The federal government has paid David Dingwall, the former president of the Royal Canadian Mint, a compensation package for his forced resignation.

The government said it is following a binding arbitration ruling by paying Dingwall, also a one-time Liberal cabinet minister, $417,780 along with associated pension benefits.

"Mr. Dingwall is satisfied with that result and pleased that the government is complying with its legal obligations," said lawyer Janice Payne in a news release issued late Saturday evening.

"He is also grateful that his situation has been independently reviewed and that he can now put behind him the difficulties of the last several months."

NDP MP Pat Martin told CTV News from the Manitoba NDP's convention in Winnipeg: "Dingwall's laughing at us as we speak. If the Canadian public needed any confirmation they did the right thing in throwing the Liberals out on Jan. 23, this is the confirmation right here."

The amount of Dingwall's severance went to binding arbitration because he and the government couldn't agree on what was legally owed to him.

The arbitrator, George Adams, ruled Dingwall's resignation last fall was involuntary and therefore the government has a legal obligation to pay him. The Liberal government had maintained that Dingwall had resigned.

On top of that, CTV News has learned the deal was actually approved on Jan. 20, three days before Canadians voted in the federal election. The government issued a cheque to Dingwall on Friday.

"This just compounds the whole sordid Dingwall mess, that the Liberal government knew on January 20 the arbitrator's final result and they wouldn't tell the Canadian public until after the election was safely over," Martin said.

A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said neither Prime Minister Paul Martin nor any other campaigning politician knew about the Dingwall settlement until Saturday, when officials in the Privy Council Office issued a news release.

Government bureaucrats refused a CTV News request to view the report produced by Adams.

No one in the Prime Minister's Office or the Privy Council Office would appear on camera.

However, in a memorable appearance before a House of Commons committee last fall, Dingwall, a Liberal cabinet minister in the first Jean Chretien government, said this: "I am entitled to my entitlements. If that means severance, so be it."

During the recent federal election campaign, Conservative television ads made used of Dingwall's 'entitlements' statement.

Harper reacts

Prime minister-designate Stephen Harper reacted immediately on Saturday to the news that Dingwall was actually fired.

"After months of evasive answers in the House of Commons, we have now learned that David Dingwall's departure from the Royal Canadian Mint was involuntary," Harper said in a news release.

"This is contrary to the information given by the Liberal government. I am very disappointed that Parliament was misled on this matter."

Conservative MP Jason Kenney went further, telling CTV: "They lied to Canadians about the fact that he was fired and didn't resign. It's very strange. They just didn't tell the truth."

Dingwall resigned as president after critics accused him of racking up exorbitant expenses. His office's six-figure expenses included everything from extravagant foreign travel to a $1.29 pack of gum in 2004 and 2005.

"I believed the minister agreed with that," Dingwall said during his committee appearance about his decision to resign. "I believe the Prime Minister agreed with that. Why? Because we didn't want to throw the Mint into a crisis."

Documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act by Conservative MP Brian Pallister, said Dingwall's expenses cost more than $747,000 in 2004.

In 2004, Dingwall and his colleagues spent $130,000 in foreign and domestic travel, $14,000 in meals and $11,000 in hospitality.

Dingwall always defended his spending and said he did nothing wrong.

"Although all of my expenses were thoroughly scrutinized during my tenure, should the independent audit discover any error, I will repay the corporation fully," Dingwall said at the committee hearing.

When asked why he would expense a pack of gum -- particularly in light of his $277,000 annual salary as CEO of the Mint -- Dingwall saw no reason to apologize in an interview with CTV News last fall.

"Look, I just throw the receipts on the desk, they take them and they submit them accordingly," he said.

An independent audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers later found that Dingwall's expenses were within the mint's guidelines.

At the time of his resignation, Dingwall was also under fire for failing to register as a lobbyist for a Toronto pharmaceutical company, a role he played before joining the Mint.

The company reportedly agreed to pay Dingwall up to $350,000 for his help in securing grants under the Technology Partnerships Canada program. But program rules forbid companies from hiring lobbyists.

With a report from CTV's David Akin