OTTAWA - The Liberals and New Democrats are both calling for formal reviews of a contract Finance Minister Jim Flaherty awarded to a well-connected Conservative.
Liberal finance critic John McCallum has asked Auditor General Sheila Fraser to look into the process.
The New Democrats have written Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson asking her to investigate the matter.
Flaherty admits his office broke government contracting rules in hiring Hugh MacPhie to help write last year's budget speech and provide advice on how to sell the document.
MacPhie, who had written speeches for former Ontario Tory premier Mike Harris, was awarded the $122,000 contract without tender.
Flaherty says proper contracting rules are now being followed by his office, and that MacPhie provided good value for taxpayers' money.
But McCallum says whether that's true is not for Fraser to decide.
"I have written to the auditor general, asking her to investigate this matter and to determine whether Mr. Flaherty is right when he claims that the taxpayer got good value for money,'' McCallum told a news conference Thursday.
New Democrat finance critic Thomas Mulcair pointed to a previous ruling by former ethics commissioner Howard Wilson as an example of how Dawson might consider the matter.
"As some guidance, I respectfully cite a similar case in which your predecessor ... found that then cabinet minister Arthur Eggleton had been in breach of the code by granting to a friend an untendered contract to write a report for his department,'' Ulcer wrote in a letter to Dawson.
Eggleton was dumped from the Liberal cabinet of Jean Chretien in 2002 after it was revealed he'd given a contract to an ex-girlfriend. He was later appointed to the Senate.
Flaherty's actions are particularly troubling because the Tories have repeatedly pronounced their desire to ensure accountability in government, said McCallum.
"This is a government that has wrapped itself around accountability, that wears accountability like a religion,'' he said.
"And yet here we have a blatant disregard for the principle of accountability. This is Conservative hypocrisy of the worst order.''
Treasury Board rules generally require a bidding process for contracts of $25,000 or more.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been silent in the face of opposition demands to know whether the finance minister will face any political consequences for his actions.
