Article content continued

In a letter to Liberal MP John McCallum, auditor general Michael Ferguson suggested he was open to conducting a review of the program. Both the Liberals and the NDP have been calling for a probe by the auditor general.

“Let me assure you that we are aware of the current debates concerning the program,” Ferguson wrote, adding he would be asking the government “for their information in planning for future audits.”

But it was two different letters — one from Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, now labour minister, and Alberta colleague Blake Richards — that posed even further embarrassments for the government on what’s become one of its most vexatious files.

In an April 2012 dispatch to Transport Minister Denis Lebel, Leitch told of an Air Canada pilot in her riding who “expressed concern regarding the hiring of foreign crews and pilots who are driving down the salaries of Canadian pilots as well as contributing to the unemployment of Canadian pilots.”

Lebel referred Leitch to other ministries.

Richards, meantime, wrote to Diane Finley in late 2009, raising similar concerns about CanJet’s hiring practices. Finley was then the minister of human resources and skills development.

“At a time when many people are having difficulties finding employment, I am sure you can appreciate why some pilots would be upset that their colleagues have been overlooked by CanJet,” he wrote.

Questioned about the letters during question period, Kenney thanked his Conservative colleagues for the information and suggested the government had cracked down on the use of temporary foreign workers in the aviation sector.