Senators Wallin, Duffy both paid campaign expenses by Conservative candidates in 2011 election: Elections Canada’s records

PARLIAMENT HILL—Senator Mike Duffy and Senator Pamela Wallin were both paid campaign expenses by Conservative election candidates in the 2011 federal election, Elections Canada records show.

But Liberal MPs say both Sen. Wallin and Sen. Duffy appeared or campaigned in support of Conservative candidates other than the 12 candidates who reported election expenses by either one in the last federal election campaign.

Both Senators have resigned from the Conservative Parliamentary caucus over a growing storm on travel and other expense claims from four Senators, including also Senator Mac Harb and Senator Patrick Brazeau and primarily involving the legitimacy of claims for primary residences.

Sen. Duffy billed 11 Conservative candidates for a total of $2,062 in travel, hotel and meal expenses after he either campaigned or was featured at fundraising events in their electoral districts, while Sen. Wallin invoiced $347.71 in expenses for campaigning for Saskatchewan Conservative MP Ray Boughen (Palliser, Sask.), Elections Canada records show.

But The Hill Times has learned that if the two Senators billed the Conservative Party for any of their expenses as part of the national Conservative election campaign, the details are not made public in the party’s general election expense return to Elections Canada.

Sen. Wallin, whose travel expenses are under a separate audit by a private sector accounting firm that the Senate retained to look at expense and residency claims by the other three Senators, also took part in robocall campaigns targeting Liberal MP Ralph Goodale (Wascana, Sask.) in his electoral district, Mr. Goodale told The Hill Times on Wednesday.

In the case of Sen. Duffy, the accountant firm Deloitte, which conducted the Senate expense audit, reported that Sen. Duffy likely claimed Senate travel expenses for a total of 13 days at locations outside Ottawa in April 2011, either on Senate or undisclosed business during the same period he was being paid campaign expenses for Conservative candidates.

Sen. Wallin’s expense patterns and locations of expense claims have not yet been made public.

Sen. Duffy, aside from supporting the candidates who reported his expenses to Elections Canada, also appeared at an April 2011, fundraiser or campaign event supporting Conservative candidate Derrick Kennedy in the Nova Scotia riding of Cape Breton-Canso, where Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner was re-elected, Mr. Cuzner told The Hill Times.

However, neither Mr. Kennedy nor the Conservative candidate opposing Mr. Goodale, Ian Shields, declared any campaign expenses paid to Sen. Duffy or Sen. Wallin.

Mr. Kennedy did not reply to a Hill Times telephone call to his Cape Breton home and to his business.

But Elections Canada rules and the Canada Elections Act, which allows Senators and Members of Parliament to campaign for candidates in federal elections as long as their expenses are claimed as part of the campaigns, show the Conservative Party could have paid travel expenses for the Senators if they were incurred as part of the national Conservative campaign, rather than on behalf of individual campaigns.

“Where a Senator, or a person who is an elected Member of the House of Commons, or any provincial legislature, campaigns on behalf of a party, the expenses related to that person's involvement in the campaign are campaign expenses of the party and must be authorized beforehand by a registered agent,” says the Elections Canada campaign handbook for political parties.

“For example, if a minister or other Member of Parliament travels from Ottawa to assist in the party’s campaign, the costs of travelling to the district, and the costs of accommodation and transportation within the district, are considered campaign expenses of the party,” the handbook says

The Elections Canada handbook for candidates says: If a Senator, a minister, or another candidate campaigns on behalf of the candidate, the expenses related to that person’s involvement in the campaign are election expenses and have to be authorized in advance by the official agent, the candidate, or a person authorized in writing by the official agent. Any travel expense has to be reimbursed using campaign funds.”

Elections Canada officials confirmed that any expenses the party incurs for campaigning by Senators or other Members of Parliament are included without specifics in the “Registered Party Return in Respect of General Elections.”

Those returns contain only nine broad categories, including expenses for advertising, voter surveys, national office expenses, the party leader’s tour, travel other than the leader’s tour, and one line designated as “other” expenses.

In the 2011 election, the Conservative Party reported $2.3-million as “other” expenses, compared to the $578,258 claimed by the Liberal Party in that category.

The Conservative return reported $29,708 as travel costs other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) national tour.

“All national or local campaign expenses would have been submitted to and paid for by the national or local campaigns, and included in the respective campaign returns,” Conservative party spokesman Fred DeLorey said in an email response to questions about campaign expenses by Sen. Duffy and Sen. Wallin.

Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: TIM NAUMETZ