A former Liberal party volunteer and a Saskstoon Conservative MP have buried the hatchet over the volunteer's slandering of the politician on live television.

George Laliberte says he apologizes for calling into a debate in 2006 and asking Saskatoon MP Maurice Vellacott if he had been kicked out of a church for sexually assaulting the secretary.

Vellacott had never worked out of that church and had never been accused of sexual assault.

Laliberte, who was ordered by a court to pay Vellacott $5,000 for slander, placed the call from the committee rooms of a Liberal candidate.

Vellacott and Laliberte say in a joint statement that they disapprove of the quote -- "dirty politics" -- that characterized the incident.