Could this be why the Liberals supported the budget?

The Tories are dropping their silly lawsuit:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dropped a $3.5-million libel lawsuit against the Liberal party over statements published on the party's website suggesting the Tories offered a bribe to the late Independent MP Chuck Cadman.

Lawyers for both parties issued a joint news release late Friday, saying they've settled all issues in the case.

Neither side will make any further comment.

Harper launched the lawsuit in March 2008 after the Liberal party posted website headlines alleging two senior Conservatives attempted to bribe Cadman to secure his co-operation on a crucial budget vote that threatened to topple the Liberal minority government in May 2005. The headlines claimed Harper also knew about the alleged bribe.

Back in March, Harper called the allegations "absolutely false" and "despicable."

In a book published earlier in 2008, B.C. author Tom Zytaruk quotes Cadman's widow, Dona, as saying her husband told her that Conservatives offered him a $1-million life insurance policy in return for his vote against the Liberals.

In an interview for the book, Harper can be heard on tape saying: "I don't know the details, I know that, um, there were discussions, um, but this is not for publication?"

From the CBC. It doesn't seem to be in the article, but on the radio this morning it was said that no cash payment occurred. The Liberals have been really hard up for cash lately, so perhaps this was an offer they couldn't refuse.