Newly-released sponsorship inquiry testimony provides a damning indictment of the federal Liberal party, Peter MacKay says, but does not warrant an immediate trip to the polls.

Justice John Gomery decided Thursday to lift a publication ban on testimony by Groupaction executive Jean Brault, unleashing his detailed accounts of falsified paper trails, cash exchanges and kickbacks into the public view.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

With Conservative leader Stephen Harper en route to Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, it fell to the second-in-command to register his party's reaction Thursday afternoon.

"This is not an isolated event. It was not the work of a few misguided people," MacKay said at a press conference in Ottawa late Thursday.

"This was a systemic and deliberate attempt to divert public dollars to a partisan political purpose."

But, he added, neither Brault nor his advertising agency are the only ones implicated in allegations surrounding the now-defunct sponsorship program.

"We in the Conservative Party believe that more testimony must be heard, and we believe that the Canadian public deserves a chance to hear, understand and evaluate this evidence," MacKay told reporters.

In the days before Gomery eased his publication ban, there was widespread speculation the detailed nature of Brault's testimony could bring down the government.

Despite the potential for electoral gains, however, no party wants to be seen as responsible for sending Canadians back to the polls so soon after the last vote.

In his comments, MacKay made it clear that public reaction is weighing heavily on plans for his party's next move.

"The Canadian people will decide the timing of the next election," he said.

Watching developments in Montreal, CTV's Jed Kahane said strategists from all the parties are waiting to see how the public responds.

"I think it's this idea that it was a very well-organized plan to funnel money back to the Liberal Party that will take Canadians by surprise," Kahane said.

Many of MacKay's comments Thursday afternoon were a careful reprisal of the earlier heated exchange in the House of Commons daily question period.

Rebuffing fiery allegations of an unprecedented "criminal conspiracy," and the involvement of then-finance minister Paul Martin's office, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan called such suggestions "absolutely untrue."

"They take unsubstantiated allegations, they take fragments of testimony and information and they don't care who's reputation they destroy," McLellan said.

But, one after the other, the government's answers failed to quiet the opposition.

"The party that claimed that they wanted to address the democratic deficit was using stolen money to undermine democracy in two successive elections," Conservative finance critic Monte Solberg charged.

When NDP House leader Bill Blaikie rose, he implored the government to make amends.

"For the sake of Canada, for the sake of federalism, for the sake of integrity in Canadian politics -- will someone get up and accept the collective responsibility for what's gone on and promise to repay the money?" he asked, echoing a Bloc Quebecois demand.

When Public Works Minister Scott Brison stood to answer the opposition barrage, he repeated his party's now-familiar pledge to pay back ill-gotten money.

"If there were funds received, partisan funds, inappropriately, they will be returned," he said.

And besides, he reminded the House, Brault's testimony is still just unproven "allegations."

"Repeating (allegations) over and over and over again does not transform them into facts,'' he said, promising to reserve judgment until Justice Gomery tables his final report in November.

When Canadians went to the polls last year, lingering outrage sparked by the auditor general's report on misspending and mismanagement in the $250-million sponsorship program is credited with reducing the Liberals from a strong majority to a bare minority government.

According to Ipsos-Reid pollster Darrell Bricker, the big question looming over a return to the ballot box is whether that was the end of it.

"I don't think this will bring down the government immediately," Bricker told CTV Newsnet.

"We may have already seen the impact of this and that's what happened in the last election. (But) Paul Martin may be at ground zero on this issue. We'll just have to see how this plays out between now and the fall."

With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press