"In my opinion Mr. Martin was aware of the situation"

More from Warren Kinsella, in his current role as John Dean --

Paul Martin took a personal interest as finance minister in federal contracts that went to a firm with close political ties to him, says a disgruntled Liberal backroomer. Warren Kinsella, a former cabinet aide, told a Commons committee Monday that Martin had to know the Finance Department was making end runs around cabinet contracting guidelines in some of the work it awarded to Earnscliffe Strategy Group in the 1990s. "In my opinion Mr. Martin was aware of the situation," said Kinsella, who served at the time as an aide to then-public works minister David Dingwall. "He knew of the problems with regard to contracts." On one occasion, said Kinsella, Martin even tried to phone him at home to complain that a particular Earnscliffe deal had been blocked by political infighting. "He was leaving messages . . . demanding to speak to me," said Kinsella. "I did not return his calls, which I think made him madder." Kinsella said the contract had been temporarily sidetracked, on orders from the office of then-prime minister Jean Chretien, until "certain questions" about the deal could be answered. He didn't elaborate, but opposition MPs were quick to pounce on the suggestion Martin had personally intervened in the dispute. "More and more, there is implied knowledge about contracting practices that were going on in his department while he was minister of finance," said Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay. But Liberal MP Shawn Murphy dismissed Kinsella's claims as sour grapes, noting that he has been a Martin adversary for years. "We had three hours of venom," said Murphy. "I would challenge anyone in Canada to agree that he (Kinsella) had any credibility."