MONTREAL - The Prime Minister's Office brought a swift end to speculation that Jean Chretien wasn't getting an invite to the anniversary party of a national park he created near his hometown.

The Conservative government Wednesday night abruptly elaborated on an earlier answer that had left Liberals wondering if the three-term prime minister was going to be on the guest list for the anniversary event near Shawinigan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice's office had refused to guarantee that Chretien would be invited to the 40th anniversary celebrations for the Mauricie National Park.

But the PMO subsequently provided an assurance that Chretien would be welcome at the event.

"He's a former prime minister of our great country," Dimitri Soudas, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's director of communications, said in an email.

"He's the former MP for the riding. Of course he's welcome and of course he'll be invited."

Chretien helped inaugurate Mauricie National Park in 1970, while he was still a young cabinet minister in Pierre Elliott Trudeau's government. The birthday bash is scheduled for next month.

Prentice's office had told The Canadian Press that event-planning was still in its initial stages.

"Minister Prentice will attend, but we haven't decided on the format of his visit," said Prentice's spokesman, Frederic Baril.

"If no decision has been made yet on the format of his visit, then no decision has been made yet on invitees."

That the attendance of Shawinigan's favourite son should even be in doubt angered local supporters, who detected a Tory conspiracy afoot.

One former Liberal organizer said there was a "big rumour" around town that Ottawa pressured the park's administrators to keep Chretien's name off the guest list.

"All the park workers live in the area . . . and what we know is that they say Chretien won't be included in the anniversary," said Pierre La Haye, a one-time Liberal riding president for St-Maurice-Champlain.

"He's still a popular politician, so they're probably worried about that."

While Prentice's office did acknowledge it was in contact with park staff about the planning of the event, it rejected any suggestion it was trying to influence the makeup of the guest list.

Sources close to the former prime minister declined to comment, saying Chretien would not make any statement before he welcomes Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to Shawinigan on Thursday. The men will meet at a stop during the Liberal leader's summer bus tour.

Ignatieff, however, expressed indignation Wednesday. He was asked about local reports that Chretien could be barred from the ceremony.

"I am shocked by the news," he told reporters during a tour stop in Batiscan, Que.

"This is a man who was a member of Parliament for the Mauricie. . . He has to be invited because he is an ex-prime minister and he has a right to all the honours."

Mauricie is the second-oldest national park in Quebec, and is a favourite spot for tourists as it is located halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.

It covers several hundred kilometres of forest that were heavily logged in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its conversion to a national park in 1970 helped restore many of the depleted wooded areas.

At the time, Chretien said the park would boost the local economy. But as it was the second national park created in Quebec that year, Chretien was accused of local favouritism.

"I won't apologize to anyone," Chretien told a local journalist on the day he signed it into existence.