Brian Mulroney businessman Karlheinz Schreiber (or to companies controlled by him), Brian Mulroney and former Newfoundland premier Frank Moores in exchange for three government contracts. These contracts involved the purchase of Airbus Industrie aircraft by Air Canada; the purchase of helicopters by the Canadian Coast Guard from Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB) in 1986; and the establishment of a manufacturing plant for Thyssen Light Armoured Vehicles (Bear Head Project) in the province of Nova Scotia, a project which Mulroney as prime minister had cancelled. This Letter of Request (LOR) "and its contents were to be kept confidential" but the letter was leaked to the
Prime Minister of Australia time to time Prime Ministers are required to leave the country on government business and a deputy acts in their place during that time. In the days before jet aircraft, such absences could be for extended periods. For example, William Watt was acting Prime Minister for 16 months, from April 1918 until August 1919, when Prime Minister Billy Hughes was away at the Paris Peace Conference, and Senator George Pearce was acting Prime Minister for more than seven months in 1916. An acting Prime Minister is also appointed when the prime minister takes leave. The Deputy Prime Minister most commonly