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“That Liberal candidate (Raynolds), that Liberal member (Lamoureux) and every Liberal member opposes tax fairness for families,” Kenney retorted, asserting that the Liberals are opposed to all the family-focused tax cuts the Conservative government has implemented.

“They want to take these benefits away from families, and they do so because they believe that Liberal politicians known better how to spend money than do moms and dads. We profoundly disagree on this side.”

The Conservative MP for Banff-Airdrie, Blake Richards, also refused to apologize.

“Well, certainly the people who were at the meeting maintain that the statements were made by the Liberal candidate. So, you know, I would encourage people to just check the record for themselves,” he said outside a Conservative caucus meeting.

The audio, recorded during a Nov. 13 public meeting in Canmore, Alta., is a little over two minutes long and of varying quality. It is clear that at least two men and one woman are involved in the conversation about income splitting.

The relevant remarks are toward the end, by which time the audio is muffled and the voices partially obscured by background noise. Lilley has told Raynolds the poor quality of the audio was due to the female Conservative supporter “zipping up her coat when she thought you were getting nervous that she might be recording you.”

Sun News is demonstrating a higher level of ethical standards than the Conservative cabinet

In his report to the Conservative party, Primeau says he’s “100% sure that the male at the beginning of the digital audio recording and the male speaking at the one minute and fifty-eight second mark, is the same person.”

Comparing that male’s voice to a YouTube video of Raynolds, Primeau says he’s “75-80% sure” that speaker is Raynolds.

Raynolds confirmed he’s the one speaking at the start of the audio recording, expressing his opposition to income splitting. But he and McTavish both say it’s McTavish towards the end.

The speaker starts talking about “Planet Money,” a National Public Radio podcast, just before the recording ends. McTavish said that’s one of his favourite shows.

Raynolds said he’d never heard of the program until that moment.