Ex-Harper aide guilty of influence peddling

TORONTO — A one-time top aide to former prime minister Stephen Harper was convicted of criminal influence-peddling by Ontario’s highest court on Friday. In overturning a previous acquittal against Bruce Carson, the Court of Appeal said in a split decision that the case should go back to the trial judge for sentencing.

Carson, a senior adviser to Harper from the time the Conservatives took office in 2006 until 2008 and briefly in 2009, was charged in connection with attempts to promote the sale of water-purification systems for First Nations communities by a company known as H2O Pros and H2O Global.

H2O had hired his girlfriend at that time, Michele McPherson, with whom he developed a romantic relationship in February 2010. Evidence given in court showed that Carson admitted demanding a benefit for McPherson from H2O in exchange for using his government contacts on the company’s behalf. However, he denied his activities had anything to do with “any matter of business relating to the government.”

In November 2015, Superior Court Justice Bonnie Warkentin found Carson not guilty, despite concluding that he had admitted trying to persuade officials at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and cabinet ministers and their staffs to buy the systems to McPherson’s benefit.

Those officials, the judge ruled, had no direct ability to sway First Nations communities to buy the equipment because the bands made their own decisions on such purchases and, as such, “there simply was no government business” involved.

The prosecution appealed, with the issue turning on wording in the Criminal Code about whether Carson’s lobbying was linked to a “matter of business relating to the government.”

In overturning the acquittal, the Court of Appeal found Carson had indeed attempted to ensure his girlfriend could earn commissions on the sales of water-treatment systems to First Nations.

“It was understood that, in exchange, he would attempt to influence government decisions,” Justice Gladys Pardu wrote for the Appeal Court majority.

“The essence of the offence is acceptance of a benefit for exercise of influence.”

As such, the court concluded, Carson’s conduct fell within the scope of the conduct captured by the Criminal Code provision under which he was charged.