Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said no government department is involved in the hearing in Nova Scotia on Monday afternoon. Soudas said he had no knowledge of the matter. Steve Outhouse, who has replaced MacDonnell as Raitt's director of communications, also said his office had no knowledge of the matter."No government department" seems to be overly specific, leading Jeff to ask the obvious question whether the Conservative Party is involved.
The important question here, I suspect, is who is paying for MacDonnell's lawyer?
This is all the more important in light of another little nugget in Aken's story.
Canwest News Service has also learned that senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office were briefed on the contents of the tape last week.which leads us to that old classic: "What did the Prime Minister know and when did he know it?
Update. Note the Conservative Party, apparently. From here:
Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for the Conservative Party of Canada, said the party has no connection to the matter.
Update 2. From question period today, as reported in the Globe and Mail:
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson didn’t address the question, or the inference that at least the Conservative Party of Canada is paying the legal bills. “The minister [of Natural Resources] is not a party to the action and the Government of Canada is not involved.,” Mr. Nicholson said.
Update 3 This may not add anything of value, but Tim Powers, a Conservative operative who blogs
at the Globe and Mail wrote: "Ottawa is all in a lather again about a tape recorder left behind in a bathroom by an aide to Lisa Riatt". So is this how it started? A lost tape recorder?
