The co-chair of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s election campaign has resigned following reports he gave advice on how to lobby a Liberal or NDP government to a company backing a controversial pipeline proposal.

Daniel Gagnier is also facing a possible investigation by Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd following a complaint from the NDP and was also under fire from the Conservatives.

In a statement, Gagnier said he was stepping down for the good of Trudeau’s campaign.

“In order to avoid becoming a distraction to the campaign, I have decided to take a step back from my responsibilities to the Liberal campaign,” Gagnier wrote. “I deeply regret that the campaign has been affected by these negative, personal attacks. I have always conducted my business openly and in full accordance with the rules.”

In a statement, the Liberal Party said it respected Gagnier’s decision and blamed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party.

“Mr. Gagnier has always operated within full accordance of the rules. It is disappointing that the Conservatives chose to practice negative and mean spirited politics.”

By Wednesday evening, Gagnier’s name had already been removed from the Liberal Party’s national directors webpage.

Gagnier’s resignation came within a few hours of the news breaking and within a couple of hours of the NDP formally asking Shepherd to launch an investigation into his actions.

“The Canadian Press is reporting that Mr. Gagnier e-mailed TransCanada Corporation with privileged information about the size of the presumptive Liberal cabinet, the key people lobbyists should target in order to ensure the timely construction of the Energy East Pipeline,” NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice wrote in a letter sent to Shepherd’s office Wednesday.

“These allegations are precisely the kind of backroom dealing that undermines Canadian’s trust in their democracy, and causes them to believe that it’s Ottawa-insiders, not ordinary citizens, who shape the decisions of government.”

Gagnier is not currently registered to lobby on behalf of anyone but has been registered in the past, including as recently as last year for the Calgary-based Energy Policy Institute.

TransCanada is registered to lobby the government on a number of subjects including Energy East, U.S approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, proposed greenhouse gas regulations and liquid natural gas (LNG) pipelines in British Columbia.

Officials lobbying on behalf of TransCanada have had 455 meetings with government officials since 2008.

The NDP’s letter comes as the election campaign is coming down to the wire with national public opinion polls showing Trudeau’s Liberals in the lead.

It also comes during an election where Shepherd’s office has served notice to Canada’s lobbyists to be careful about doing anything during the election that could “create a sense of obligation” on the part of a candidate once they are elected such as advising them or serving as a campaign chair.

“Lobbyists who perform these political activities should recognize that undertaking such activities will mean that they cannot lobby that individual once elected, nor his or her staff,” Shepherd wrote in a notice on her website. “These activities pose a higher risk of creating a sense of obligation because of the direct interaction with the candidate that may occur, and the value added as a result of personal competencies or professional skills.”

Shepherd’s notice has resulted in a number of Ottawa lobbyists with political experience largely sitting out the election campaign for fear of running afoul of the lobbying rules.

The controversy that led to his resignation erupted after The Canadian Press reported that Gagnier sent an e-mail Monday to five people at TransCanada Corp., advising them to target the right people in a new government quickly to help shape Liberal or NDP decisions on a national energy strategy.

Gagnier told them a Liberal or NDP government would likely reduce the size of cabinet to about 25 ministers which meant the finance minister would be a critical lobbying target, Canadian Press reported.

“An energy strategy for Canada is on the radar and we need a spear carrier for those in the industry who are part of the solution going forward rather than refusing to grasp the implications of a changing global reality,” reads the e-mail obtained by Canadian Press.

“The last point is critical as federal leadership and a discussion with premiers will take place early. This is where we can play and help them get things right.”

Chris McCluskey, Conservative Party spokesman who served in the natural resource minister’s office prior to the election, said Gagnier’s e-mail is symptomatic of the culture that accompanied the Liberals when they were in power.

“Justin Trudeau doesn’t represent change. He represents the same old Liberal Party that brought you the sponsorship scandal,” McCluskey wrote. “A party run by elite insiders who sell their influence to the highest bidder to the detriment of taxpayers.”

NDP MP Charlie Angus also drew parallels to past Liberal governments and called on Trudeau to reveal whether Gagnier would serve as one of his advisors after the election.

“It’s not even election day and already the Trudeau team are having to kick out key liberal insiders for engaging in back room lobbying deals,” Angus said in a statement after the news broke. “The fact that Mr. Trudeau has had to kick out his election co-chair Dan Gagnier for opening back channel lobbying to Energy East insiders shows that Justin Trudeau’s claims of ‘new politics’ is really just more of the back room, old boys club.”

“I respectfully ask Mr. Trudeau to explain why his key point man on the election was doing outreach to insiders pushing a controversial pipeline proposal. It appears that Mr. Trudeau’s insiders are playing by the same tainted rule book as the discredited Harper Conservatives.”

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