Elections Canada

May 16, 2008

Some constituents have questioned me regarding the issue of my election expenses and the National Party’s suit against Elections Canada.

First, I want to assure you that my Official Agent and Campaign Chair conducted all the finances of our campaign in compliance with the rules set out by Elections Canada.  Our National Party also played by the rules and engaged in group "ad buys" similar to common practice by all parties in past elections.

It is factual that in a federal election the local candidate actually is accounted for ten to twenty points on election choice by the electorate. The greatest influence on voter choice is the National Platform and the Leader of the Party.  Knowing these facts, political parties will ‘buy ads’ with the content of the ads mostly containing the National Campaign message, high-lighting the party leader.  If a local candidate wants to pool funds with other candidates to get the message out in his or her constituency it only makes sense that the National Party arrange the ‘ad buy’.

Andrew Coyne in a MacLean’s column stated:  “For all the opposition hyperventilating about Tory 'shell games' and 'money laundering,' it is not clear the Tories did anything wrong.” And, he continued “There is in fact no law preventing parties from transferring funds back and forth between the national head office and local riding associations: the Canada Elections Act expressly allows it.”

The NDP former Campaign Director, Robin Sears, in the Globe and Mail stated: “Elections Canada’s very un-Canadian behavior is unacceptable in a democracy. Without a better argument and evidence, Elections Canada will lose the legal battle, and then we will all pay the cost politically. The bad blood caused by the storm-trooper tactics has infected the political system.”

Elections are at the foundation of any democracy.  The actions of Elections Canada have brought into question their non-partisan mandate.  Disturbing questions need to be answered.  Why did Elections Canada apply an interpretation of the rules only to candidates of the Conservative Party?  Why did Elections Canada seek a search warrant to secure election files the day before the scheduled "discovery" for the law suit? And, who contacted the  CBC and the Liberal Party to tell them that the RCMP were going to the Conservative Party Headquarters with a search warrant?

This is not a RCMP investigation; it is a dispute between Elections Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada. This should be resolved in court by a non-partisan judge, without political interference.

In my view, your concerns should not be the spending of the national parties, but the conduct of Elections Canada.

Colin Mayes, MP – Okanagan-Shuswap