Claude Carignan, the former mayor of the Montreal suburb of Saint-Eustache, was made government Senate leader this summer, replacing Sen. Marjory LeBreton as the Conservatives moved to stem the damage from the expense scandal.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper had appointed Carignan to the Senate in 2009, after he ran for the Tories in the riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in the 2008 general election, losing badly to the Bloc Québécois candidate.
Elections Canada records show that the Conservative electoral association in Carignan’s riding received 17 donations of $1,000 from members of the extended Mathers family, all on Sept. 19, 2008, after the election campaign had begun. These donations were just below the maximum allowable limit of $1,100.
The riding association then made a series of transfers totalling $71,000 to Carignan’s campaign, which did not record a single donation.
The donors appear to be relatives of Jean-Guy Mathers, a wealthy Saint-Eustache businessman who founded the Mathers Group, which owns restaurants, a sports club, drive-in movie theatre and a quarry in the Montreal suburb.
There is no indication that Elections Canada ever looked more closely at the donations from the Mathers family and no reason to believe they broke elections donation rules.
Carignan’s interim communications director, Richard Desmarais, said the senator would not comment on the donations.
“Senator Carignan doesn’t comment (on) this information,” wrote Richard Desmarais in an email. “But I can tell you he was pleased to hear that all his funding was ‘legal.’”
In a followup email, Desmarais wrote: “In 2008, Senator Carignan, as candidate, was not personally implicated in the fundraising. His official agent and financial agent both were responsible for qualifying the (donors) and it was done.”
Conservative Party spokesman Cory Hann said in an email, “We only accept individual donations within the legal limit. These donations are disclosed to Elections Canada and details are publicly accessible.”
Also donating to Carignan’s riding association that year was Lino Zambito, the so-called “star witness” at the Charbonneau commission looking into corruption in Quebec politics.
Zambito also donated $1,000 to the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles Conservative riding association, as did his mother and father.
In an interview with CBC News last week, Zambito said Via Rail board member Leo Housakos — who has since been appointed a Conservative senator — approached him to solicit funds for Carignan during the 2008 federal election.
Housakos has dismissed the CBC report as a smear and denied any involvement in illegal fundraising.
Elections Canada records shows Housakos also gave a $1,000 donation to Carignan’s Rivière-des-Mille-Îles riding association, along with a Peter Housakos — the same name as Housakos’ son — and an Anastasia Housakos. All their donations were recorded on Sept. 6, the day before the writ dropped.
Asked about the Zambito donation, Desmarais noted that Zambito had participated in Quebec political fundraising for many years.
As for revelations before the Charbonneau commission, “I can just tell you that the reputation and actions of Mr. Zambito and some others named there were not known” in 2008, Desmarais said.
The Charbonneau commission has heard evidence about the use of “prêt-noms” or “borrowed-name” schemes in Quebec politics, in which political donations are made under the name of friends or family members to evade the cap on contributions.
Although the allegations have been confined to the municipal and provincial level, Elections Canada is investigating donations made to Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro by people linked to an electrical contracting company owned by his cousin.
Former employees of Mississauga’s Deltro Electric allege they were paid $1,050 each in return for making donations to Del Mastro’s campaign or riding association in the 2008 election. They also contend they were allowed to claim the tax deduction for the donations.
Both Del Mastro and his cousin denied the allegations.
Elections Canada said this week that it is difficult for them to investigate borrowed-name schemes because they don’t have the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.
In his annual report, Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté called on the government to give his office new investigative powers when it reforms the elections law, in an overhaul that the Conservatives promised last year during the robocalls scandal but have yet to introduce.
Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com
Author: Glen McGregor
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