RCMP commish not responsible for Carson security clearance: source
Posted Apr 6, 2011 05:12:17 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – A top intelligence official denies the current R.C.M.P. commissioner approved a security clearance for Bruce Carson despite his criminal past.
Reports say William Elliott green-lighted the clearance in 2006, paving the way for Carson to become a top adviser to Prime Minister Harper.
At the time, Elliott was national security adviser to the Privy Council Office.
But a senior security source speaking on condition of anonymity tells The Canadian Press that Elliott was not involved in the file.
Carson was convicted on five counts of fraud and received court-ordered psychiatric treatment before becoming one of Harper’s closest aides.
Harper says he never would have hired Carson had he known the full extent of his past.
But Carson has told The Canadian Press he didn’t hide anything when filling out the security-clearance application form in January 2006.
The P.M.O. has asked the R.C.M.P. to investigate Carson after allegations surfaced that the 65-year-old may have illegally lobbied the federal government on behalf of a company that employed his girlfriend.
