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can be heard on tape saying: "I don't know the details, I know that, um, there were discussions, um, but this is not for publication?"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

Audio expert says Cadman tape not altered

Nice to have this come out just before the election:

A tape recording at the centre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's $3.5-million defamation suit against the Liberal party was not altered as the prime minister has claimed, a court-ordered analysis of the tape by Harper's own audio expert has found.

The key portion of the recorded interview of Harper by a B.C. journalist contains no splices, edits or alterations, a U.S. forensic audio expert has determined.

The results of the analysis were filed in Ontario Superior Court on Friday by lawyers for the Liberal party, despite attempts by Harper's lawyer to keep the opinion out of the court file until at least next week.

Harper sued the Liberals in the midst of a raging controversy earlier this year over claims in a book by B.C. author Tom Zytaruk that Conservatives offered late MP Chuck Cadman a $1-million life insurance policy in return for help defeating the minority Liberal government in 2005.

Thanks to oldgoat in this babble thread for the link. I just hope the story doesn't get lost in the shuffle.