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An RCMP spokeswoman said privacy rules bar it from even confirming whether or not the agency is investigating Grewal.

If the prime minister’s office didn’t know that, it’s unbelievable

Chantal Gagnon, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, referred the Post to an earlier statement saying their office only learned of the gambling situation last week.

Desmairais said it was unclear during the conversation — which took place at an event for former police members — whether the investigation the retired officer mentioned was underway at the time was being conducted by the RCMP or by another agency.

But even the casino security department would have informed the Mounties if it were scrutinizing a sitting MP, and that would have raised red flags at the force, he suggested.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

“It is impossible that the RCMP doesn’t know where he is sitting, on which committee he is acting and everything like that,” said Desmarais. “Knowing that, they have to tell the prime minister’s office.”

Dagenais, himself a former officer with the provincial Sûreté du Québec force, raised the issue in the Senate Wednesday, even as other aspects of the Grewal affair dominated the House of Commons question period Thursday.

The MP for Brampton East announced last week he was quitting the Commons, initially saying it was for “personal and medical” reasons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tweeted in a similar vein, saying the backbencher was “facing serious personal challenges.”

But the next day, the PMO acknowledged it had learned earlier last week that Grewal had been having gambling problems and racked up considerable debt, while the RCMP was looking into a separate ethics issue. The MP himself later issued a statement acknowledging his gambling addiction.