Victory in the in-and-out saga. Federal court rules for CPC.
In a decision that is certain to rattle Marc Mayrand at Elections Canada, the Liberals which prosecuted “trials” of Conservative election financing in Parliamentary committees and media observers that believe the worst about the Conservative Party, the Federal Court decided in the matter of L.G. Callaghan and the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada.
The question before the court was whether or not Elections Canada could legally refuse to certify, for the purposes of reimbursement under s.465 of the Elections Act, the claimed advertising expenses on the ground that it is not satisfied that the expenses have actually been incurred by the candidates themselves.
Here is the decision from the Federal Court:
The court decided that Mayrand inappropriately withheld expenses from Conservative candidates suggesting that these candidates in fact incurred those expenses, rather than the party. This means that the party has come in under the election spending limit (nationally) which is at the heart of this in-and-out debate. If the party has come under the legal limit, what else is there to talk about?
So far, Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc has not provided comment. Here’s what he said on April 15th, 2008:
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are hiding the truth from Canadians. They filed a bogus civil suit against Elections Canada. They know very well that the RCMP never executes search warrants in civil cases. This morning, the RCMP executed a warrant in a quasi-criminal case.
How is it that the government does not know the difference?
I’ll post reaction from key players as it comes in.
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Wonder if we will see or read about this from the Lib-Lovin Media, or will it too be ignored?
January 18th, 2010 at 11:01 am
“Conservatives Clean in Manufactured Liberal / Election's Canada 'In and Out Scandal”
- Where are the headlines in the Star?
- Where is the headline in the Globe?
- Where are the article on CBC's website or the headline on the National?
I think we need a public inquiry into Election's Canada – why is it OK in their eyes that the Liberal$ hand out cash in brown envelopes yet this deserves a raid into Conservative headquarters?
January 18th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Where is the headline in the Star?
Maybe we should start a Facebook group!
January 18th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
The more the national media keeps this quiet from the public, the sooner the public will forget. The art work which the media has been doing for the past decades.
How can you trust the NATIONAL MEDIA(CBC CTV etv) to give you the news of the liberals corruption, thievery etc when they work for the LPOC. You just can't.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Actually, in addition to the media, I would like Ted and Gayle to apologize for their constant attacking on this issue.
Waiting, waiting, waiting……
January 18th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
AG – can you post a link to one of my “attacks”?
Stephen, I am at a loss to understand why you posted that quote from LeBlanc. You do know the search warrant was in relation to the quasi-criminal investigation, and that this investigation was a totally separate process from the CPC lawsuit right? It appears on the day those remarks were made the CPC was attempting to argue the two separate processes were one and the same.
I am not sure if you read the whole decision, and I confess I have scanned it but not read all the details, but it sounds like what the court is saying is that should the investigation result in evidence these payments were really for the national party, and not the local candidate, and thus charges are laid and the party is convicted, that money will have to be paid back to EC.
Maynard overstepped his jurisdiction in withholding payments, but that does not conclude the issue.
I have no idea if EC will actually lay charges, but if they do that will be a separate hearing before a separate court.
In any event, even if these actions were within the letter of the law, they do not appear to be within the spirit, since this technicality permitted the CPC to bypass the election spending limits.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Are you actually suggesting this is as important as proroguing parliament in order to avoid being accountable?
Wow.
January 18th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
The media is reporting this.
Too bad for you that there was this terrible tragedy in Haiti that has all the media occupied at the moment.
January 18th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Who else remembers the Liberal$, who just happened to be out for a latte, and the CBC, who just happened to find out (hmm – I wonder who from) following the RCMP in for the raid of Conservative headquarters.
Elections Canada and the RCMP reportedly confiscated laptops, strategy documents, donor lists.
Amazing how the conclusion to all this drama – the government found innocent of all wrongdoing and interpreting the law properly, doesn't warrant any national media attention.
How do you figure, Gayle?
For my money, it warrants a public inquiry and criminal investigation – more collusion perhaps?
