Elections Canada witness accuses Conservative MP of intimidation, bullying

OTTAWA – A witness who is helping Elections Canada unravel a Conservative MP’s 2008 campaign expenses says he has been publicly bullied, discredited and intimidated.

Frank Hall, who ran an Ottawa-based polling firm that did work for Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, has written to both the Commons Speaker and the prime minister saying Del Mastro has abused his parliamentary privileges.

Hall says if Del Mastro is allowed to slander his good name in Parliament, then all witnesses who could help Elections Canada root out election fraud will be intimidated.

Del Mastro gave an impassioned speech in the Commons last week that accused Elections Canada of malice and contempt in its ongoing investigation of alleged campaign overspending.

The Peterborough, Ont., MP also accused his former pollster Hall — by name — of having ulterior motives in assisting Elections Canada.

Three other Conservative MPs — Shelly Glover, James Bezan and Jeff Watson — are all battling the elections watchdog over their 2011 campaign expense returns.