Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Ontario Provincial Police have launched a criminal investigation into Layton leak .
The Ontario Provincial Police have launched a criminal investigation into the leak of Toronto police information about a visit by NDP leader Jack Layton to a massage clinic in 1996.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair asked the OPP Saturday to investigate any possible breach-of-trust regarding the disclosure of information, said OPP inspector Dave Ross.
In a story that appeared Friday, an anonymous retired Toronto police officer told Sun Media that he and a partner found Layton in a massage parlour, a suspected Chinatown bawdy house, fifteen years ago when he was a Toronto council member. No charges were laid.
The NDP leader has denied any wrongdoing and called the report a “smear campaign.” The report came as the NDP surged in election polls.
The story relied on apparent excerpts from the former officer’s notebook.
An officer’s notes belong to the police department and not to the officer, explained Staff Sgt. Mike Ervick, of Toronto police. When a notebook is complete, the police officer is required to turn it in.
OPP inspector Ross would not comment on what criminal offence may have been committed. “Let the investigation run its course,” he said. Ross added that it’s not unusual for a police force to ask another police body to conduct an investigation.
The Dundas St. W. address identified as the massage parlour by Sun Media is a narrow brick building located a few blocks west of Bathurst St.
The entrance to the building is gated and locked, its windows are dark and all signage has been removed. Neighbours said a large sign that once advertised “massage” was taken down years ago.
On the campaign trail in Burnaby, B.C., Layton told reporters Saturday he had no idea how the story came about. “I do know that this is the kind of politics that Canadians don’t appreciate … They want politics that focuses on the issues that matter to them day to day. And that is exactly what we’re doing on our campaign.”
He repeated his assertion that he did nothing wrong. He said he went for a massage at a community clinic around 9 p.m. after a workout, and that it was his first visit to that clinic.
“The police advised that it wasn’t the greatest place to be. I left and I never went back,” he said.
When asked if the place looked sketchy to him, Layton replied, “Not at all. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone in.”
The NDP’s lawyer, Brian Iler, wrote a letter to Sun News before the story appeared. “The facts are that Mr. Layton had obtained a massage from a massage therapist, but had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes,” wrote Iler.
Iler warned against publishing anything that would insinuate wrongdoing.
Layton said he didn’t expect anything to happen on the legal front right now. “We’ll deal with all that after the action,” said the NDP leader.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair asked the OPP Saturday to investigate any possible breach-of-trust regarding the disclosure of information, said OPP inspector Dave Ross.
In a story that appeared Friday, an anonymous retired Toronto police officer told Sun Media that he and a partner found Layton in a massage parlour, a suspected Chinatown bawdy house, fifteen years ago when he was a Toronto council member. No charges were laid.
The NDP leader has denied any wrongdoing and called the report a “smear campaign.” The report came as the NDP surged in election polls.
The story relied on apparent excerpts from the former officer’s notebook.
An officer’s notes belong to the police department and not to the officer, explained Staff Sgt. Mike Ervick, of Toronto police. When a notebook is complete, the police officer is required to turn it in.
OPP inspector Ross would not comment on what criminal offence may have been committed. “Let the investigation run its course,” he said. Ross added that it’s not unusual for a police force to ask another police body to conduct an investigation.
The Dundas St. W. address identified as the massage parlour by Sun Media is a narrow brick building located a few blocks west of Bathurst St.
The entrance to the building is gated and locked, its windows are dark and all signage has been removed. Neighbours said a large sign that once advertised “massage” was taken down years ago.
On the campaign trail in Burnaby, B.C., Layton told reporters Saturday he had no idea how the story came about. “I do know that this is the kind of politics that Canadians don’t appreciate … They want politics that focuses on the issues that matter to them day to day. And that is exactly what we’re doing on our campaign.”
He repeated his assertion that he did nothing wrong. He said he went for a massage at a community clinic around 9 p.m. after a workout, and that it was his first visit to that clinic.