January 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Actually, they were not “found innocent of all wrongdoings”, as they were not on trial. Maynard was found to have overreached his authority in failing to give the refunds. There is still an ongoing investigation into whether or not they conducted themselves in breach of the Act.
All of this has nothing to do with the warrant to search, which was granted, on reasonable and probable grounds, by a different judge. I have not heard the CPC claim the material that was seized was used by EC in the lawsuit. Have you?
As for who leaked the raid, I suggest you look no further than the RCMP. Remember when they leaked the raid on an Ontario Cabinet Minister? Remember when they did the same thing to a BC Cabinet Minister? I would say they have a history of leaking these things.
Unless, of course, you have something aside from mindless. baseless speculation…
January 18th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
lol,
AB Girl,
the angry left don't apologize for repeating fake scandals.
Correction Dr. Bennet did apologize for sending her flyers to scare aboriginals regarding the fake bodybag scandal.
Some angry lefties do apologize.
January 19th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Gayle – the judge ruled that the Conservatives had indeed interpreted the law correctly and acted within this interpretation.
I'll ask again – how is it that the CBC, The Liberal$ and Elections Canada had coordinated the filming of the RCMP raid on the Conservative Headquarters?
What relationship exists between these three entities and for what purpose?
It certainly seems to me there is a relationship, and the Liberal$ were not just out for a latte and a lowfat cranberry muffin and the CBC just happened to be walking by with a camera crew.
Canadians need to understand just what this relationship is. Gayle – we are not living in Trudeau's Canada anymore..
January 19th, 2010 at 7:27 am
Did you read the ruling? It was based on the authority of EC to withhold the money. The Court found they did not have that authority. They also noted this decision had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation and potential quasi-criminal charges. The CPC were not on trial and the judge was in no position to “clear” them of anything.
As for the rest, I direct you to my comment above. To that I would add the LPC have already said they found out about the raid the same way as the rest of us – by watching it on TV. This was borne out by the media reports. I know these facts are not nearly as exciting as your paranoid conspiracy theory, but personally I like to base my opinions on facts and not mindless, baseless speculation.
Just one of the many things that differentiates people like me from people like you.
Unless, maybe, you have some actual evidence the taping was “coordinated” by the parties you cite above?
Didn't think so.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:32 am
BTW Stephen, since the national media are too afraid to offend their LPOC on this subject. “What happened to those six liberals mps who still owe Elections Canada?
January 19th, 2010 at 9:49 am
'I know these facts are not nearly as exciting as your paranoid conspiracy theory, but personally I like to base my opinions on facts and not mindless, baseless speculation.'
As in agreeing with your mother that the conservatives may caused your father's cancer?
January 19th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
No, but it's as important as proroguing Parliament in order to prevent the Liberals from hijacking the business of government.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Hey Gayle
Paraphrasing Ralph Goodale and Johnnie (Walker) McCallum… if the LPC can walk and chew gum at the same time then the MSM should be able to as well…Non?
After all Gayle, theMSM is an arm of the LPoC is it not?!!
January 19th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Is that the latest excuse for the prorogation? That would make it what, reason #7?
January 19th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
No.
January 19th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Gayle is a subscriber to the theory that the most incredible coincidence has occured and that somehow the Liberal$ and the CBC just happened to be walking by the Conservative headquarters (with TV cameras and a sound crew) at exactly the same moment as the 'raid'.
Federal Court Judge Luc Martineau on Monday rejected claims by Elections Canada that advertising expenses attributed to Tory candidates should have been reported as expenses for the national Conservative campaign.
From the Globe:
“The ruling means Elections Canada will have to reimburse 67 candidates for thousands of dollars each in campaign expenses.”
“It also means the Conservative party has dodged the prospect of having illegally exceeded its campaign spending limit by more than $1-million.”
Gayle – let me just thank you – you are part of an enlightened class of people within Canada who has always looked down on 'people like me' and felt superior.
Your government ruled with the most arrogance and self interest of any in history (not to mention hatred for Canada) and it seems through the sponsorship scandal always found a home for my tax dollars in your party's bank accounts and in the pockets of your friends.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Snort.
