Option Canada misspent millions, say book's authors
Last Updated: Monday, January 9, 2006 | 2:33 PM ET
CBC News
Normand Lester and Robin Philpot argue in The Secrets of Option Canada that the federalist lobby group bypassed Quebec's spending laws for the referendum.
The RCMP was asked last week to look into about $4.8 million in grants the group received before the referendum, and how that money was spent.
Past government audits weren't able to account for about $300,000. Paul Martin and his Liberals said the audits showed no sign of any wrongdoing.
Norman Lester, left, and author Robin Philipot at the launch their new book. (CP photo)
The book alleges about $3.5 million of that money was illegally spent by the No side.
- FROM JAN. 7, 2005: Bloc and Liberals spar over Option Canada grants
The Quebec journalists say they were directed to documents from Option Canada in a cardboard box behind a suburban Montreal shopping centre.
"We found them early in November and we decided to do a book on it because the issue is very serious," Philpot told CBC Newsworld on Monday.
Reports surfaced last week that Heritage Canada recently asked the RCMP to look into the allegations of misspending.
"As we began to investigate and we wanted to get comments from people who were implicated by the document, that's when they decided they were going to investigate," Philpot said in Monday's interview. "They did it after because they knew we were going to find out what had happened."
Lester told reporters on Monday that Prime Minister Martin, who was then finance minister, must have been aware of Option Canada and its spending.
The book also argues that cabinet ministers Liza Frulla and Lucienne Robillard were also aware of Option Canada, as was Claude Dauphin, former president of Option Canada and a former Martin adviser.
Philpot said the questions raised by the scandal are not limited to spending abuses in the Quebec referendum.
"It's not a question of corruption in Quebec," he said. "We're talking about how Canada deals with Quebec."