“The police advised that it wasn’t the greatest place to be. I left and I never went back,” he said.
When asked if the place looked sketchy to him, Layton replied, “Not at all. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone in.”
The NDP’s lawyer, Brian Iler, wrote a letter to Sun News before the story appeared. “The facts are that Mr. Layton had obtained a massage from a massage therapist, but had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes,” wrote Iler.
Iler warned against publishing anything that would insinuate wrongdoing.
Layton said he didn’t expect anything to happen on the legal front right now. “We’ll deal with all that after the action,” said the NDP leader.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says he will investigate war crime allegations against Canadians over the handling of Afghan detainees if Canada won’t.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says he will investigate war crime allegations against Canadians over the handling of Afghan detainees if Canada won’t.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says in a documentary soon to be aired on TVO that Canadian officials are not immune to prosecution if there is evidence that crimes were committed by handing over detainees to face torture.
When Toronto filmmaker Barry Stevens asked Moreno-Ocampo in his film, Prosecutor, if the ICC would pursue a country like Canada over its role in Afghanistan, he replied:
“We’ll check if there are crimes and also we’ll check if a Canadian judge is doing a case or not . . . if they don’t, the court has to intervene. That’s the rule, that’s the system, one standard for everyone.”
Moreno-Ocampo could not be reached for further comment about the case Thursday when attempts were made by the Star.
Officials at the Department of Justice and Department of National Defence were unable to comment Thursday and said they had not seen the film.
Some legal experts have suggested the Canadian government’s dismissal of calls to launch a judicial probe into the allegations has left the door open for outside scrutiny.
“There is no question that there has been a deliberate refusal of our domestic judicial system to have it examined,” said Stuart Hendin, a University of Ottawa scholar specializing in armed conflict and human rights, noting that Canada is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture.
Hendin argued there is “sufficient information” that Canadians, including senior military personnel authorizing and implementing the transfers of detainees, knew there was a substantial risk of torture and abuse.
“That being the case there is very real and credible exposure to prosecution,” he said.
Parliamentary hearings probing the allegations were shut down in 2009 after Conservative MPs boycotted the proceedings. Earlier this month, the justice department went to court in a bid to limit the findings of an independent report by the Military Police Complaints Commission, probing whether the military police knew that detainees transferred to Afghan custody faced a substantial risk of torture.
The government had refused to turn over military and other government documents dealing with the detainee case until threatened with contempt of Parliament. Those documents were subsequently vetted by a judicial panel and ad hoc committee of MPs, but still remain secret, their release on hold because of the election.
Parliamentary debate has at times been dominated or paralyzed by the Afghan detainee affair but discussed only in the abstract during the election campaign — usually to underscore criticism about the Conservative government’s indifference for parliamentary democracy.
“It’s clear that Canada is not dealing with the issue and the ICC can look at the issue on its own,” said Paul Champ, the lawyer representing Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Rights Association, which launched the complaint with the MPCC.
Stevens’ film made its debut at the Amsterdam documentary film festival last fall but will air for the first time in Canada on May 11. It’s an intimate portrayal of the somewhat maverick Moreno-Ocampo, tracing his path from Argentina’s Trial of the Juntas to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the ICC’s first prosecutor.
Moreno-Ocampo says in the film that he has been monitoring reports of alleged crimes in Afghanistan, including those committed by the Taliban.
Stevens said he raised the Canadian reference when confronting the prosecutor about criticism that the court is “white man’s justice,” concentrating only on African nations.
“Just from a personal filmmakers’ point of view, I didn’t like the kind of ivory tower human rights attitude in the West, where we look like countries like the Congo and fail to look critically at our own behaviour,” Stevens said in an interview.
There are three ways in which a case is referred to the ICC — by a member country directly (both Afghanistan and Canada are members), at the behest of the UN Security Council (as is the case with Libya), or if the prosecutor initiates the investigation after determining the host country has failed to the job.
