Tories ask court to stop Liberals from using Harper tape Tape was doctored, Tory MP says
Independent MP Chuck Cadman's vote on May, 19, 2005, ensured Canadians did not head to the polls for a snap election. (Canadian Press) Independent MP Chuck Cadman's vote on May, 19, 2005, ensured Canadians did not head to the polls for a snap election. (Canadian Press)
The Conservative party has asked an Ontario court to order the Liberals to stop using a tape that one MP charges was "doctored" to attack Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The tape of a 2005 conversation between Harper and Vancouver journalist Tom Zytaruk has been adjusted and changed, "including the insertion of a fabricated sound bite," Tory MP James Moore said Wednesday.
"The tape has been edited and doctored to misrepresent the event."
He said the conversation was 10 minutes long, but the controversial tape only runs for two minutes. According to the affidavit filed by the party, the tape recording cuts off at the 1:46 minute mark and resumes in the middle of Harper's response.
"White noise has been added. It's not a complete tape."
The Conservatives quote audio experts Tom Owen and Alan Gough in the affidavit.
"Mr. Owen has found evidence that the edit that Mr. Zytaruk reportedly claims was a stop/start, was actually a computer edit made to the tape," said the affidavit.
According to Gough's sworn statement, "the tape is not a continuous recording of one conversation."
Moore did not say that Harper's words had been changed.
When the CBC's Don Newman read him one exchange between Zytaruk and Harper, Moore would not say whether or not it had been altered.
"Why would you even raise the tape?" Moore said, adding that experts — hired by the Conservatives — have proved that the tape has no credibility.
He repeatedly said that the problems with the tape were not his opinion, but the conclusion reached by two forensics experts, whose reports were used to support the appeal to the Ontario Superior Court.
May have stopped tape, says author
Zytaruk, the author of a book on Cadman, said there may be an explanation for any inconsistency on the recording. He said he met Harper and managed to ask one question on tape, which Harper answered before turning to leave.
"Then he turned around as if he had a second thought he wanted to add or something, and of course I made sure I got that. Now, I can't remember if I turned the tape off. I probably turned it off and then flicked it back on, but we're talking like milliseconds, right, in the time it would take for a guy to turn, just to turn on his heel to face you, right?"
In the affidavit, Harper denies returning to Zytaruk to add a comment, calling that explanation "categorically false."
In the tape, Harper appears to acknowledge that he knew Conservative officials had made some sort of financial offer to Independent MP Chuck Cadman, who represented the B.C. riding of Surrey North, as he was dying in 2005.
The supposition was that the offer was intended to get Cadman to vote against the minority Liberal government, which would have triggered an election.
But he didn't.
PM denies allegations
The Liberals have used the tape to attack Harper, but he has repeatedly denied the allegations. He has begun a libel suit against the Liberal party over statements published on the party's website alleging the Tories offered to bribe Cadman.
"There is absolutely no truth in it," the prime minister said in February.
That is still his position, Moore said. He added that the Liberals should stop basing their attacks on an altered tape.
Liberal MP Bob Rae said that despite the controversy about the tape, the fundamental allegation, that an offer was made to Cadman, remains unchanged.
The RCMP looked into the situation and concluded there was no evidence to lay charges.
Owen and Gough analyzed the tape for the Conservatives.
"This tape has been edited and doctored to misrepresent the event as it actually occurred,” Owen said, according to a Tory media release.
Cadman died, following a two-year battle with cancer, at his home in Surrey, B.C., in July 2005 at age 57.
The Conservative Party of Canada is now  considering a 2005 recording of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussing "financial considerations" offered to the late Member of Parliament (MP) Chuck Cadman to have been "doctored".

The tape contains a conversation between Harper and Vancouver journalist Tom Zytaruk, whose book "Like a Rock: The Chuck Cadman Story" claims that Conservative party officials had offered a C$1 million life insurance policy to Cadman in exchange for a key swing vote against the Liberal Party, one of Canada's other main political parties. At the time of the alleged bribe, Cadman had already been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Conservative MP James Moore told reporters today that the tape had been altered, "including the insertion of a fabricated sound-bite." However, he would not comment on whether or not the edits had changed the meaning of Harper's words.

The Liberal party had submitted the recording as evidence that Harper was aware of the Cadman insurance offer. Cadman's widow, Dona Cadman, has confirmed that the offer was presented to her husband. Conservatives deny the allegation, but say that party representatives had offered him a loan for campaign expenses if the MP were to rejoin the party.

Harper has filed a lawsuit against the Liberal party, the Canadian government's official opposition.