OTTAWA - Marlene Catterall, the government's chief whip, was accused last night of being a "bold-faced liar" after denying that she tried to influence the way members of the House of Commons' most powerful committee voted in its new chairwoman.

The finance committee had been expected to vote for either Roy Cullen, a former parliamentary secretary to Paul Martin, the Minister of Finance, or Nick Discepola, a senior member of the committee.

But the government chose another Liberal member, Sue Barnes, as its official candidate.

Senior members of the Commons finance committee rounded on Ms. Catterall, alleging she had threatened to demote Liberal members of the committee if they did not vote for Ms. Barnes.

Scott Brison, the lone Tory committee member, and Lorne Nystrom, a veteran NDP MP who also sits on the committee, held a news conference to complain about what they said were abusive government tactics.

Mr. Brison said: "This type of arrogance and this level of abuse of power I've never seen, and Lorne Nystrom has never seen. I would suggest Marlene Catterall should be nicknamed 'the cat' because she sinks her claws into the committees very strongly and forcefully and does whatever she needs to do to exert the power of the PMO [Prime Minister's Office]."

Their concerns were backed by Mr. Cullen.

"It's more of a question of the role of the backbench MP and the committee members. I think there is too much pressure from the PMO and I think committee members, and government members in particular, should be given more latitude in voting."

Ms. Catterall said accusations of "thuggery" and heavy-handed tactics were a "fairy tale" characterization and a fabrication.

In response, Mr. Brison said: "I say she's a bold-faced liar."

Ms. Barnes' election was an important step in a bid by the Prime Minister to have more women in prominent positions, say senior Liberals. The Prime Minister was stung by criticism from within his own ranks that he had not appointed enough women to Cabinet in the most recent shuffle.

Mr. Discepola had sought to run for finance committee chairman, but was shut down by Ms. Catterall about two weeks ago, a senior Liberal said, adding that Mr. Discepola met with Ms. Catterall and was told that "because of the Cabinet shuffle we need more women."

Ms. Barnes has served on the finance committee for less than two years; Mr. Cullen has been a member of the committee since 1999 and also served as the parliamentary secretary to Mr. Martin for two years.

The first vote yesterday ended in farce, with 16 votes recorded from the 15-member committee.

All Liberal MPs supported Ms. Barnes on the second vote, after Mr. Cullen made it clear he was not going to run. Ms. Barnes won that vote 11 - 4.

Mr. Cullen said he ultimately withdrew from the race because of a threat to another Liberal member. "I withdrew because I was worried about Sophia Leung [his Liberal colleague and parliamentary secretary to the Revenue Minister]. I guess the whip reminded her that she was a parliamentary secretary and Sophia was supporting me," he said.

 

Ms. Leung and Ms. Catterall denied any threat was made.

Both Mr. Brison and Mr. Nystrom say that between the first and second vote, Ms. Catterall pulled Ms. Leung from the committee room. They say the two women were outside for between seven and 10 minutes.

When they returned, Ms. Leung looked like she had "lost her puppy," Mr. Nystrom said.

Mr. Brison said he then overheard a conversation between Ms. Leung and Albina Guarnieri, a Liberal MP who was also supporting Mr. Cullen, in which Ms. Leung indicated she would lose her parliamentary secretary status if she supported Mr. Cullen.

Mr. Brison and Mr. Nystrom said Ms. Catterall had earlier taken them aside individually to tell them how to vote.

"She marched me outside and told me I ought to be supporting Sue Barnes. And when I told her I was supporting Roy Cullen she said, 'I hope you know what you're doing.' I told her she was not my whip."

Ms. Catterall says the two opposition MPs are "completely wrong" about her conversation with Ms. Leung.

"She and I talked, of course. I talked to her for a minute. I'm not going to report the details of the conversation I had with a colleague.

"I asked her to support Sue Barnes, yes, that was the nominee coming from the Liberal side. Did I make any threats? Absolutely not."

Ms. Barnes said last night: "As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to do the job and try my best. I've got a good committee and good committee members."

Last year, Ms. Catterall was the subject of a story in The Hill Times, a weekly newspaper that focuses on politics and government business, in which she "jokingly" told John McCallum, who was then the parliamentary secretary to Paul Martin, that he would lose his job if he voted for Scott Brison for vice-chairman of the finance committee.

Mr. McCallum confirmed to the newspaper she made a "little joke" about his job.

Ms. Catterall "pleaded innocence," the newspaper said

Mr. Nystrom said Ms. Catterall told him that if Mr. Cullen were elected she would replace him on the committee with somebody else.

She also denied this.

Said Mr. Nystrom, "What I'm telling you is the absolute truth.

"The intimidation. There is just too much power concentrated in too few hands. They run roughshod, not only over the opposition parties, but roughshod over the government backbenchers as well."

Mr. Cullen says he had a number of MPs lined up to support him in his bid and had "felt it was in hands."

However, he said he sensed that his support was slipping after he made comments supporting the Martin forces on the membership rules controversy.

Also yesterday, Jean Augustine, the Liberal MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, was elected chairwoman of the foreign affairs committee.