Harper met ex-aide Carson's lover at 24 Sussex party

OTTAWA - Disgraced former Stephen Harper aide Bruce Carson brought a reported ex-prostitute and money-launderer to 24 Sussex Drive to meet with the prime minister and his wife during a party at the official residence, the Conservatives have confirmed.

Barbara Lynn Khan and her then-beau Carson were among the guests at a going-away bash three years ago for the prime minister's departing chief of staff, Ian Brodie, a party spokesman said late Monday.

"I can confirm that (Khan) was at Mr. Brodie's farewell party at 24 Sussex as Mr. Carson's guest," Conservative campaign spokesman Alykhan Velshi said in an email.

"It was a farewell party for a friend and colleague, not a government event."

The Globe and Mail reported that Khan was convicted in the United States in 2003 for maintaining a bawdy house, as well as aiding and abetting prostitution.

The newspaper, citing public records, reported Khan was convicted a year later of the more serious U.S. federal offence of money laundering.

She was subsequently deported to her native Canada.

Property records obtained by The Canadian Press show Khan and Carson paid $400,000 in November 2009 for a condominium in downtown Ottawa.

Khan apparently still lives there, although she and Carson have reportedly separated.

Khan hung up the phone when reached Monday afternoon by The Canadian Press. Neither Carson nor his lawyer returned requests for comment Monday.

Harper's office called in the RCMP last month after the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network reported Carson may have illegally lobbied the government on behalf of a company that employed his current girlfriend, a 22-year-old, one-time escort.

The company, H20, has said Carson never did any lobbying on its behalf.

Khan told APTN she spoke with Harper and his wife at the party.

"I was surprised because Harper is portrayed as being cold and indifferent, which I did not see a hint of that evening," she told the network. Khan added that she found the prime minister "approachable" and "friendly" during their chat.

She also had warm words for Harper's wife.

"Mrs. (Laureen) Harper was genuinely warm and an incredibly gracious hostess . . . Everyone attending was pleasant and the evening was an experience I will always remember."

According to APTN, Khan was an escort at the time she met Carson.

Brodie was respected around official Ottawa for his competence and intellectual depth, but was considered slightly chatty by the button-lipped standards of the Harper government.

Brodie inadvertently tipped off reporters, during an off-the-cuff exchange in 2008, to a story that eventually became known as NAFTA-gate and frustrated the election campaign of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

He continued working for several months in Harper's office but announced his departure in mid-2008.

That summer, the prime minister thanked his most senior aide by throwing a garden party outside his official residence.

The event was attended by about 60 or 70 exclusive guests, including some prominent Conservative power couples.

Brodie was there with his wife. So was top Conservative operative Jenni Byrne -- now the co-manager of the party's election campaign -- and her boyfriend at the time, Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre. Michael Coates, who led the prime minister's debate-preparation team in several elections, was there with his wife.

A source at the party said much of the attention was inevitably drawn by Carson and his younger companion.

Carson worked for Harper when the Conservatives were in Opposition, helped on the transition team that smoothed Harper's takeover of power in 2006 and went to work in the PMO for the following two years as Harper's senior policy adviser and troubleshooter.

But he had a chequered past.

The Canadian Press revealed last week that Carson had been convicted on five counts of fraud -- three more than generally known -- and received court-ordered psychiatric treatment before becoming one of the prime minister's closest advisers.

Harper said he'd known of two fraud convictions in the early 1980s, for which Carson was jailed and disbarred by the Law Society of Upper Canada.

But Harper said he wouldn't have hired Carson had he known the 65-year-old had also been convicted on three more counts of fraud in 1990.

Carson's lawyer previously told The Canadian Press that his client disclosed his entire criminal record during a security check that was required to become a senior staffer in the Prime Minister's Office.

The Privy Council Office also says it's conducting a review of its security-screening procedures in the wake of controversy over Carson's criminal record.