MONTREAL—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office and the Conservative Party had an extended conversation with Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie about a number of possible positions after his retirement from the Canadian Armed Forces, according to documents obtained by the Star.

Leslie had been talking with key members of the Prime Minister’s Office about possible jobs, including a leadership position with the RCMP and at Ottawa’s Museum of Civilization, for at least two years before declaring himself for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, emails show.

Related : Emails between Andrew Leslie and Conservative officials

In addition, a Liberal source with knowledge of the discussions said Leslie was encouraged to run for the Conservatives against incumbent Liberal Mauril Bélanger in the Ottawa-area riding of Vanier, or in Conservative MP Gordon O’Connor’s riding of Carleton—Mississippi Mills.

Leslie told a crowd of Liberal supporters at the party’s biannual policy convention in Montreal that he had held discussions with several political parties, including the Conservatives, before settling on joining Justin Trudeau’s team as a policy adviser. He’s also widely expected to run in the 2015 election in the Ottawa-Orleans riding, although he declined to say so Friday.

Leslie also suggested recent attacks from the Conservatives, particularly surrounding media reports that taxpayers footed the bill for the retired general’s $72,000 in-city move in 2012, have been motivated by sour grapes.

“I’m a Liberal . . . I don’t know if any of you noticed, but one of the other political parties doesn’t seem to be taking the news so well,” Leslie told the delegates at Montreal’s Palais du congrès Friday afternoon.

“I want to tell them, ‘Look, it wasn’t you, it was me.’ But you know what? After this last week, it was really them.”

Requests for comment to the PMO and the Conservative Party about the email chain went unanswered Friday. Earlier in the day, Conservative Party director of communications Cory Hann said Leslie had approached the party — although he declined to elaborate on any details.

“His lack of judgment and defence of excessive taxpayer spending further underscores why he is Justin Trudeau’s senior adviser,” Hann said.

Leslie was not available for comment on the emails Friday afternoon.

The conversations between Leslie and the PMO date back as far as June 2011, with Leslie discussing a position at the former Museum of Civilization across from Parliament Hill in Gatineau, Que., with Harper’s then deputy chief of staff. When Leslie apparently wanted to pursue another opportunity, he was told no problem.

“I have now spoken with (former minister of heritage James) Moore. All is good on that front. The screening committee advanced two names to the minister — and one of them was yours,” Derek Vanstone, who left the PMO for an executive job at Air Canada in June 2012, wrote.

“The minister will simply select the other candidate, and appreciates your interest and your honesty in these circumstances.”

Leslie again spoke with Vanstone in September 2012, according to the emails, about a possible position with the RCMP, which he ultimately declined.

“After a great deal of thinking, I have decided to not pursue the RCMP position,” Leslie wrote on Sept. 28, 2011.

“If there were no other suitable candidates then duty would kick in, as I would never say no to the PM. But I do not think this is the case.”

It’s not clear what position Leslie was being considered for. The RCMP’s current commissioner, Bob Paulson, was appointed Nov. 21, 2011.

The emails reveal an abiding Conservative interest in Leslie, and a willingness on Leslie’s part to consider working with Harper’s office after leaving the military.

While Leslie admitted Friday that he had discussions with “several” political parties, including the Conservatives, he said the “divisive” politics of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives ultimately pushed him toward Trudeau’s team and message of positivity in politics.

Harper’s apparent divisive approach did not seem to bother Leslie in 2012, when he approached former Conservative Party director of political operations Jenni Byrne — widely seen to be one of the most rabidly partisan people in Harper’s inner circle — about life in politics.

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“I am out of the country with my corporate team for about the next three weeks, off and on. When this settles down I wonder if we could talk about option B, continuing to serve my country but not in uniform,” Leslie wrote on Sept. 4, 2012.

“Would love to sit down and chat again,” Byrne, who now serves as Harper’s deputy chief of staff, replied the following day.

Correction - February 24, 2014: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Jenni Byrne as the former Conservative Party executive director.

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