Two former Liberal leadership candidates are now on the party's payroll, but no one is saying how much they are bringing in for their work.
After Stephane Dion won the leadership last year, defeated candidates Gerard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay were brought on to help the party prepare for the next federal election.
Both candidates had dropped off the ballot early, then threw their support behind Dion.
The secrecy surrounding their salaries is sparking speculation that they are bringing home large salaries -- possibly as high as $15,000 per month, wrote The Globe and Mail's Jane Taber, citing rumblings on Parliament Hill.
Kennedy acknowledged he is receiving a paycheque for his role as Dion's election adviser, but told Taber he is "not supposed" to say how much.
Hall Findlay, who is hosting election platform consultations across the country, said "whatever the Liberal party pays its people, frankly, is private."
Bob Rae, another leadership contender now doing work for the party, is not being paid for his duties related to election preparedness. He is also maintaining his work as a consultant, mediator and public speaker.
Sen. Marie Poulin, the Liberal Party president, revealed few details about who was being paid for their work.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss their arrangements, the arrangements of anyone of the Liberal family with you," she told Taber. "We must exercise complete discretion on the arrangements that we have with all of our members and all of our staff."
Rae, Hall Findlay and Kennedy are the only former leadership candidates who are not elected MPs.
Kennedy said any suggestion that a deal was made with the Dion campaign were "pathetic."
In his former role as opposition leader, Stephen Harper paid an MP's salary to Josee Verner for work on the election campaign in Quebec. Verner had made an unsuccessful bid during the 2004 election, but was later elected in 2006.
