In what is, at the very least, a timely reminder that, in the context of partisan allegiance, the word "Liberal" can have a markedly different connotation in British Columbia than in the rest of the country, a special report that ran in today's Globe and Mail reveals that the lions' share of the more than $250,000 that has been quietly paid out by the provincial government for work related to the Harmonized Sales Tax went to two firms that also have ties to the federal Conservative Party -- as well as, in one case, small c-conservative municipal electoral wunderkind Rob Ford. 

According to documents reportedly obtained through provincial access to information, Ontario-based political marketing firm Campaign Research Ltd. was the single largest beneficiary of the HST contracts, pulling in over $167,000 for "conducting telephone town hall meetings" related to the implementation of the controversial tax change. An official with the BC finance department -- which managed the contracting process -- told the Globe that the firm provided the "best value" out of the three bids that were privately solicited by the government.  

As noted by the Globe, the company in question was deeply involved in George Abbott's unsuccessful campaign to win the BC Liberal leadership. 

What it does not point out, however, is that it was co-founded by former Conservative Party national councillor and past party vice-president Richard Ciano, who - along with his then-partner Nick Kouvalis, was also a key member of the team that propelled Rob Ford to victory in last year's Toronto mayoral race.  

Like most political communications firms, Campaign Research Ltd. tends to prefer to operate beneath the radar, they seem to have been willing to make an exception for Ford; not only does the CRL website feature a congratulatory post-victory statement that highlights the firm's role in his victory, but Ciano and Kouvalis allowed themselves to be quoted extensively in a lengthy Globe profile on the race.

(Kouvalis, it's worth pointing out, left the company following the election for a short stint as chief of staff to the mayor, but has since parted ways with his former client, and is apparently in the process of setting up a new grassroots organization based on the Ford campaign mantra of "respect for taxpayers." Whether the nascent group will take on the Ontario Liberal government for its harmonization program remains to be seen.) 

UPDATE:The Campaign Research Ltd. website still lists Kouvalis as a principal. 

Campaign Research has also surfaced on the federal scene in the past, albeit not always entirely on its own initiative.

As reported by CBC.ca during the election, back in 2007, the company was hired by a still-unidentified client to conduct a survey in the riding of then-Liberal MP Joe Volpe that, according to Ciano posed "questions involving a controversy he had been involved in." Volpe, however, claimed that the firm went considerably further than that:

Volpe asserts residents called him to alert him surveyors were asking misleading and defamatory questions. One resident claimed callers asked if they were aware Volpe was "charged with taking $5000 donations from twins".

But Volpe was never charged with such a thing. He engaged a senior parliamentary lawyer who issued a "cease and desist" letter. Both Opinion Search Inc and Campaign Research vehemently deny asking such a question or misrepresenting themselves in any way.

"I'm not saying we made any allegations he was convicted or charged or anything like that. We simply would have asked about awareness of the controversy and what people may have thought about it," Ciano told CBC.

For his part, Ciano served as campaign manager to then-federal Conservative hopeful Peter Van Loan during the 2005 election. 

UPDATE: Not sure how I missed this in my initial research, particularly since the information was actually already rattling around somewhere in the back of my head, but Kouvalis and Campaign Research were also involved in Waterloo Conservative MP Peter Braid's campaign day get out the vote efforts during the last election.