Lawrence MacAulay's days as solicitor general may be numbered amid reports he will be dumped from cabinet next week after ethics counsellor Howard Wilson releases his report.

CTV News Staff

Lawrence MacAulay's days as solicitor general may be numbered amid reports he will be dumped from cabinet next week after ethics counsellor Howard Wilson releases his report.

Published reports Saturday quote two senior Liberal sources who say MacAulay may be demoted for alleged wrongdoing in awarded a $70,000 contract to a political friend.

On Friday, MacAulay told reporters he was anxiously awaiting Wilson's report.

"I wouldn't want to prejudge whatever Mr. Wilson will say," MacAulay said outside the House of Commons. "It's up to him to conduct a review and take a report back. . . . I am looking forward to hearing his review."

MacAulay refused to answer questions about the contract itself, saying he'll wait for the results of Wilson's final report on the matter. MacAulay also refused to comment on whether he was confident he would be vindicated.

The issue erupted last Thursday when the Canadian Alliance accused MacAulay of giving an untendered consulting contract to the accounting firm of Everett Roche, a political ally from P.E.I.

Wilson has been in MacAulay's home province talking to Roche and David Nicholson as part of his investigation.

Nicholson was a former deputy minister of Veterans Affairs under MacAulay.

"(Roche and Nicholson) were very cooperative for which I am very greatful. They provided me with additional information," Wilson told reporters.

In the past week, MacAulay has also been accused of hiring his nephew to run his riding office and awarding a second contract to Tim Banks, the P.E.I. Liberal party president.

Banks' firm APM Group received about $120,000 to manage a $4-million renovation of Charlottetown's Confederation Centre.

But opposition parties believe Wilson's findings will mean little.

Tory MP Peter MacKay said since the ethics counsellor is appointed by Prime Minister Jean Chretien and reports directly to him, no matter what Wilson reports the prime minister alone will ultimately decide MacAulay's fate.

"The ethics councillor has no credibility. He's simply the voice of the prime minister, for the prime minister. Whatever happens, the ethics councillor is irrelevant in this case," said MacKay.

Opposition members want Chretien to handle the MacAulay case in a manner consistent to an ethics controversy last summer. In that case former defence minister Art Eggleton was dropped from cabinet following reports that he approved an untendered contract given to a former girlfriend worth $36,500.

Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper is calling for more immediate action.

"The prime minister cannot hide behind his own employee. He is supposed to come to the House of Commons to be responsible on this floor for his own decisions," Harper said. "That's why we have scandal after scandal."