Conservative MP accuses Elections Canada investigators of ‘malice and contempt’

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s parliamentary secretary is demanding that Elections Canada put its cards on the table after more than a year of unresolved allegations concerning his 2008 campaign expenses.

Dean Del Mastro, the MP from Peterborough, Ont., has ended a long silence on the issue, first with appearances on major television political shows and now with a question of privilege in Parliament.

With the House poised to rise for a two-month summer recess, Del Mastro told the Commons he feels “violated and betrayed” by Elections Canada and says the investigation has been “conducted with malice and contempt.”

Publicly available court documents and investigative leaks last year revealed that Del Mastro was under the microscope for allegedly overspending his campaign limit in the 2008 election.

Elections Canada will not comment on whether an investigation is even underway, but Del Mastro claims investigators have wrapped up their work and he’s demanding a “full and frank disclosure” of the proceedings.

At the time the allegations became public, Del Mastro was the government’s point man in parlaying opposition questions about fraudulent robocalls from the 2011 election — a role he was forced to abandon because of the cloud cast by Elections Canada.