OTTAWA - Liberals may be basing their skepticism about the value of MP Wajid Khan's report to Stephen Harper on their own experience with special prime ministerial advisers.
Onetime Liberal MP Sarkis Assadourian says he never did a day's work after being appointed a special adviser to former prime minister Paul Martin.
Shortly before the 2004 election, Assadourian agreed to step aside in his Brampton riding so that a star recruit, Ruby Dhalla, could run for the Liberals in his stead. In return, Martin gave him a job as a special foreign policy adviser.
"They put out a press release and he said to the media and the nation with a straight face I was working with him as (his) adviser on the south Caucasus and Middle East," Assadourian said in an interview.
"The whole thing was a lie . . . I never a single day worked in his office. I was never paid a single penny."
At the same time, Martin named MP Sophia Leung as a special adviser on international trade and emerging markets. She stepped aside in her Vancouver riding for star recruit David Emerson, who later defected to the Tories.
At the time, a Martin spokeswoman said that Assadourian and Leung would not be paid for their advisory roles as long as they remained MPs. Whether they'd be paid after the election was to be "decided at that time."
Assadourian said that after the election, Martin's office wouldn't even return his phone calls, although he ostensibly remained a special adviser.
"For 15 months I was lied to," he said.
Asked if he regrets accepting Martin's job offer and giving up his seat, Assadourian said: "I regret knowing him as a person."
Martin eventually appointed Assadourian to the Immigration and Refugee Board.
Leung said she was never paid either but did provide verbal advice on "a free, informal basis." She accompanied Martin on a trade mission to China but paid her own travel and other expenses.
"Mine was sort of an honourary appointment. It was not a paid job," she said in an interview.
Assadourian said he didn't initially complain that his job turned out to be a sham because he hoped Martin would eventually honour his end of the bargain. He said he chose to speak out now in order to defend "my name and my integrity."
In recent days, Assadourian and Leung have found their names bandied about as part of the controversy surrounding Khan, the erstwhile Liberal MP whom Harper appointed last summer as his special adviser on the Middle East and South Asia.
Khan, who spent $13,000 touring the Middle East in the fall, originally promised to publicly release his findings and recommendations. But, after defecting to the Tories earlier this month, Harper's office insisted Khan's report must be kept confidential.
Liberals and other opposition MPs have insisted taxpayers have a right to know whether they got any value for the money spent on Khan's trip. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has gone so far as to question whether a report actually exists.
The Tories have fought back by contending that Khan at least is doing some work, unlike Martin's special advisers who appear to have done nothing. They've pointed to access to information requests for records of any work done by Assadourian and Leung, which came back marked "no record found."
Liberals counter that Assadourian and Leung were never sent on taxpayer-funded fact-finding tours and neither ever promised to produce a public report.
As to Assadourian's complaint that his appointment was a sham designed get him to resign his seat, Martin spokesman Jim Pimblett said the advisory roles were never intended to be paid positions.
"These were not paid government jobs and no pay was ever to be provided," he said.
After the Liberals emerged with a minority from the 2004 election, Pimblett said the idea was to provide opportunities for experienced former MPs to contribute advice to the government.
If Assadourian had nothing to do, Pimblett suggested it's his own fault.
"They were free - indeed it was suggested - that if they had views or thoughts on the scope or scale of the position, it would be welcomed. In other words, we provided an opportunity to play a role and it was up to them to take advantage of that."