Moreno-Ocampo has already taken that initiative, issuing summons last month for six Kenyan government officials accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s post-election violence in 2007-2008. But targeting NATO countries in Afghanistan would be politically fraught and few believe Moreno-Ocampo would go that far.
Stevens said that some of Moreno-Ocampo’s remarks could be viewed in the context that the prosecutor believes part of his job involves being a human rights promoter.
“Even if he doesn’t open an investigation into Afghanistan, and even if he never went after the Canadian issue, he still sees that as part of his job to remind Canadians that they are subject to the same law.”
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says in a documentary soon to be aired on TVO that Canadian officials are not immune to prosecution if there is evidence that crimes were committed by handing over detainees to face torture.
When Toronto filmmaker Barry Stevens asked Moreno-Ocampo in his film, Prosecutor, if the ICC would pursue a country like Canada over its role in Afghanistan, he replied:
“We’ll check if there are crimes and also we’ll check if a Canadian judge is doing a case or not . . . if they don’t, the court has to intervene. That’s the rule, that’s the system, one standard for everyone.”
Moreno-Ocampo could not be reached for further comment about the case Thursday when attempts were made by the Star.
Officials at the Department of Justice and Department of National Defence were unable to comment Thursday and said they had not seen the film.
Some legal experts have suggested the Canadian government’s dismissal of calls to launch a judicial probe into the allegations has left the door open for outside scrutiny.
“There is no question that there has been a deliberate refusal of our domestic judicial system to have it examined,” said Stuart Hendin, a University of Ottawa scholar specializing in armed conflict and human rights, noting that Canada is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture.
Hendin argued there is “sufficient information” that Canadians, including senior military personnel authorizing and implementing the transfers of detainees, knew there was a substantial risk of torture and abuse.
“That being the case there is very real and credible exposure to prosecution,” he said.
Parliamentary hearings probing the allegations were shut down in 2009 after Conservative MPs boycotted the proceedings. Earlier this month, the justice department went to court in a bid to limit the findings of an independent report by the Military Police Complaints Commission, probing whether the military police knew that detainees transferred to Afghan custody faced a substantial risk of torture.
The government had refused to turn over military and other government documents dealing with the detainee case until threatened with contempt of Parliament. Those documents were subsequently vetted by a judicial panel and ad hoc committee of MPs, but still remain secret, their release on hold because of the election.
Parliamentary debate has at times been dominated or paralyzed by the Afghan detainee affair but discussed only in the abstract during the election campaign — usually to underscore criticism about the Conservative government’s indifference for parliamentary democracy.
“It’s clear that Canada is not dealing with the issue and the ICC can look at the issue on its own,” said Paul Champ, the lawyer representing Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Rights Association, which launched the complaint with the MPCC.
Stevens’ film made its debut at the Amsterdam documentary film festival last fall but will air for the first time in Canada on May 11. It’s an intimate portrayal of the somewhat maverick Moreno-Ocampo, tracing his path from Argentina’s Trial of the Juntas to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the ICC’s first prosecutor.
Moreno-Ocampo says in the film that he has been monitoring reports of alleged crimes in Afghanistan, including those committed by the Taliban.
Stevens said he raised the Canadian reference when confronting the prosecutor about criticism that the court is “white man’s justice,” concentrating only on African nations.
“Just from a personal filmmakers’ point of view, I didn’t like the kind of ivory tower human rights attitude in the West, where we look like countries like the Congo and fail to look critically at our own behaviour,” Stevens said in an interview.
There are three ways in which a case is referred to the ICC — by a member country directly (both Afghanistan and Canada are members), at the behest of the UN Security Council (as is the case with Libya), or if the prosecutor initiates the investigation after determining the host country has failed to the job.
Moreno-Ocampo has already taken that initiative, issuing summons last month for six Kenyan government officials accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s post-election violence in 2007-2008. But targeting NATO countries in Afghanistan would be politically fraught and few believe Moreno-Ocampo would go that far.
