Fred Slade, a local chartered accountant who is the president of the Sudbury Electoral District Association for the Conservative Party of Canada, said he wouldn't give an opinion on Clement's comments.
He said he doesn't have access to the same kind of information about Vale's takeover of Inco that Clement may have.
Slade also said he doesn't know if Clement's comments have been taken out of context or not.
He said he's "embarrassed" that the media is "making such a huge issue out of this."
Slade said he doesn't have enough information to form an opinion on whether Vale saved Inco from going out of business.
"Anything's possible. Again, I'm not privy to the inner workings of that (the takeovers), but I've read some things on some of the blogs. The public at large seems to be kind of split on this thing. A lot of people are on the bandwagon calling for Tony's head. Most of that seems to be rhetoric."
When asked if he is concerned that the public reaction surrounding Clement's comments will impact negatively on the Conservatives' chances in local ridings in the next election, Slade said "I'm always concerned when hyperbole, rhetoric and misinformation are cast negatively against an organization."
"At the same time, I'm very confident that, when it comes time to support a party or to voting in an election, people will put the real serious issues on the table, and let those guide them."
