But Ms. Hall Findlay questions why the Conservative government has held back a bill it tabled nearly a year ago that would have allowed her to raise enough money for full repayment much earlier.
Ms. Hall Findlay, the only woman candidate to make it through to the final convention in the gruelling 11-month long 2006 Grit leadership contest, told The Hill Times last week, and also informed potential supporters in a fundraising email, that she will not run in the race to begin Oct. 14 unless she pays off the full amount.
Because of a Catch 22 in the Canada Elections Act, Ms. Hall Findlay, and any of the other former candidates who loaned large amounts to their own campaigns, can’t repay the money, because the amount would be well above their own political donations limits for the race.
A 2006 Conservative government reduction in the political contribution limit from $5,000 to $1,000, and another Elections Act clause that caps financial contributions to any specific leadership contest at $1,000 in total, ever, has made it difficult for the debt-ridden contenders to find new fundraising sources.
“I don’t want to run until I can get rid of this, notwithstanding it’s bloody challenging,” Ms. Hall Findlay said in interview.
The political operations director of the Conservative party, Jenni Byrne, wrote Elections Canada on Sept. 10, urging the electoral agency to take action against four candidates from the 2006 Liberal race who have been unable to pay off their debts, which are considered to be donations under Canada Elections Act provisions unless they are repaid within a certain time.
Ms. Byrne singled out Ms. Hall Findlay as a potential leadership candidate and also named Liberal MP Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, B.C.), who loaned her own campaign a smaller amount and also has been unable to raise enough to repay it fully.
The other two contenders with outstanding debts are former MP Joe Volpe and former MP Ken Dryden, the former NHL star who loaned his own campaign more than $300,000 and, like Ms. Hall Findlay, ran on a shoestring.
“It has now been six years since the 2006 Liberal leadership race. All loans were to be paid back within 18 months,” said Ms. Byrne’s letter, a copy of which the Conservative party emailed to The Hill Times. “Yet, four candidates in that race—including a sitting Member of Parliament Hedy Fry, and a rumoured candidate for the next leadership race, Martha Hall Findlay—still have significant debts remaining.”
Because of the lingering damage from the 2006 race, the Liberal Party has set a $75,000 limit on debt candidates may accrue for the leadership election to be held next April, with the new leader unveiled on April 14, 2013, at an event in Ottawa.
All four 2006 liberal candidates still in debt have won court-approved extensions for repayment under provisions of the Canada Elections Act, but three of them, including Ms. Hall Findlay, failed to get another extension from an Ontario Superior Court judge in July, and are in the midst of trying to arrange compliance agreements with Elections Canada.
Ms. Hall Findlay pointed out during her interview with The Hill Times that legislation Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.) introduced in the Commons on Nov. 2, 2011, Bill C-21 titled the Political Loans Accountability Act, would have eased the pressure on those who still owe from the 2006 race. This bill is at second reading.
The bill, while tightening rules for loans to leadership contenders and other candidates and limiting personal loans to candidates at the maximum yearly contribution, now $1,200, recognizes that the once-only maximum donation is unfair in light of the Conservative government’s severe reduction in political donations in 2006.
A clause in Bill C-21 eliminates the once-only maximum donation to one or more leadership contenders in the same race to a $1,000 maximum for every calendar year during and after the contest. The amount of the limit, based on the 2006 Public Accountability Act, is adjusted annually for inflation and now is $1,200. The limit was $5,000 when the Liberal party began its 2006 leadership contest.
Ms. Hall Findlay said despite the continued restriction on contributions, her email fundraising campaign has left her with less than a quarter of her original debt outstanding.
“We’re down now to about $28,000, so we’ve made huge progress, given the challenges. We’re really proud of it, people are offering support, but I’ve also turned away at least $10,000 in the last two weeks, because of people who are maxed out,” Ms. Hall Findlay said.
“People are sending money and going online and donating, but we have to say, ‘No, we can’t. Someone just said to me yesterday ‘can I write you a check for 1,100 bucks?’ and we said let’s check, and said ‘no, sorry, no you can’t’”
Asked if she believes the government has delayed the legislation to stretch out embarrassment for the debt-ridden Liberals, Ms. Hall Findlay replied: “Do you think it’s possible that the Conservatives are holding back an amendment that would help me? If that amendment were passed tomorrow, I would have no debt the next day. I can’t tell you how frustrating this has been.”
Mr. Van Loan emphasized the importance of the political loan bill to the Conservatives when he first unveiled it prior to the 2011 federal election, at a well-attended news conference behind the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill, with the Library of Parliament and Centre Block as a backdrop for his appearance.
But when Mr. Van Loan brought the bill up for second reading debate in the House on Dec. 8, 2011, he didn’t make a speech to introduce it, though the legislation was presented as one of the government’s initiatives during a government “democratic reform” week in the House of Commons.
“Filling out our democratic reform week agenda, on Thursday, we will start second reading debate on Bill C-21, the Political Loans Accountability Act. It is a bill which seeks to close the loophole which allowed wealthy individuals to bankroll leadership campaigns, thus circumventing the legal contribution limits,” Mr. Van Loan had informed the House the previous week.
Mr. Van Loan’s communications director, Fraser Malcolm, last week referred questions from The Hill Times to the office of Conservative MP Tim Uppal (Edmonton-Sherwood Park, Alta.), the government’s Minister of State for Democratic Reform.
Shannon Whitteker, Mr. Uppal’s executive assistant, did not address a Hill Times request to explain the delay, and instead further criticized Ms. Hall Findlay and the other Liberals with outstanding leadership debt.
“All Liberal leadership candidates knew that these would be the rules they would have to live by when they borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance their leadership aspirations,” Ms. Whitteker said in an email.”
“These senior Liberal insiders have defied a court order to repay their leadership campaign debts by Dec. 31, 2011, despite six years of leniency and reprieves from Elections Canada and the courts,” she said.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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