Conservative campaign scandal was avoided in the past

By Adrian Nieoczym Staff reporter Sep 19 2007 Kelowna Capital news

The practice at the centre of an election spending controversy, which has ensnared local MP Ron Cannan, was not a feature of previous elections, said a former campaign manager for the Conservative Kelowna-Lake Country riding association. “I would question that if it took place,” said Dave Roseberry, who managed three campaigns for Werner Schmidt, who represented the riding before he retired and Cannan won the nomination. Roseberry was a volunteer on Cannan’s campaign in the last election in an advisory role. During the election, the Conservative party transferred tens of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of individual candidates, including Cannan, Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day and Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes.

The candidates’ campaigns then turned around and sent the money back to the party through bank transfers. The money was used to pay for ads which aired locally. Elections Canada recently rejected rebate claims filed by the candidates for 60 per cent of the ad expenses. The ads did not feature the local candidates, but attacked Paul Martin and promoted the Conservative party. The only difference between the ads which ran locally and the ads used nationally, was small print appearing at the end of the local ads, listing the candidate. The distinction between a national ad and a local ad is critical, because there are separate limits for money spent by individual campaigns promoting specific candidates and for money spent to promote a political party as a whole.

If money claimed as local campaign expenses was actually used for the national campaign, it means the Conservatives exceeded national campaign spending limits by $1 million. The Conservative party is going to court to dispute the Elections Canada ruling and has repelled opposition attempts to investigate the allegations further. Roseberry said the kind of scheme in question was not a feature of campaigns he managed. He said the Conservative riding associations of all the Okanagan ridings would sometimes pool resources to create stock ads which highlighted Okanagan concerns. However, “our candidates’ names were always front and centre.” While Roseberry said he has not seen the ads in question, “if what they are alleging took place, that there is some kind of circumventing of the Elections Canada rules, then that is not right.”

Cannan says neither he nor his campaign did anything wrong. “There’s no way I would have participated if it was illegal,” he said, adding he checked with the national office of the Conservative party and was told they had a legal opinion justifying the practice. “Now it comes down to a difference of opinion between a new Elections Canada commissioner and our party. “That’s why we’ve taken it to the court and we’ll have to live with the results.” Cannan continued: “I liken it to if you had an accountant, that had a legitimate business expense and the auditor says it’s not, so you have a disagreement.” Cannan said he did not see the ads during the campaign. “During the campaign I’m busy knocking on doors and talking to people, so I wasn’t watching much TV,” he said.