Ethics committee in another uproar, with wrangle over witnesses

Sam Goldstein, a Toronto candidate whose campaign received $50,000 from Tory headquarters in the "in and out" ad transactions in the 2006 election, interrupted the ethics committee several times, calling out to be heard and finally shouting at NDP MP Pat Martin and Liberal chair Paul Szabo.

"This is a circus maximus," shouted Goldstein, a lawyer who said he couldn't appear on his scheduled day because he was interviewing witnesses for a trial. He also claimed he received a summons only last Monday to appear in Ottawa the next day.

"I have a plane to catch Mr. Szabo, why don't you want to hear from me Pat?" he shouted, losing his temper and attracting a horde of news cameras and reporters.

Goldstein, until his surprise arrival, was one of 24 Conservative witnesses who had failed to show up at the inquiry into $1.3 million worth of Conservative advertising expenses currently under investigation by Elections Canada. The two dozen Tories have either ignored summonses or made themselves unreachable by bailiffs.

In response to opposition anger over the no-shows, Conservative MPs have chided Szabo for refusing to accept witnesses the Tories were ready to put up, or to allow Conservative campaign manager, Doug Finley to testify three days earlier than scheduled.

The committee agreed to hear from Goldstein later on Thursday, but he disappeared after his outburst. Conservatives later claimed his appearance, show of anger and quick departure were not orchestrated.

But neither Goldstein nor the Conservative party's legal counsel, who has been present throughout the inquiry, would say whether they had spoken to each other prior to his arrival. Goldstein did speak to the lead Conservative MP on the committee, Gary Goodyear, shortly after he entered the room.

The hearings have been widely seen as a setback for the Conservatives, as the former party agents and candidates who did turn out seemed to back up claims by Elections Canada that the $1.3 million the party transferred to 67 local candidates for radio and television advertising should have been included in Tory national campaign expenses.

The electoral agency has alleged the party skirted its national campaign spending limit by $1.1 million through the transactions, while candidates wrongly attempted to collect thousands of dollars in reimbursements for ad expenses that they did not incur as part of their local campaigns.

Despite dire predictions of parliamentary sanctions from opposition MPs over the unprecedented refusal by so many witnesses to answer summonses, the MPs eventually passed a motion Thursday to invited them to new hearings in mid-September.

"I want the witnesses to think about the consequences of their actions," said Bloc Quebecois MP Carole Lavalee, who tabled the motion.

"I want to appeal to their sense of duty, if the Conservatives believe so much in law and order they should come here and prove it."

The committee could have opted to report the incident to the full Commons, and ask Speaker Peter Milliken to order the witnesses in with new warrants.