minister has been silent for several days, but his call for an investigation into his actions suggests Mulroney's silence may be coming to an end and he may attempt to regain the initiative after watching Schreiber win daily headlines with a series of public statements, published letters and an incendiary sworn statement.

A full-fledged public inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to testify under oath. It was just such an inquiry under Justice John Gomery that unearthed sordid and sensational details of the sponsorship scandal that torpedoed the former Liberal government.

Mulroney said he wants a public inquiry to cover the period from his time in office in 1988 to the present day.

"Only then will the whole truth be finally exposed and tarnished reputations restored," he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the prime minister or his press secretaries.

The NDP's Pat Martin praised Mulroney's move and he accused Harper of dragging his feet.

"To his credit, Mr. Mulroney is exactly right. He owes us an answer to these allegations," Martin said.

"And the proper venue is a full public inquiry. Mr. Harper is wasting everyone's time with this review, when we all know what we need — and that's a full inquiry."

Martin said the public is already jaded by all the scandals of recent years and insisted it's time for the truth to come out on Airbus.

"It's time we put this issue to bed, once and for all."

Schreiber faces extradition to Germany

Schreiber is sitting in a Toronto jail fighting extradition to Germany where he faces criminal charges. His latest salvo was contained in a letter sent seven months ago directly to the prime minister about his dealings with Mulroney. Harper aides say the prime minister never saw the letter.

Top bureaucrats say the correspondence was not considered important enough seven months ago to share with the prime minister.

The allegations contained in that letter were eventually taken seriously enough to prompt a review of his Conservative predecessor's relationship with Schreiber.

But when the correspondence arrived last March, civil servants in the Privy Council Office never transferred it to their political bosses.

A Privy Council spokeswoman said Harper receives more than one million letters a year, and more than one million e-mails, all of it screened by a group of 35 people.

Someone within that group, called the executive correspondence services, decided not to pass along the correspondence from March 29, 2007.

In that package of material, Schreiber alleged he entered into an agreement with Mulroney, while he was still prime minister in June 1993, to provide him with cash payments in exchange for services.

Harper launched a review last week when the same information was included in an Ontario court affidavit, and he instructed members of his government to cut off contact with Mulroney.