Immigration Bond Bill (C-284)

Grewal had introduced a Bill C-284 to allow a bond to be posted to secure visitor's visa, his Bill passed the vote in the House and was referred to Immigration committee in March 2005. On April 6, 2005, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Joe Volpe, asked the parliamentary Ethics Commissioner and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to investigate Grewal following his voluntary statement given to a parliamentary committee. In that testimony, Grewal had stated that he regularly asked those seeking his help in getting visitor visas for their relatives, if they would be willing to post bonds guaranteeing their return. Grewal contends that immigration bonds, as they have been practiced in Australia and New Zealand, could work as a way to prevent spurious refugee claims and illegal immigration; and assist law-abiding sponsors to secure visa for their loved ones to visit Canada without hassle. There is no evidence that any bond was actually signed (or any money exchanged for the bonds). On June 22, the ethics commissioner cleared him of any wrongdoing and stated that he never pocketed any money from the pledges.^[5]

The "Grewal tapes"

In mid-May 2005, at the time the Liberal government risked losing a confidence vote on its budget (which was later decided in the government's favour by the speaker, after a tie in the house), the Liberals initiated negotiations with Grewal asking him to vote with the Liberals and join the Liberal Party of Canada. With a Liberal go-between, Ujjal Dosanjh, Minister of Health, and Tim Murphy, the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister met with Grewal, on three occasions May 16–18, including Grewal's office. There were also 36 phone calls by the Liberals.^{[citation needed]}

In these negotiations Grewal was offered inducements to change parties in exchange for a senate seat for his wife, a cabinet post for himself, and an apology from Volpe. In response, Murphy and Dosanjh made vague promises of future reward. While these negotiations were going on, prominent Conservative MP Belinda Stronach defected to the Liberals and did receive a ministerial position in the government. In the end, Grewal did not change parties.

Unbeknownst to his interlocutors, Grewal was recording the conversations, a fact that he voluntarily revealed to the public on the evening of May 18, where Grewal publicly accused the Liberals of trying to buy his vote with offers of a cabinet or a diplomatic post for himself and a senate seat for his wife. He had released excerpts of nine minutes of a recording of conversations with Murphy and Dosanjh, in which Murphy suggests that he abstain from the coming confidence vote. New Democratic Party MP Yvon Godin referred them to Bernard Shapiro, Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner and to the RCMP.

On May 31, Grewal handed over recordings to Shapiro and the RCMP. Simultaneously he released an hour and 15 minutes of recordings and transcripts to the public.^[6]

Several news outlets and the Liberals alleged that portions of the tape seemed to be edited, something that the Conservatives denied. On June 2, 2005, the Conservatives issued a news release admitting that two short sections had been accidentally omitted.^[7] In mid-August, the RCMP announced that there would be no further criminal investigation into the tapes and their contents and Grewal was cleared of any wrongdoing.

On January 25, 2006, Shapiro released a heavily edited report from the draft reports and stated, "While it is not clear whether Mr. Grewal genuinely sought an inducement to change his vote or whether he just acted the part in an attempt to entrap Mr. Dosanjh, his actions were, in either case, extremely inappropriate".^[8][9] The report also said that Grewal's behaviour violated the spirit of the MPs’ Code of Conduct.^[10]

The Liberals claimed that it was Grewal who approached them seeking patronage appointments for himself and his wife in exchange for their votes.^[10]

Grewal did not run for re-election in 2006, saying he did not want the controversies surrounding his behaviour to be a distraction during the campaign.^[10]

Attempted political comeback

Grewal had planned to stand for the Conservatives in the new riding of Cloverdale—Langley City in the 2015 federal election, spending two years to sign up 1,500 party members in his pursuit of the nomination, but in November 2014 he was barred by the party from seeking the nomination.^[10][11] His son, Liv Grewal, was to run for the Conservatives in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon after defeating four other candidates to win the nomination but was subsequently forced by the party to withdraw.^[11] In 2018, Grewal announced his support for ex-Conservative MP Maxime Bernier's new party, the People's Party of Canada.^[12]