Thomas Mulcair and the envelope

In the wake of a report from La Presse about Thomas Mulcair’s statements to police about a meeting with former Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, the NDP released a statement from Mr. Mulcair this morning.

In early 2011, I met with the police in order to help in their investigation.

I gave to them my account of a meeting I had with Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt dating back to 1994.

As is indicated, I effectively and immediately ended the meeting with Mr. Vaillancourt.

This matter is currently before the courts and I will therefore avoid further comment.

The Conservatives followed that with a statement from Peter Van Loan.

The Canadian Press summarizes.

A statement from House Leader Peter Van Loan accused Mulcair of remaining silent about corruption for two decades. It also accused him of lying during a 2010 press conference, when he said he had never been offered a bribe during his time in Quebec politics...

It’s unclear whether Mulcair was in fact lying on Nov. 16, 2010, when a journalist asked at an Ottawa press conference whether he had ever been offered cash envelopes by Vaillancourt and he said: “No.” The report in La Presse said Mulcair told police he’d actually left the 1994 meeting without opening, or accepting, a white envelope and did not know for sure that there was cash inside.