Prime Minister Stephen Harper says that no members of his government are being investigated by the RCMP, as the force probes how a $9-million Parliament Hill renovation contract was awarded to a small Quebec company.
"On the contrary, if there are contractors that broke the law, we have rules, and they'll have to deal with the full force of the law," Harper said in the House of Commons Wednesday.
Spokesperson Cpl. Caroline Letang confirmed the RCMP had received a complaint and launched an investigation into the matter. At issue is the relationship between Montreal construction firm LM Sauve, which won the lucrative contract from the Public Works Department, and Gilles Varin, the company's business adviser.
Varin, who is also a Tory organizer, was hired by LM Sauve three years ago and was paid $140,000 by the firm between 2007 and 2009.
The Conservatives declined to say whether Varin is a party member. Opposition parties allege that Varin's connections within the Tory ranks helped LM Sauve land the contract.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe produced photos of Varin alongside Quebec Tories. And Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis admitted that Varin and Suave attended a fundraiser of his last year.
The Liberals have called for Paradis to resign. He was appointed minister of Public Works in June 2008 -- one month after LM Sauve won the $9-million renovation contract for Parliament Hill's West Block.
Sauve said that his company hired Varin for what it believed was "essentially" a "lobby effort." The company was competing against four larger ones for the Parliament Hill renovation contract.
When it won, Sauve said he was "flabbergasted."
"I couldn't believe it," he told CTV News.
LM Sauve filed for bankruptcy a year after it won the contract, which a bonding company has since taken over.
Varin told the Globe and Mail that he never registered as a lobbyist because he simply passed on Sauve's resume to friends, and because he never met with cabinet ministers of senior federal bureaucrats.
The Conservatives said the matter had been referred to the RCMP under the Lobbying Act and the Accountability Act.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin said the matter could be taken up by the government operations committee, on which he sits as vice chair.
Martin said the committee is "going to demand not only a review of this particular contract and how it was awarded in such a seemingly confusing way, but all the other millions of dollars in procurement contracts."
"Clearly the process is flawed if somebody can buy a $9-million project on an architectural jewel like the west block of the House of Commons."
With files from The Canadian Press
