Martin asks Harper to retract 'organized crime' comment

Last Updated: Friday, November 25, 2005 | 8:59 PM ET

CBC News

Prime Minister Paul Martin has asked Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to apologize for comments made in Parliament on Thursday.

Harper said the Liberals were guilty of "breaking every conceivable law in the province of Quebec with the help of organized crime" as he introduced a motion of no-confidence in Martin's minority government.

A member of Martin's staff threatened legal action after Conservative MPs defended Harper's comment outside the House of Commons.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper speaks in the Commons, Thursday morning.

PMO spokesman Scott Reid said the Liberals won't take the accusations lying down.

"Lawyers acting on behalf of the [Liberal] party have informed Mr. Harper in writing of our intention to defend the party vigorously against any false smears such as those he uttered yesterday under the protection of privilege," said Reid.

"As the prime minister has said, Mr. Harper should take this opportunity to do the right thing. To apologize and to show some respect for the truth. He has been down this road before with his disgraceful comments about child pornography [in the last federal election campaign].

Paul Martin asks for an apology, Friday.

"Even [NDP Leader] Jack Layton, his new best friend, says the comments are unacceptable. Mr. Harper has a chance to show leadership by admitting he went too far. He should simply retract. At minimum, he should know the party will not tolerate false smears from him and his surrogates."

The tradition of parliamentary privilege protects MPs against legal consequences for comments in the House, but that protection doesn't extend outside the Commons.

In an e-mail to parliamentary reporters, Reid said the Liberals were reviewing transcripts of comments made by MPs Peter MacKay and John Reynolds "and the rest of the Harper truth squad" after a particularly raucous day of pre-election debate in the House of Commons.

On Friday, Martin did not refer to the threatened legal action, but he did comment on Harper's accusation.

"He should apologize. He should take back his words," Martin said in French during a Friday morning news conference in Kelowna, B.C.

"Canadians deserve better ... They don't want to see a repetition of this during a national campaign."

NDP Leader Jack Layton weighed in on Friday as well. "His choice of words were unacceptable," Layton said at the summit of first ministers and native leaders in Kelowna.

"We know full well that Justice Gomery talked about the culture of entitlement that existed within the Liberal party," said Layton. "It doesn't help the discussion, it doesn't help efforts for change ... if you use the words that Mr. Harper used."

Harper made his comment while talking about Justice John Gomery's report into the sponsorship scandal.

The Nov. 1 report concluded that Liberal politicians mismanaged the program, and that some Liberal party organizers in Quebec sought and received donations from ad companies that had received lucrative government contracts starting in the mid-1990s.

MPs will vote Monday evening on Harper's no-confidence motion, and the three opposition parties are almost certain to bring down the government, sparking a federal election in January.