Gurmant Grewal steps out of politics
CTV.ca News Staff

Gurmant Grewal, the Conservative MP caught up in last spring's taping scandal, won't be seeking re-election.

"I am writing today to advise you that I will not be a candidate for the Conservative Party in the riding of Newton-North Delta in the coming election," he said in a letter to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper on Tuesday.

"I am a firm supporter of the accountability package that you recently unveiled. Due to certain still unresolved issues, which I believe my political opponents would use against me and our party in the coming election, I have reluctantly decided to take this course of action.

"I wish you and the party the best of luck. I am convinced you are poised to become the next Prime Minister of Canada."

Grewal triggered an uproar in May when he revealed he had tried to trap the Liberals into making an offer to him and his fellow MP wife Nina to change parties -- and secretly taped the whole process.

At that time, the Liberal minority government faced a no-confidence vote on its budget on May 19. Every vote counted in the battle for survival.

Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff, and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, were two of the high-profile Liberals involved. They denied making any offers, although they did hold talks with Grewal.

However, Grewal didn't release all the tapes, only selected portions. Audio experts said it appeared someone had edited the tapes.

Ultimately, Grewal, first elected in 1997, took stress leave.

"Gurmant's view was that the controversies that have surrounded him are likely to be raised in an election campaign," Harper told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy.

"You have an individual who the Liberal Party wanted to have in its ranks, a hard-working immigrant, and as soon as he said no to them, they began slandering him," he said.

"Unfortunately, I think Gurmant's probably right. These things could become issues for him and the party during the campaign. So I think he's done what's in the interests of the party by deciding not to run."

Robert Fife, CTV's parliamentary bureau chief, told Newsnet the Conservatives felt Grewal didn't have a chance of winning his riding, "so they encouraged him to leave, and he has."

Nina is running for re-election. Harper said he expected a "vigorous nomination process" in Newton-North Delta to replace Gurmant

I'm not sure where you're going to go with this.
Grewal didn't break the law. What he did was show how desperate the Liberals are to stay in power. It's only because the ethics commissioner is a croney that this didn't go farther.

I'm happy Grewal stepped aside though, and I'm also glad that Doug McCallum didn't get in.

Eh?

How do you arrive at the Liberals being desperate to stay in power by being willing to listen to his consideration to cross the floor?
He approached them, not the other way round.

When he made demands, they were denied and Grewal felt like a jilted lover so he conspired with the Conservatives to save face by doctoring the tapes to make him appear as a 'good' guy.

Unfortunately for the Conservatives, experts caught them and proved the tapes had been doctored.

Is that proven? If so, I'd like to read about it.

Yes it was.

Here you go,

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national ... 50602.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... TopStories

http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=2&nid=28528

I'm wondering did Grewal give out millions of tax payers dollars to friends?

You better re-read the links and then edit your original post to reflect the BS you spewed.

John Dooher, a forensic audio engineer hired by CBC News, said Thursday there is a "crude" edit and something "amiss" about a section of tapes made by the B.C. member of Parliament.

The tape has Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh talking about Grewal's future.

Grewal secretly recorded hours of conversations with Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, the prime minister's chief of staff, about switching parties.

"Right here, we hear what sounds like an edit. We have a change in the frequency spectrum so something has changed there," said Dooher, demonstrating the difference while at a sound board.

His conclusions are supported by Stevan Pausak, one of Canada's leading forensic-sound analysts. Pausak was asked by Canadian Press to carry out a similar examination. He said one of the tapes has an abnormal break, indicting a section may have been cut out.

Dooher said while more sophisticated testing could offer more certainty, he believes his original conclusion.

"This sounds to me, not only that this is an edit, but an edit done with something very crude," he said.

The Conservative Party said late Thursday that small gaps occurred when the master tapes were transferred to CD.

But Pausak said he found an entirely separate abnormality that couldn't be explained by transferring.

Pausak, who once worked for the Ontario government and now testifies in trials, said there is a discontinuity in the audio file.

"I'm talking about alteration. I am trying to avoid the word tampering,'' he said.

"When you are using the word 'tampering', that means intent, right? Most of the time there is no way to show intent through the examination of the recording. You just see that it's altered.''

Grewal denied tampering with the evidence.

So I guess your answer is no? Do you guys completely ignore what the Liberals have done these last few years?

No, but it has nothing to do with the tpoci of this thread.

So I guess your answer is no? Do you guys completely ignore what the Liberals have done these last few years?