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Liberal MPs David McGuinty and Marcel Proulx speak in front of a projected montage of Stephen Harper and Conservative cheque presentations during a Parliament Hill news conference on Oct. 15, 2009.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Infrastructure stimulus cheques signed by the Prime Minister, cabinet minister Lisa Raitt wearing a jacket with a Conservative logo on it while doling out public money at her local hockey rink and Tory MPs giving out cheques in their ridings bearing party logos have Liberals in a lather.

The Official Opposition want these activities investigated and are asking the federal ethics commissioner to look at 47 instances of so-called "partisan cheque presentations," such as the use of party logos and MP signatures on government cheques.

Ottawa South MP David McGuinty told reporters at a press conference Thursday that the Liberals are also considering asking Elections Canada to look at whether illegal donations are being made to the Conservative Party as a result of their strategy.

In addition, the Liberals will ask the Public Service Commission to investigate whether the bureaucracy is being politicized through this use of public money and party logos.

And, he said, Sheila Fraser will be approached to see if the cheques constitute any violations "in terms of Auditor-General standards"

"The Canadian people are being deliberately misled by this Conservative regime," Mr. McGuinty said. "This is reminiscent of behaviour that I have seen personally over a decade in emerging economies in developing countries where the line between independent public service and respect for taxpayers' money and political partisanship is crossed regularly."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who championed a new ethics and accountability code when he took office, has said that the logos should not be on the cheques. But government officials see nothing wrong with MPs' signatures or the Prime Minister's signature on the cheques.

The Liberals, meanwhile, have distributed a photo album of dozens of Tory MPs and ministers giving out oversized cheques in their ridings to underscore their theory of repeated abuse by the Harper government.

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