Tories slam CBC for ‘shoddy journalism,’ call for retraction on secret fund story

The Conservative party called Friday for the retraction of a report saying the Prime Minister’s Office runs a secret partisan fund. the Canadian Press reported. The party called the report false and says it pays for all of the prime minister’s political expenses — and not out of a hidden bank account. “All Conservative party expenses are paid by one account, controlled by the Conservative party,” the party said in a statement. “All funds are properly reported to Elections Canada and audited annually.” The CBC alleged Thursday that a fund controlled by the prime minister’s chief of staff and operating outside oversight from Elections Canada, was being run by Stephen Harper’s office for partisan purposes. More