OTTAWA - All three opposition parties are demanding the Conservative government explain exactly how a Montreal engineering firm landed federal stimulus money while a top Tory organizer and senator was on its payroll.

The Canadian Press reported that Senator Leo Housakos worked for the firm BPR when it won a $1.5-million contract as part of a consortium studying the aging Champlain Bridge.

Public Works Minister Christian Paradis signalled on May 20 the contract would soon be open for bids, the same day that Housakos organized a major Conservative fundraiser in Montreal.

Four senior executives from BPR and the winning consortium attended the fundraiser, as did two officials with Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridge Inc. (JCCBI). That federal agency handed out the contract four months later.

"At a time when the middle class is struggling, would the prime minister explain why infrastructure spending that is needed by all Canadians ends up in the hands of a member of his own caucus?" Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said during question period in the House of Commons.

"Even though it promised to clean up after the Liberal party's sponsorship scandal, the current government is doing exactly the same thing by using taxpayers' money for partisan ends," said Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Transport Minister John Baird, who oversees the JCCBI, said there was no political interference in the federal stimulus contract because it was handled by the arm's length agency.

"Neither the minister nor his office had any involvement with this contract," Baird said in the Commons.

"It was done at arm's length from the government by the Crown corporation in question. Like all Crowns, this Crown is expected to operate in a clear and open manner when awarding contracts."

Baird refused to answer questions later about why officials from that arm's length agency attended a Conservative fundraiser, or about the relationship between Housakos and the head of the agency's board.

JCCBI President Paul Kefalas was formerly an executive at Swiss firm ABB, and handed a contract to a small consulting firm Housakos co-founded in Quebec.

The federal agency continued to refuse to release its code of ethics. A spokesman said the JCCBI would first like to determine internally if any element of their own code was breached by its officials.

"When there's a political cocktail like that, people who want to come pay for their ticket," said Paradis. "They're grown-ups. They know what they're doing. They know that their contribution is reported to Elections Canada so I have nothing more to say about that."

Although both men were at the $250-per-ticket fundraiser, there is no record of their contributions under Elections Canada's public registry going up to July.

Last December, Housakos was hired at BPR one week before he was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to be their vice-president of business development.

He told The Canadian Press that he was quickly moved to the helm of one of BPR's wholly owned subsidiaries, TerrEau, and had nothing to do with any of the parent company's contracts or business with government. He also said he didn't know his colleagues from BPR would be attending the fundraiser.

Housakos described on his Senate website until midday last Thursday that he was vice-president at BPR, as well as president of TerrEau. He also declared both positions to the Senate ethics commissioner in a public document dated Feb. 4, 2009. He told the commissioner he had resigned from both positions on Oct. 1.

Housakos' office was at BPR's building in downtown Montreal. TerrEau's head office is in Quebec City, and lists all the same principals as BPR.

BPR said he was simply the president of TerrEau, and had no involvement in matters concerning federal contracts.

"This contract was awarded after a rigorous bidding process, to four engineering firms, including BPR," reads a statement Monday on BPR's website.

"Our expertise in the area is well known, due to the numerous contracts we have received from the Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridge Inc. over 10 years now."

BPR said on its website Monday that Housakos resigned his position on Sept. 3, but fails to mention he continued to work there until Oct.1.

BPR is embroiled in a major controversy in Montreal over a $618-million water-meter plan. BPR was awarded a $7.4-million contract to manage the bidding process for the plan, but that cost ballooned to more than $14 million.

The city's auditor general found BPR did not deliver on key elements of the contract, and that it was awarded extra duties that should have been opened to other companies for bidding. He also found the entire bidding process for the main water-meter contract flawed.

The Quebec minister of municipal affairs is currently investigating the handing out of a contract by a the municipality of Vercheres to BPR. The Mayor of Vercheres is also an executive at one of BPR's subsidiaries.

The office of the Governor General announced Monday that Housakos would be accompanying Michaelle Jean to Greece, as she goes to pick up the Olympic flame. Housakos is the only politician in her official entourage.

He is a longtime friend of senior Harper aide Dimitri Soudas, and was formerly a fundraiser and organizer with the Action Democratique du Quebec.