Justice committee bogs down again as Tories dodge inquiry into Cadman affair

The chair of the justice committee, Tory Art Hanger, ruled the latest attempt by Liberal and Bloc Quebecois members to hold hearings into the Cadman affair to be out of order.

Hanger then summarily adjourned the committee without allowing opposition members to speak.

And as he walked out of a room, a shouting match broke out between Tory MP Rick Dykstra and Liberal MP Brian Murphy.

The committee has done no work since early March when Hanger rejected a Liberal motion to investigate allegations that top Tory officials tried to bribe dying independent MP Chuck Cadman to secure his vote against the 2005 Liberal budget.

Wednesday's disruption was the eighth in two months.

At the March meeting, Bloc Quebecois MP Real Menard challenged Hanger's ruling but before the challenge could be put to a vote, Hanger walked out of the room - a tactic he employed at the next five unproductive meetings of the committee.

The ploy meant that a Liberal vice-chair had to take up the gavel and, since the chair can't vote, the remaining Liberal and Bloc members didn't have the numbers to overturn Hanger's ruling. The vice-chair thus adjourned each meeting.

Last week and again Wednesday, the Liberal and Bloc members tried a different procedural tactic but Hanger ruled both out of order and immediately adjourned the meetings.

Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc said the Tories are using a "classic stonewalling tactic" because they're afraid of what an inquiry might uncover.

However, Hanger said he won't allow the committee to become "a circus" for "frivolous" probes into matters that are better left to the RCMP to investigate.