Just four days after pro-Conservative strategist Stephen Taylor created ‘HarperPAC’ — an independent advertising vehicle designed to counter election campaign ads by anti-Conservative third-party organizations — its spokesman announced via Twitter that the ‘political action committee’ is shutting down.

“HarperPac is announcing it is shutting down operations. We have brought the issue of third party financing out of the shadows,” said a release issued by Taylor late Thursday evening.

“We have contributed to a new discussion about political financing in a fixed election era that is critical to our democracy. If our friends find our efforts to be unhelpful, we are more than happy to focus our efforts elsewhere,” Taylor said in the release, adding they will be returning all donations from those “who believed in our project.”

“Our objective remains the election of Conservative candidates and we will continue to work towards this goal. Like-minded Conservatives will continue to make sure that NDP, Liberal and Union activists are held to account going forward.”

Taylor’s announcement came just hours after Kory Teneycke — a former executive with Sun News and current Conservative party spokesman — told the Toronto Star that the party didn’t give permission to HarperPAC to use the prime minister’s name. He said they were looking at possible “legal remedies” to ensure there is no confusion. In an interview with the Star, Teneycke called HarperPAC far from helpful and politically damaging.

Taylor told iPolitics earlier this week that HarperPAC was launched in response to the left-wing group Engage Canada.

But even the prime minister was on the fence about the PAC that bore his name. Speaking in an interview with Quebec City radio station FM93, Harper was asked if he was concerned by the appearance of these groups, including HarperPAC.

“My attitude is a bit divided,” Harper told his interviewers, former Quebec cabinet minister Nathalie Normandeau and former Canadian Alliance aide Eric Duhaime.

“There is freedom of speech … but at the same time we limited donations to political parties to protect the integrity of the political system and now these groups can collect donations that are larger than that to do partisan things,” said Harper.