Two Tory MPs rejected ‘in-and-out’

Two more former Tory MPs are the latest to come forward saying they were against the Conservative party’s “in-and-out” election financing scheme. Inky Mark, a former Manitoba MP, and Helena Guergis, the former Conservative minister who was fired from caucus, have joined former Quebec Conservative candidate David Marler and MP Dave Mackenzie in distancing themselves from the campaign finance scheme. Mark, who said he was approached by party officials during the 2006 election campaign and asked to deposit thousands of dollars into his campaign chest only to withdraw it later to buy advertising, said it didn’t add up. “I said, ‘why would you give me money and give it back?’ It didn’t make sense,” Mark said. “So I said, ‘No thanks.’” Meanwhile, Guergis’s sister and campaign manager, Christine Brayford, said “something in my gut told me no.”

The Globe and Mail