Former top aide to Harper provides peek into simmering Tory tensions

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In this April 13, 2010 file photo, Guy Giorno appears before a Commons committee in Ottawa. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former right-hand man is laying bare some simmering tensions inside powerful Conservative circles around Parliament Hill. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former right-hand man is laying bare some simmering tensions inside powerful Conservative circles around Parliament Hill.

Ex-chief of staff Guy Giorno posted a message on Twitter this week, calling out a political staffer in the office of Treasury Board President Tony Clement.

Giorno had appeared at a Commons committee on Tuesday on behalf of the Canadian Bar Association, outlining how lobbying rules could be beefed up by the Conservative government.

Several Conservative sources within government said Clement adviser David Pierce had made a negative remark about Giorno's testimony during a regular morning meeting Wednesday with other political staffers led by Harper's office.

It seems the remark got straight back to Giorno.

"Seems a staffer for @TonyclementCPC, one David Pierce, didn't like my testimony before the Ethics Committee yesterday. Truth hurts, Dave," wrote Giorno,who was also Harper's campaign chairman last election.

"Tony, when David Pierce attacked my Ethics Committee testimony @TonyclementCPC I assume he was *not* speaking for you. What's up then?"

Clement's office said it had no comment on Giorno's tweets.

Giorno's strong defence of the lobbying commissioner and the Lobbying Act has rankled other senior Conservatives around town who told The Canadian Press they feel he has become too strident.

They grumble about why more scrutiny is not brought to bear on former political staff and politicians who work for law firms providing strategic advice to corporate clients.

Unless such lawyers and strategists try to influence officials on policy or contracts, they don't have to register as lobbyists or publicly list their clients and meetings with senior officials.

There has been much unhappiness in lobbying circles, dominated by old Conservative and Liberal political hands, about rules they say stifle a legitimate business that does valuable work in the public policy process.

"If you look at the preamble of the Act, you are looking for a system where the registration of paid lobbyists does not impede free and open access to government. You've got to finely balance that," Hill and Knowlton Strategies Canada president Michael Coates told the Commons committee Thursday. Coates was a former adviser to Harper over three consecutive elections.

One issue that has particularly rankled lobbyists is the rules around political activity. They have said they need more clarity about whether certain volunteer work might be deemed a conflict of interest later on in their lobbying work with government.

Coates and many other experienced political strategists sat out the last election because they feared they would be reprimanded later by the commissioner of lobbying for a possible conflict.

Giorno tweeted Friday that lobbyists "were missing the point" about the rules.

"The Lobbying Commissioner can advise on whether one should lobby a politician based on specifics of what one did for the politician," Giorno wrote.

"Lobbyists want answers before election — when future lobbying just speculative."

Rick Anderson, a well-known former adviser and campaign director for Reform Party Leader Preston Manning, gently challenged Giorno on Twitter over his hard line on the rules: "Understood, but people need to know if a lawn sign, dinner ticket or pundit panel will later be ruled as career limiting."

Giorno's volley against David Pierce set more tongues wagging across Ottawa, with some in government saying Giorno's attack was uncalled for. Pierce, coincidentally, had been preparing to leave Clement's employ on Friday prior to his upcoming wedding.

"David Pierce is an upstanding guy and he is one of the most honest people I've ever worked with for the last several years," said one Conservative who asked to remain anonymous.

"He doesn't deserve this type of treatment."

The former chief of staff also raised eyebrows during his testimony Tuesday by referring to a time when he referred a complaint about potential illegal activity to the commissioner of lobbying.

He said someone had contacted him to set up a meeting while he was working in the Prime Minister's Office. He did not name the person.

"I never heard the result of the RCMP investigation, but the commissioner's latest annual report indicates that after every single Lobbying Act investigation, the RCMP declined to lay charges," said Giorno.

"This must include the case I referred, even though it included a clear and blatant attempt to arrange a meeting contrary to the five-year ban."