A Regina Conservative MP has publicly apologized to the minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board for suggesting he was personally involved in hiring a campaign worker as an Ottawa lobbyist for the CWB.
Tom Lukiwski issued a statement Feb. 24 retracting the allegation against minister Reg Alcock that was contained in a letter published Dec. 23 in The Western Producer. In the letter, he said Alcock “gave his campaign manager a six-figure salary to lobby his own government.”
He called it an example of “Liberal corruption and cronyism.”
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Alcock demanded an apology and then filed a lawsuit against Lukiwski, demanding $100,000 plus costs.
Lukiwski said last week he was correct to criticize the CWB hiring but wrong to blame Alcock.
“I have no direct knowledge of how the wheat board went about hiring her,” said the MP. “In the absence of any direct knowledge, it was inappropriate for me to suggest that Mr. Alcock was in any way involved or did anything that was in any way unethical. For that suggestion and for any embarrassment or hardship it may have caused Mr. Alcock, I have unreservedly apologized.”
However, Lukiwski remains critical of the CWB decision to hire a Liberal activist to lobby the Liberal government.
“Why exactly does a government agency need a government lobbyist? Is this an appropriate expenditure of farmers’ hard-earned money?”