Stevens said that some of Moreno-Ocampo’s remarks could be viewed in the context that the prosecutor believes part of his job involves being a human rights promoter.
“Even if he doesn’t open an investigation into Afghanistan, and even if he never went after the Canadian issue, he still sees that as part of his job to remind Canadians that they are subject to the same law.”
Friday, April 29, 2011
Facing charges of political sabotage by the powerful head of Sun Media Corporation, the Conservative Party has denied wrongdoing but cut ties with a key political strategist.
OTTAWA—Facing charges of political sabotage by the powerful head of Sun Media Corporation, the Conservative Party has denied wrongdoing but cut ties with a key political strategist.
The move was made to distance the Stephen Harper campaign from what Sun Media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau claimed was a dirty trick — the leak of an incriminating photo and damaging information that said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had aided U.S. military planners in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The photo, forwarded to Sun Media vice-president Kory Teneycke — another former Harper aide — wasn’t of Ignatieff.
The strategist, Patrick Muttart, did not comment Wednesday. But sources close to him said he is “furious” at having been cavalierly tossed aside by the Harper campaign.
Rattled Conservative insiders, who spoke only on background, said Muttart, a former deputy chief of staff to Stephen Harper and senior political operative, was treated badly by both the party and the Sun. Some blamed national campaign chair Guy Giorno.
Giorno has clashed with Muttart, and is believed to be the force behind Harper’s decision to let Muttart go now.
A Conservative party source said that while some thought getting rid of Muttart was a good thing, there are people inside the campaign who “are pissed about how he was treated.
“Now, at exactly the time in your campaign when you do not need any dissension and you need everybody to be of one mind, you’ve got disharmony and unhappiness in your team. That is the problem, more than the loss of the skill set,” said the source.
Jason Lietaer, a Conservative campaign spokesman, denied Muttart had behaved improperly in forwarding the information and dubious photo to Sun Media, and flatly denied the Conservative campaign had any intention to undermine Sun Network’s credibility.
Still, he said Muttart, key architect behind the party’s election victories in 2006 and 2008, would have “no further role” in the Conservative campaign.
Muttart had worked on contract with the 2011 campaign, mostly from his Chicago home base where he has worked for an American public affairs firm since 2009, returning occasionally to Ottawa as needed.
Ignatieff told the Star the Conservatives’ attempt to snow Sun Media with a photo suggesting he was dressed up like a soldier was “bizarro.”
“Trying to pass this off and then writing stories that I planned the Iraq war … we pass into realms of behaviour that actually leave Canadians furious. I could give a damn what they think and say about me anymore … but God almighty we got to think about what this means to the future of Canadian politics,” he said.
Sun Media president and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau wrote an editorial in Wednesday’s Sun papers that identified Muttart as the source of a photo intended to hurt the Liberal leader, but which Peladeau suggested was a deliberate plan to damage his fledgling conservative broadcast network.
“It is my belief that this planted information was intended to first and foremost seriously damage Michael Ignatieff’s campaign but in the process to damage the integrity and credibility of Sun Media and, more pointedly, that of our new television operation, Sun News,” Peladeau wrote.
A source close to Muttart said the photo was found online by a U.S.-based political party researcher and couldn’t be verified. Muttart gave it to Teneycke with that disclaimer and said Sun would have to do further legwork.
Late Wednesday, the story took another bizarre twist when Muttart’s American employer, Mercury Public Affairs/IGR Group, released a statement defending him and identifying Muttart as one of the key people behind the Sun News network’s design and marketing efforts.
It called Peladeau’s assertions “bizarre” and “disappointing.”
“At no point did Muttart tell Sun Media that he had positively identified Ignatieff in the photo in question. And at no time did Muttart mislead, or intend to mislead Sun Media, in his provision of information to them.”
It went on: “For the record, Mercury was hired by Quebecor to assist Sun News with its pre-licence branding and positioning. Muttart worked with a creative agency to develop the network’s original logo . . . And he was the original source for the network’s ‘hard news’ and ‘straight talk’ framing language.”