If I thought it were a coincidence, I would not have suggested the RCMP leaked it. Did you miss that, again?
But you cling to those mindless, baseless opinions of yours.
Anyway…
January 19th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Affiliate Marketing is a performance based sales technique used by companies to expand their reach into the internet at low costs. This commission based program allows affiliate marketers to place ads on their websites or other advertising efforts such as email distribution in exchange for payment of a small commission when a sale results.
http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
January 20th, 2010 at 3:38 am
Gayle – the government is clean, the dollars have been paid to the candidates who have been waiting for this money after these baseless allegations and the campaign spending limit has not been exceeded.
This means all of your and your colleagues arguments about stealing an election etc have been again a baseless allegation in a desperate attempt to regain power and get Canada on the fast track to Trudeau's Canada.
I agree with the poster above – I think you owe an apology.
Gayle – one other thing – responsible government never goes out of style – this is why you will see a conservative majority next election and Canadians will continue to punish the Liberals for their lies.
January 20th, 2010 at 3:56 am
Yes, the CPC, as per usual with the l/Liberal dispensation, has been harassed by Elections Canada and has now been vindicated.
Of course, the Canadian public at large will still have the bad taste left in their mouth from the spectre of the CPC headquarters being “invaded” by the RCMP closely followed by a CBC camera crew, the implication being that the CPC are guilty of some nasty financial impropriety: exactly the impression the CBC and the Liberal$ wish to leave the public with.
So, where's this vindication touted in the news? Where is this faulty impression dashed in the media? Oh! You say it isn't much in the news? The impression isn't being dispelled? Hmmmm …
Like a poster above, what I want to know now is what has happened to all those Liberal$ who still haven't paid back their election loans, even after having been given a generous extension by Elections Canada? What's Elections Canada going to do about them? When are the RCMP and CBC camera crews going to show up at LPC Headquarters?
I'm waiting …
January 20th, 2010 at 4:02 am
Sure.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:26 am
The CPC expoited a loop hole that allowed them to spend above the cap. Technically, that is not illegal.
Can you post a link to my allegations the CPC “stole” the election?
But at least you have dropped the whole conspiracy theory. Good for you!
January 20th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Ha ha ha.
The search warrant had nothing to do with this lawsuit. At some point you are going to have to accept that basic fact.
As for what has to happen to the liberals who did not pay their loans, why don't you go and read the Act and find out what authority EC has to deal with them. Why do you sit here and “wait”. Can't you do things for yourself?
Maybe while you are looking you can look for any authority to issue search warrants in order to collect a bad debt. Somehow I doubt EC has been empowered to obtain a warrant for such a purpose, but I am more than willing to be proven wrong once you do your research.
January 20th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Sorry Gayle but no can see it from your perspective
The Libs may brag about taking a hike and swallowing gum concurrently(an yes they are at their best when doing this!)
However many of their MSM cheerleaders are equally adept at wearing blinders and chewing on carrots.
I rest my case.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
You have no case to rest. You have only a paranoid conspiracy theory.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
No – they interpreted a law and acted within this interpretation.
This is definately not illegal.
Gayle – how did the CBC and the Liberal$ know? Were they colluding with Election's Canada?
January 20th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Clearly you have not read the case. May I direct you to paragraph 255, where the court declines to rule on whether the scheme is legal.
You really should try to inform yourself before you comment on such things.
As for your second point, why don't you just reread what I already said.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:34 am
Gayle – why would Election's Canada make payments to caondidates for expenses which they deemed to be illegal?
January 21st, 2010 at 7:29 am
They did not deem them illegal. They simply said Maynard did not have the authority to withhold the payments.
Maybe if you read the case you might get it.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
Gayle – why would Election's Canada make payments to caondidates for expenses which they deemed to be illegal?
January 21st, 2010 at 3:29 pm
They did not deem them illegal. They simply said Maynard did not have the authority to withhold the payments.
Maybe if you read the case you might get it.