Ottawa - Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville, says he is pleased that Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has stated that he did not break any rules while using prop cheques in funding announcements.

The allegations were levelled against him through a media release and interviews by Leeds-Grenville Liberal candidate Marjory Loveys shortly after she was nominated last year. They were later sent to the Ethics Commissioner by Liberal MP Wayne Easter.

“These allegations levelled against me by the Liberals, and allegations they made against 60 individual Conservative Members of Parliament, have been dismissed in their entirety,” says Brown.

“The fact of the matter is that prop cheques have been used for decades by politicians of all stripes,” he adds.

In his report to the Ethics Commissioner Mr. Brown noted that the cheques were not from his office and in all cases the organization that was being awarded funding brought them to the event to use as a prop.

He believed the cheques that were used pre-dated his becoming a Member of Parliament.

In her findings, Dawson suggests that the issue be studied by Parliament to ascertain if further rules and regulations should be in place for the use of such cheques.

“It is unfortunate that the Liberals forced the Ethics Commissioner to waste public money to conduct this lengthy investigation,” he says.