It added: “All things considered, it is ironic indeed that Sun Media has chosen to attack Patrick Muttart.”
The move was made to distance the Stephen Harper campaign from what Sun Media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau claimed was a dirty trick — the leak of an incriminating photo and damaging information that said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had aided U.S. military planners in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. The photo, forwarded to Sun Media vice-president Kory Teneycke — another former Harper aide — wasn’t of Ignatieff.
The strategist, Patrick Muttart, did not comment Wednesday. But sources close to him said he is “furious” at having been cavalierly tossed aside by the Harper campaign.
Rattled Conservative insiders, who spoke only on background, said Muttart, a former deputy chief of staff to Stephen Harper and senior political operative, was treated badly by both the party and the Sun. Some blamed national campaign chair Guy Giorno.
Giorno has clashed with Muttart, and is believed to be the force behind Harper’s decision to let Muttart go now.
A Conservative party source said that while some thought getting rid of Muttart was a good thing, there are people inside the campaign who “are pissed about how he was treated.
“Now, at exactly the time in your campaign when you do not need any dissension and you need everybody to be of one mind, you’ve got disharmony and unhappiness in your team. That is the problem, more than the loss of the skill set,” said the source.
Jason Lietaer, a Conservative campaign spokesman, denied Muttart had behaved improperly in forwarding the information and dubious photo to Sun Media, and flatly denied the Conservative campaign had any intention to undermine Sun Network’s credibility.
Still, he said Muttart, key architect behind the party’s election victories in 2006 and 2008, would have “no further role” in the Conservative campaign.
Muttart had worked on contract with the 2011 campaign, mostly from his Chicago home base where he has worked for an American public affairs firm since 2009, returning occasionally to Ottawa as needed.
Ignatieff told the Star the Conservatives’ attempt to snow Sun Media with a photo suggesting he was dressed up like a soldier was “bizarro.”
“Trying to pass this off and then writing stories that I planned the Iraq war … we pass into realms of behaviour that actually leave Canadians furious. I could give a damn what they think and say about me anymore … but God almighty we got to think about what this means to the future of Canadian politics,” he said.
Sun Media president and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau wrote an editorial in Wednesday’s Sun papers that identified Muttart as the source of a photo intended to hurt the Liberal leader, but which Peladeau suggested was a deliberate plan to damage his fledgling conservative broadcast network.
“It is my belief that this planted information was intended to first and foremost seriously damage Michael Ignatieff’s campaign but in the process to damage the integrity and credibility of Sun Media and, more pointedly, that of our new television operation, Sun News,” Peladeau wrote.
A source close to Muttart said the photo was found online by a U.S.-based political party researcher and couldn’t be verified. Muttart gave it to Teneycke with that disclaimer and said Sun would have to do further legwork.
Late Wednesday, the story took another bizarre twist when Muttart’s American employer, Mercury Public Affairs/IGR Group, released a statement defending him and identifying Muttart as one of the key people behind the Sun News network’s design and marketing efforts.
It called Peladeau’s assertions “bizarre” and “disappointing.”
“At no point did Muttart tell Sun Media that he had positively identified Ignatieff in the photo in question. And at no time did Muttart mislead, or intend to mislead Sun Media, in his provision of information to them.”
It went on: “For the record, Mercury was hired by Quebecor to assist Sun News with its pre-licence branding and positioning. Muttart worked with a creative agency to develop the network’s original logo . . . And he was the original source for the network’s ‘hard news’ and ‘straight talk’ framing language.”
It added: “All things considered, it is ironic indeed that Sun Media has chosen to attack Patrick Muttart.”
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Ruby Dhalla & CSIC, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, is looking into whether Gill received payment for his consulting services auditor general may as well.
Ruby Dhalla, the Liberal candidate in the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale, has asked the auditor general to investigate the Citizenship and Immigration Department over allegations its minister, Jason Kenney, gave inappropriate access to Conservative Party candidate Parm Gill.
