Cabinet minister Baird describes meetings with former mayoral candidate
Last Updated: Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 12:10 PM ET
CBC News
Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister John Baird testified Thursday in the influence-peddling trial of Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien. (Francois Leclerc/CBC) Transport Minister John Baird told the court at the influencing-peddling trial of Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien Thursday about meetings he'd had with former mayoral candidate Terry Kilrea.
Kilrea will be in the witness box at the criminal trial for the seventh day on Thursday, but Baird was called in to testify about information that had already come up in Kilrea's testimony.
Crown prosecutor Scott Hutchison began questioning Baird about his email exchange with Kilrea on July 12, 2006, and about the meeting the two had a week later on July 19.
Hutchison said he wanted to know how well Baird knew then provincial attorney general Michael Bryant.
O'Brien's lawyer, Michael Edelson, objected, and Baird was asked to step outside so that line of questioning could be discussed among the lawyers and Justice Douglas Cunningham, the trial judge.
When Baird returned to court, Hutchison asked about the allegation of a parole board appointment offer, and Baird said, "He did not raise it. Nor did I." The meetings and email exchanges between Kilrea and Baird are relevant to the trial of O'Brien because of the allegations that led to charges being laid against Ottawa's mayor. Kilrea, O'Brien's opponent in the 2006 municipal election, has sworn an affidavit saying O'Brien's camp offered to have his campaign expenses paid and to help him get appointed to the National Parole Board if he dropped out of the race. Wednesday's cross-examination of Kilrea centred on meetings between Kilrea and Baird, who was Treasury Board president in 2006. O'Brien's lawyer continued to question Kilrea's credibility Wednesday by asking for specific details about those conversations. Both Kilrea and Baird have denied ever discussing a federal appointment, but documents entered into evidence — such as emails and transcriptions of police interviews — have given conflicting accounts. Just before 11 a.m., Edelson began his cross-examination of Baird. Baird said he got a call from O'Brien in 2007 warning that a story about the mayoral race was going to appear in the Ottawa Citizen. Baird was asked about the process by which someone could be appointed to the parole board, and he said any appointment would typically be referred to cabinet for approval. And because of the Accountability Act, which was put through Parliament a month before Kilrea had emailed him, said Baird, only "qualified appointments," were to be referred.
On Thursday, Crown prosecutor Scott Hutchison asked cabinet minister John Baird about meetings and emails between him and former mayoral candidate Terry Kilrea. (Francois Leclerc/CBC)
