Angry in the Great White North

The Liberals have accused the Conservatives of criminal acts with regards to the campaign financing controversy:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper challenged Liberal leader Stephane Dion to demonstrate the "courage of his convictions" yesterday and repeat, outside the protection of parliamentary immunity, allegations of election campaign illegality by Conservative staffers.

As the Liberal party continued to press the government over a $1.2-million election advertising scheme under investigation by the federal elections commissioner, Mr. Dion bluntly claimed Conservatives "broke the law" and said MPs, cabinet ministers and political advisers have been implicated.

Mr. Dion made the statement shortly before his office released a letter the party wrote to elections commissioner William Corbett asking him to expand his investigation to nine other Conservative riding campaigns.

Of course, what is said inside the House of Commons is covered by parliamentary immunity, but that hasn't kept the Liberals quiet outside of the House:

The Liberal statement released outside the Commons referred only to an "apparent" scheme to violate election spending limits.

I guess the Conservative Party has decided that the weasel words weren't enough to stand up to legal scrutiny, and have delivered a notice to pursue a libel action. I'm not certain who has been named in the notice, but I would guess certain top officials in the Liberal Party as well as the Liberal Party itself. I would guess that the action might also avoid naming MPs in order to sidestep the immunity issue.

I haven't heard if the action has actually been filed with the courts yet, but I would be surprised if it was. Normally the parties keep this out of the courts for a time while the "intent to file" is studied and a response drafted. Indeed, there is a formal process even at this stage, with time limits and waiting periods for responses and forms for legally acceptable responses. My understanding is that the notice was only delivered today, so really, there is no way for it to be with the courts yet.

I have had some...experience...in these sorts of matters. [By the way, I'm still working my way through the bills on that, so feel free to hit me with a donation (upper right of the page).]

But then libel actions between private individuals are different -- they lack the political dynamic at play here.

Stay tuned. Hopefully we can get confirmation of this, one way or the other. [Update: Confirmed]

Addendum: Is this why things have gotten quiet?

Update: The question of the alleged libel action being filed by the Conservatives against the Liberals is complicated by the question of parliamentary immunity. Anything an MP says on the floor of the House of Commons cannot be used as the basis of a libel suit.

So the key is not to say anything libelous outside of the House of Commons.

So consider this exchange during Question Period on Tuesday, October 23:

Hon. Stephane Dion (Leader of the Opposition, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, Elections Canada has ruled that the Conservatives broke the law. Individuals implicated in the scheme are now MPs, cabinet ministers and senior advisers to the Conservative government.

The question remains about the Prime Minister himself. What did he know about this scheme and when did he know it?

Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the government House leader has responded to these accusations on many occasions.

Clearly, the Leader of the Opposition knows that he makes such allegations in this chamber under the protection of parliamentary privilege. I encourage him to have the courage of his convictions. If he believes what he has said, he should make these accusations outside the chamber where those whom he is libelling and slandering have recourse to the courts to hold him responsible for—

Hon. Stephane Dion:

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister knows very well that we have a press release that said exactly what I just said. It was a decision that has been ruled on by Elections Canada. We did not invent it.

The law has been broken. What does the Prime Minister know about this?

Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, I did not realize a Liberal news release was the final word on the law.

We happen to believe that our election financing activities are entirely legal. We know they are because they are what the law permits and they are consistent with the practices of other political parties in Canada.

Mr. Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, we have already named the people involved outside the House. Elections Canada has already named the people involved outside the House. Even Conservative candidates have named the people involved outside the House. That is not the issue.

Why is the government not telling the truth inside the House?

So Stephane Dion references a press release, and then Michael Ignatieff directly uses the phrase "outside the House".

Yesterday, Stephane Dion compounded the problem:

Hon. Stephane Dion (Leader of the Opposition, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister challenged me to repeat comments I made in the House outside the House. I did.

It is now the Prime Minister's turn. I challenge him to tell Canadians what role he played in the Conservative electoral scheme. What did he know? When did he know it?

Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, Walter Mitty over there is having some delusions of grandeur.

What he said outside the House fell far short of the kinds of accusations that have been made inside the House by his party. The reality is that he was given an opportunity to repeat those kinds of personal attacks and he just could not get it done.

So over and over again, the Liberals are challenged to repeat their allegations outside of the House of Commons, and over and over again the Liberals insist that they already did.

What the hell kind of strategy is that?

Update: Confirmed

Update: Details in the mainstream press, and how this links to the Sponsorship Scandal.

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