Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party has its hands full with allegations that the party exceeded its maximum spending limits in the January 2006 federal election.
Prodigal spending habits aside, Elections Canada investigators, assisted by the RCMP, allege that the federal party knowingly filed false or misleading statements in its expense returns resulting from the January 2006 election.
Elections Canada officials suggest the Tories engineered a deliberate campaign to steer around spending rules by transferring money to local candidates under the proviso that it was for an advertising campaign. The transactions created the appearance that some of the expenses were actually incurred by various candidates across the country. It allowed the conservatives to spend more than $1 million over the allowable limit.
The crux of the matter is that the expenses were actually incurred by the Conservative Party of Canada and not by candidates who claimed the expenses as their own. Candidates who participated, claimed the ad charges as an election expense –to get a rebate from the federal government although the money never came out of their pocket.
While the Conservatives claim the transactions are legal and above board, and they may prove to be in a strange, convoluted way, the government has put itself in a tenable position when it has gone to great lengths to preach transparency. Party officials also insist similar money transfers were made by the Liberals, New Democarats and Bloc parties.
Pointing the finger doesn’t absolve the Conservatives of the allegations nor does it dismiss the need for a raid and search of the party headquarters.
Harper can rant all he wants about the practice being a common one during election campaigns but it doesn’t change the fact that the practice is wrong and should be investigated and terminated.
A cynical electorate has more than enough ammunition to discourage it from caring about the democratic process without election advertising rules being breached. Even in the Canada Post deliveries of late, the Conservatives are using taxpayer-financed mailings to attack the Liberals in riding they believe can be turned into PC wins.
The Conservatives can advertise and bash other parties all they want but putting the taxpayer on the hook for the bill is just another nasty, unfair kick in the wallet.
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