It’s the first time since the Conservative Party was created in 2003 that one of the party’s Ontario riding associations has been deregistered. The action was made public in the latest edition of the Canada Gazette and is effective Sept. 30.
Ottawa-Vanier has elected only Liberals since its creation in 1935. In 2011, Liberal Mauril Belanger captured the seat for the seventh straight time.
Conservative or Progressive Conservative candidates have typically finished a distant second in the riding. In last year’s election, Conservative candidate Rem Westland finished third, behind the NDP’s Trevor Haché.
Under the Canada Elections Act, all registered riding associations are obliged to file a financial report by May 31 each year if contributions or expenses are $5,000 or more.
The chief electoral officer gives those that fail to do so 30 days notice to comply or provide proof that the omission was not the result of negligence or a lack of good faith. Failing that, deregistration is the next step.
Unregistered riding associations cannot accept contributions, issue income tax receipts, transfer funds or provide services to candidates endorsed by registered parties, or accept surplus campaign funds from a candidate.
The chief executive officer of the Ottawa-Vanier Conservative association is Brock Stephenson, formerly an issues manager in the Prime Minister’s Office who now works for Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose. Neither Stephenson nor Shaun Webb, the association’s financial agent, returned messages from the Citizen.
But Westland, who is no longer involved with the association, said in an interview that its problems are not financial. “After the election, I had raised enough money that I was able to return to the association something in the order of $30,000,” he said. “So it wouldn’t be that the association is bankrupt.”
Westland said he suspects the problem “is simply inattention to the rigour of the job.” As a candidate, he was often approached by party supporters who hadn’t received tax receipts for their donations. “We would press and press and it would come out at the very end of the income tax cycle.”
Stephenson and other members of the association executive were elected as a slate of candidates in 2010, Westland said. Prior to that, the association was “in disarray” and riven with acrimony. “It was definitely an organization in turmoil.”
The team that took over, Westland said, were all professionally involved in politics, and far more knowledgeable about it than the volunteer board they replaced.
That makes the association’s failure to submit the required financial documents all the more surprising, Westland said. “Knowing the rules of the game begins with staying in good stead with Elections Canada.”
Under the law, the Ottawa-Vanier Conservative association is required to provide, within six months of deregistration, all financial reports that were due for the 2011-12 fiscal year as well as a financial report covering the period from May 31 to Sept. 30.
If the party wants to reconstitute a registered riding association, it will have to apply to the chief electoral officer and meet a series of requirements.
Deregistration of riding associations is not uncommon. Election Canada’s website lists 187 associations that have been deregistered since 2004.
But most represent small or marginal parties. The Green party, for example, has had 114 of its riding associations deregistered in recent years.
It’s less common for associations representing major parties to be deregistered. Aside from Ottawa-Vanier, only seven other Conservative riding associations have been deregistered since Jan. 1, 2004, none of them in Ontario.
In addition, 17 Liberal, eight NDP and five Bloc Québécois riding associations have been deregistered over the same period.
One is the BQ’s Hull-Aylmer riding association, which is also being deregistered effective Sept. 30 for failing to provide required documents to Elections Canada. Traditionally second in the riding, the BQ sank to a distant fourth in 2011, more than 30,000 votes behind the victorious New Democrats.
In 2006, the NDP asked Elections Canada to deregister its riding association in Gatineau. It re-registered the association in 2007, and in last year’s election its candidate, Françoise Boivin, rode the NDP wave to victory.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Don Butler
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