Only three days prior to the 2006 election, which the Conservative Party hoped to win by focusing voter attention on the Liberal government's sponsorship scandal, Riddell stepped aside as the Party's candidate to enable Allan Cutler, the public servant who had blown the whistle on the scandal, to run in his stead in Ottawa South. Party officials issued a Press release thanking Riddell for his gesture and confirming that the Party "looked forward to having him run as its candidate in future elections". To compensate Riddell for relinquishing the nomination to Cutler, in a move designed to help them win the national campaign, they undertook to repay him his campaign expenses, pursuant to an agreement which Party Executive Director Michael Donison described in writing as legally "binding". Although Elections Canada later ruled the agreement to be legal, when news of the Party's agreement surfaced in the press, senior Party officials, including Party Leader Stephen Harper, publicly denied its existence.