Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal alleges that the Liberals offered him and his MP wife plum posts if he helped their minority government survive, a claim that the Liberals adamantly deny.

Late Wednesday, Grewal said the Liberals promised him an ambassadorship or Senate seat for his wife Nina, who is also a Conservative MP from British Columbia, if he would agree not to vote against their budget amendment in a confidence vote Thursday evening.

Liberal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh quickly struck back, saying it was Grewal who made the first approach, seeking a cabinet post for himself and a Senate seat for his wife.

Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal leaves a news conference in Ottawa Wednesday May 18, 2005. (CP photo)
Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal leaves a news conference in Ottawa Wednesday May 18, 2005. (CP photo)

"He approached us. He approached us because he wanted to cross the floor," said Dosanjh, adding that Gurmant Grewal came back several times when the Liberals rejected his initial demands.

"I am actually offended that he wouldn't take no for an answer."

Grewal alleges he made an audio recording of the offer, which he said came from Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff.

In the tape recording the MP played for reporters, Murphy can be heard saying, "I think it's a bad idea to have any kind of commitment that involves a specific trade."

Murphy later says explicit discussions about a senate seat wouldn't be helpful and in fact could not take place until after Grewal abstained in the vote, expected at about 5:45 p.m. Thursday.

The government says that if the tape were played in full, it would show that Grewal was never promised anything.

Grewal says that's not true.

"I was given an understanding that I would be rewarded in some fashion," he said at a news conference.

"Some of the options discussed were different diplomatic appointments or a future senate seat for Nina."

Grewal came under fire in April after news broke that the federal government had asked police to investigate the MP over allegations of impropriety in immigration cases.

The MP from Surrey, B.C., denied the accusation, saying it was completely unfounded.

Grewal's allegation came a day after Belinda Stronach, who ran for the leadership of the Conservative party in early 2004, crossed the floor to the Liberal party and joined Martin's cabinet.

Her defection from the Conservatives gives the Liberal-NDP coalition on the budget a total of 151 votes, not including Speaker Peter Milliken, a Liberal MP who votes only in the case of a tie.

The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois, who had threatened to oppose the budget, hold a combined total of 152 votes.

There are three Independent MPs, only one of whom, Carolyn Parrish has said she will vote with the Liberals.

Of the other two, B.C. MP Chuck Cadman has suggested he's leaning toward supporting the Liberals because his constituents don't want an election only a year after the last one.

Alberta MP David Kilgour may be leaning toward voting with the Conservatives.

Grewal is not the first Conservative MP to accuse the Liberals of trying to court him with promises of appointments as the budget vote neared.

Manitoba's Inky Mark said two weeks ago that he had been offered an ambassadorship to cross the floor.