By Adrian Nieoczym - Kelowna Capital News - April 23, 2008
Ron Cannan, the Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, faced a barrage of questions Tuesday over his involvement in what Elections Canada alleges was a scheme by the national party to exceed its spending limit during the last federal election. “We’ve upheld all the legislation,” said Cannan, who was taking questions from reporters after a funding announcement for the Okanagan Boys and Girls Club. “The issue now is the interpretation of the (elections) act. Elections Canada hasn’t charged anybody. There’s an investigation going on and until the courts decide there’s really nothing from the local perspective.” The federal Elections Commissioner, William Corbett, is looking into allegations the Conservative Party exceeded the $18 million national campaign limit during the 2005-06 election by more than $1 million. Elections Canada executed a search warrant on the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa last week with the help of the RCMP, looking for documents and electronic records related to the allegations. By law, there are separate spending limits for a national party and for individual candidates. And while national parties can transfer funds to individual candidates, the money must be used for the candidates’ individual campaigns, not the national one.
As it was nearing its spending limit at the end of the last election, the Conservative Party transferred money to 67 candidates, including Cannan, who had not yet spent their personal limits. Those candidates then immediately transferred the funds back to the party to buy national ads. Those ads ran locally with small print added to the end of the ads, mentioning the local candidate. Elections Canada alleges the transactions, now known as the “in and out scheme,” were an illegal attempt to get around the national spending limit. None of the allegations have been proven in court and no charges have been laid. Cannan said his individual spending limit in the last election was close to $85,000. “We weren’t spending that, so they (the national party) asked if we had room (to buy ads),” he said. “We advertised in promoting the party and the leader. It had the tag line on there from my official agent (that I) was sponsoring the ad and everything was above board. It comes down now to an interpretation of the act.”
Asked if his campaign could have used the money from the national party for expenses other than buying the ads, Cannan avoided answering directly. “That’s what we participated in, yes,” he said. An affidavit filed in court to support the search warrant application, said Elections Canada investigators have talked to 14 of the 67 candidates. However, when investigators tried to talk to another 18 people last year, 16 refused to cooperate on the advice of a Conservative Party lawyer.Cannan said he has not personally been contacted by investigators but will talk to them if he is.“I have nothing to hide,” he said. “The fact is, it was above board.”He denied his campaign team had been uneasy about participating in the money transfers.“We have an advisory committee,” Cannan explained. “We had a good discussion and the consensus was to support the national party and the leader and we did. It’s totally legitimate.”The party is also suing Elections Canada for its rejection of rebate claims filed by candidates, including Cannan, for the ads in question.The elections watchdog refused the claims, saying they were not legitimate local candidate expenses.
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Don Quixote Note: Lets watch how the interview with Colin Mayes and the local media on this same subject conducted on Tuesday at the Shubert Centre is reported.
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