Conservatives apologize in letter to Fraser

Conservative members of a Commons committee have sent an apology to federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser after Fraser rebuked them for misquoting her in a report to Parliament tabled the morning the government was defeated, March 25.

Stockwell Day, an outgoing member of the Harper cabinet, also apologized to Fraser on behalf of his party Monday on CBC's Power & Politics.

Here is the text of the letter to Fraser from the Conservative members, sent Monday:

April 11, 2011

Sheila Fraser, FCA
Auditor General of Canada
240 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G6

Dear Ms. Fraser,

We are writing to express our sincere and deep regret over an oversight of which we have just been made aware, regarding the 11th Report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, tabled in the House on Friday, March 25, 2011, and the supplementary report filed by Conservative members of the committee.

We assure you that it was most definitely not our intention to quote you erroneously or out of context.

The Office of the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons is engaged and will examine any and all avenues to officially correct the record. As Parliament is currently dissolved, obviously the record cannot be changed in the House, but please accept our assurances that this will be done as soon as Parliament recovenes for the 41st Parliament.

We, and our Conservative colleagues, have the utmost respect for you, your work, and your office.

We apologize unreservedly. We hope to find a mutually acceptable solution in short order.

Respectfully,

Chris Warkentin
Jacques Gourde
Ed Holder
Paul Calandra
Ron Cannan