Joe Oliver's former staff at Natural Resources broke government rules for awarding contracts and paid a former senior Conservative official $9,209.50 to write two speeches, a Liberal MP alleged Wednesday.

Now the federal finance minister, Oliver was natural resources minister at the time that his chief of staff approved the invoices for two speech drafts and revisions dated March 6, March 13 and March 30, 2013.

The speeches were written by Guy Giorno, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is now a partner at the law firm Fasken Martineau, Liberal MP David McGuinty said in question period Wednesday.

"I don't know a law firm today that actually submits an invoice without hourly rates and for the number of hours for the work that was done. This is a combination of two invoices with no description except speech writing. No speech attached, no details on hours and no details on hourly rates," McGuinty said outside the House after question period.

The $9,209.50 total includes $975 for HST.

Records obtained by the Liberal Party under federal access to information laws didn't include a copy of the speeches, but show civil servants scrambling at the end of the fiscal year to get the invoices processed in time.

They also show the civil servants made an exception "since it was for the minister's office."

One of the speeches, however, wasn't delivered by Oliver. A spokeswoman for Natural Resources Canada said in an email late Wednesday night that the speech written on March 30, and that cost $5,650 with HST, was never used.

'Inappropriately initiated'

Asked by civil servants for the rationale for ignoring the normal contracting protocol, Oliver's then chief of staff said he was comfortable with Giorno's style.

"Quick turnaround time and the minister is comfortable with the style and tone of this speech writer," David Forestell wrote in an email.

The only time Giorno's name appears in the 81 pages of records is in an email from a legal assistant at Fasken Martineau. Forestell does not directly name Giorno.

It was later flagged by a procurement clerk as an "inappropriately initiated" activity under the Federal Accountability Act. She required Forestell to answer several questions about the contract award, as well as a signed statement to show he recognized the contract wasn't properly awarded.

"After-the-fact and verbal contracting pose unnecessary risks to the Crown and should be avoided," the clerk wrote in an email, noting they are recorded and reported on every year.

In an email, Giorno said the ethics commissioner cleared him to write ministerial speeches after he left the Prime Minister's Office.

"Obviously I trust the commissioner's interpretation of the rules above the opinion of Mr. McGuinty," Giorno said.

A list of speeches posted on the website of Natural Resources Canada includes one in which Oliver announced a special representative who would work on pipeline and energy issues with First Nations. Natural Resources confirmed that is one of the Giorno-written speeches.

Giorno wrote at least one other speech for Oliver when he was natural resources minister. That speech was delivered in November 2012.