Dhalla said at a news conference Wednesday she wants Auditor General Sheila Fraser to investigate the relationship between Kenney and Gill, who is also running in Brampton-Springdale, an area with a large South Asian population.
Dhalla's request comes after she accused Gill, a businessman and entrepreneur in the hospitality industry, of setting himself up as Kenney's official delegate on visas.
She suggested someone in Kenny's office has been tipping off her rival after she's submitted official visa requests.
Photos published on Gill's campaign website also show Gill alongside Kenney during an official trip to India.
Ruby Dhalla, the Liberal candidate in Brampton-Springdale, wants the federal auditor general to investigate the relationship between Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Parm Gill, the Conservative candidate in the Ontario riding. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press) "Canadians need to be asking themselves what type of access has Parm Gill been given to Jason Kenney's office," Dhalla said at a news conference Wednesday. "Why is there a two-tiered standard of someone who is unelected, someone who is a private citizen, being allowed to have this much access and what type of access has he been granted?"
She called the affair a new low for Canadian democracy and said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper should take a close look at the conduct of his party's candidates.
'Intimidation and fear'
Dhalla urged anyone with information about any promises made about visas in the riding to come forward, although she believes many people are afraid to speak publiclly.
"There is a great deal of fear and intimidation in the community," she said.
Kenney has dismissed the allegations as "completely ridiculous" and said, "Mr. Gill has every right as a private citizen to provide volunteer unpaid advice."
Gill was not available for an interview but said at a sporting event in February that he has "approximately three people" helping him full time, and that their duties involve " just taking calls and helping me process … immigration files or anything else."
CSIC, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, is looking into whether Gill received payment for his consulting services, CBC News has learned. He is not a registered immigration consultant.
In a written statement, Gill said his volunteers only helped newcomers find lawyers or other public information and said they were not paid for their services.
He also said his trips to India happened to coincide with the trips the immigration minister made.
Dhalla said at a news conference Wednesday she wants Auditor General Sheila Fraser to investigate the relationship between Kenney and Gill, who is also running in Brampton-Springdale, an area with a large South Asian population.
Dhalla's request comes after she accused Gill, a businessman and entrepreneur in the hospitality industry, of setting himself up as Kenney's official delegate on visas.
She suggested someone in Kenny's office has been tipping off her rival after she's submitted official visa requests.
Photos published on Gill's campaign website also show Gill alongside Kenney during an official trip to India.
Ruby Dhalla, the Liberal candidate in Brampton-Springdale, wants the federal auditor general to investigate the relationship between Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Parm Gill, the Conservative candidate in the Ontario riding. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press) "Canadians need to be asking themselves what type of access has Parm Gill been given to Jason Kenney's office," Dhalla said at a news conference Wednesday. "Why is there a two-tiered standard of someone who is unelected, someone who is a private citizen, being allowed to have this much access and what type of access has he been granted?"
She called the affair a new low for Canadian democracy and said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper should take a close look at the conduct of his party's candidates.
'Intimidation and fear'
Dhalla urged anyone with information about any promises made about visas in the riding to come forward, although she believes many people are afraid to speak publiclly.
"There is a great deal of fear and intimidation in the community," she said.
Kenney has dismissed the allegations as "completely ridiculous" and said, "Mr. Gill has every right as a private citizen to provide volunteer unpaid advice."
Gill was not available for an interview but said at a sporting event in February that he has "approximately three people" helping him full time, and that their duties involve " just taking calls and helping me process … immigration files or anything else."
CSIC, the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, is looking into whether Gill received payment for his consulting services, CBC News has learned. He is not a registered immigration consultant.
In a written statement, Gill said his volunteers only helped newcomers find lawyers or other public information and said they were not paid for their services.
He also said his trips to India happened to coincide with the trips the immigration minister made.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
candidate's access to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney questioned.
There are allegations in the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale that Conservative Party candidate Parm Gill has inappropriate access to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
Brampton has a large South Asian population, so the ability to get visas for family members of voters is an issue in the riding.
