Last week's statement from Transport Minister John Baird that objected to questioning from the mayor's lawyer briefly delayed testimony at Larry O'Brien's criminal trial Tuesday morning.

Baird's office had publicly complained about Michael Edelson's line of questioning during a cross-examination of star witness Terry Kilrea, who met with Baird in July 2006. Edelson suggested that according to the minister's police statement, he and Kilrea discussed a potential appointment to the National Parole Board, but said that the latter was unqualified.

"Mr. Edelson was incorrect when he said that in a statement to police, Minister Baird discussed the matter of the parole board with Mr. Kilrea when they met," read Thursday's release, an unusual move during an ongoing trial.

"The police statement is clear -- this issue was never discussed during the meeting between Mr. Baird and Mr. Kilrea."

But Kilrea returned to the witness stand for the fifth day of testimony just before noon Tuesday, after Justice Douglas Cunningham ruled there was nothing reckless or inappopriate about Edleson's line of questioning.

The judge pointed to the summary of Baird's police statement, which says Kilrea "sought advice from Baird" about the mayoral race, but doesn't provide a date.

The summary then continues: "He (Baird) said Kilrea brought up the issue of the National Parole Board appointment and he couldn't honestly recommend him for the position because he didn't think he had the capacity for the job."

O'Brien has pleaded not guilty to the influence-peddling charges that he suggested he could get Kilrea the parole board appointment if he agreed to leave the 2006 race.

Kilrea has testified that O'Brien told him to contact Baird, then president of the Treasury Board, about the federal appointment.

Although Kilrea said he asked Baird about the National Parole Board in an email exchange, he said the two never discussed the issue during their face-to-face meeting in July 2006.

Edelson spent most of last week establishing that Kilrea has an unreliable memory for campaign details, while at the same time painting the Crown's chief witness in the trial as a grandstanding political opportunist.

And he continued to attack Kilrea's credibility on Tuesday, telling him his infamous affidavit was riddled with errors that were never corrected.

"So you have 8 different dates wrong on your affidavit. And you have the sequence of events a week off... You were reckless," Edelson said in court.

Kilrea responded that: "I've always maintained I may have been a week off."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem and files from The Canadian Press