Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis has admitted that he spoke with a contractor about government business at a Tory fundraiser.
The Quebec MP has drawn criticism regarding a 2009 fundraiser he attended along with a number of construction businessmen in Quebec. All three opposition parties have attacked Paradis, alleging that he took campaign contributions in return for awarding government contracts.
Paradis had said he did not speak about federal business at the event. But a spokesperson now says the minister does remember complaining at the fundraiser about the process for awarding contracts.
The admission came after Paul Sauve, a construction boss who put on the Montreal fundraiser, said he overheard Paradis speaking about government contracts with another businessman at the event.
The Mounties are probing a $9-million contract awarded to Sauve in 2008 to refurbish Parliament's West Block.
At the heart of the probe is the relationship between Sauve and a businessman named Gilles Varin, who is linked to the Tories.
Sauve has said that he paid Varin $140,000 to help his firm win the Parliament Hill renovation contract.
Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that no Conservative MPs were being investigated in connection with the awarding of that contract.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin has said the matter could be taken up by the government operations committee, on which he sits as vice chair.
Martin said last Wednesday that the renovation contract was awarded in "a seemingly confusing way."
"Clearly the process is flawed if somebody can buy a $9-million project on an architectural jewel like the west block of the House of Commons," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