Liberal candidate Ruby Dhalla accused Gill, a businessman and entrepreneur in the hospitality industry, of setting himself up as Kenney's official delegate on visas and suggests someone in his office must be tipping off her rival after she's submitted official visa requests.
"In those cases the families have been called before even I was notified, that had they had been accepted and approved by the minister's office and they were called by Parm Gill," said Dhalla.
As for proof, Dhalla said people are too afraid to come forward and speak publicly.
Kenney, who has visited the riding to speak during the election campaign, was asked about the accusations, and responded: "That's completely ridiculous, you know, she's a Liberal MP who's under a lot of pressure, and of course she's going to make unfounded and ridiculous accusations."
There's a reason why they are going to Mr. Gill for that advice, said Kenney on a conference call with South Asian journalists.
"It's because they can't get any service from their member of Parliament and that's one of the reasons why I think Parm Gill should be elected member of Parliament for Brampton-Springdale."
Kenney told CBC that if "their own MP isn't providing them with the services and the advice that they require on technical issues on immigration then that's a problem.
"So Mr. Gill has every right as a private citizen to provide volunteer unpaid advice. I understand he has taken no payment for that. He has never claimed to represent the government or me, but he's just providing a volunteer service and that's totally legitimate."
At a sporting event in February, Gill said: "I have approximately three people assisting me; they are full time just taking calls and helping me process….immigration files or anything else."
In January 2009, Kenney made an official government trip to India, where he was pictured with Gill, who was asked about the trip during a candidates' debate in the riding.
"I was not in India on any government-sponsored trips. I was in India on a private business," said Gill.
"Mr. Gill came as did other Canadians with different backgrounds and attended some public events," said Kenney of the trip.
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland says Kenney shouldn't show favouritism.
"You can't politicize the immigration function when the immigration minister holds the key to Canada's immigration kingdom in any case," said Kurland.
Gill was not available for an interview.
Brampton has a large South Asian population, so the ability to get visas for family members of voters is an issue in the riding.
Liberal candidate Ruby Dhalla accused Gill, a businessman and entrepreneur in the hospitality industry, of setting himself up as Kenney's official delegate on visas and suggests someone in his office must be tipping off her rival after she's submitted official visa requests.
"In those cases the families have been called before even I was notified, that had they had been accepted and approved by the minister's office and they were called by Parm Gill," said Dhalla.
As for proof, Dhalla said people are too afraid to come forward and speak publicly.
Kenney, who has visited the riding to speak during the election campaign, was asked about the accusations, and responded: "That's completely ridiculous, you know, she's a Liberal MP who's under a lot of pressure, and of course she's going to make unfounded and ridiculous accusations."
There's a reason why they are going to Mr. Gill for that advice, said Kenney on a conference call with South Asian journalists.
"It's because they can't get any service from their member of Parliament and that's one of the reasons why I think Parm Gill should be elected member of Parliament for Brampton-Springdale."
Kenney told CBC that if "their own MP isn't providing them with the services and the advice that they require on technical issues on immigration then that's a problem.
"So Mr. Gill has every right as a private citizen to provide volunteer unpaid advice. I understand he has taken no payment for that. He has never claimed to represent the government or me, but he's just providing a volunteer service and that's totally legitimate."
At a sporting event in February, Gill said: "I have approximately three people assisting me; they are full time just taking calls and helping me process….immigration files or anything else."
In January 2009, Kenney made an official government trip to India, where he was pictured with Gill, who was asked about the trip during a candidates' debate in the riding.
"I was not in India on any government-sponsored trips. I was in India on a private business," said Gill.
"Mr. Gill came as did other Canadians with different backgrounds and attended some public events," said Kenney of the trip.
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland says Kenney shouldn't show favouritism.
"You can't politicize the immigration function when the immigration minister holds the key to Canada's immigration kingdom in any case," said Kurland.
Gill was not available for an interview.
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