Bruce Carson influence-peddling case adjourned to Oct. 1

OTTAWA — The influence-peddling case of a former aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be back in an Ottawa court next month.

Bruce Carson was charged in July.

An RCMP release issued at the time said very little, other than Carson was alleged to have accepted a commission for a third party in connection with a business matter relating to the government.

The police investigation of Carson started in March, 2011 when the Prime Minister’s Office contacted the Mounties with allegations that Carson had illegally lobbied the federal government on behalf of a company that employed his girlfriend.

Carson’s lawyer, Patrick McCann, made a brief appearance in court today, where the case was quickly adjourned to Oct. 1.

McCann had little to say to reporters after he left the courtroom.

“I’m surprised, really, that it got this far,” he said, “because I of what I know of the facts.”

He refused to elaborate.

Carson, 66, was one of the more experienced hands in Harper’s generally young government when it came to power in 2006 — he left the PMO in 2008.