Court gives indebted Grits a break

[styky]

Liberal party poverty may scare off potential leaders

Kelly McParland May 17, 2011 – 7:13 AM ET | Last Updated: May 17, 2011 7:40 AM ET
<a href=http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/05/17/kelly-mcparland-liberal-party-poverty-may-scare-off-potential-leaders/>source</a>
As if the Liberals didn’t have enough problems finding a new leader, there’s this: It costs too much to run, and if you don’t win you might have to mortgage the house to pay off the debt.

The Hill Times reports that most of the 2006 candidates for the leadership are still deep in hock: Gerard Kennedy owes $164,000, Ken Dryden owes $215,000, Joe Volpe owes $73,000. Martha Hall Findlay still owes $125,000 (to herself, it appears), while Maurizio Bevilacqua, Hedy Fry and even Stephane Dion may all still have outstanding debts. Kennedy, Volpe, Hall Findlay and Dryden all lost their seats this month, making it even harder to raise money now.

The article quotes NDP MP Joe Comartin as suggesting it’s their own fault, since Liberals have a history of extravagant spending. (Let’s repeat that: an NDP MP says the Liberals like to spend too much.)

It’s a real problem for the new, more compact, much more broke Liberals. If the only 2006 candidates able to pay off their debts are Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, it sends a scary signal to any lesser-known candidates thinking of contesting the latest campaign (which could come anytime between now and 2015, the way the party is going).

That, in turn, suggests party members will be stuck with a more limited choice, since only the best-financed or best-known wannabes may be willing to take the financial risk. So… Justin and Bob, right? And the situation will only be aggravated by the party’s own poverty, which can’t help but get worse when Prime Minister Stephen Harper cancels the subsidy lifeline. Small-time candidates will find themselves up against better-known MPs, plus their own party as it struggles to put together a fundraising apparatus capable of staving off bankruptcy.

Not a pretty picture. If I was the Liberal party, I’d declare bankruptcy, hand in my credit cards, wait two years and then re-launch as the New Liberal Party, or the Liberal Democratic Party, or better still, the Memories of Pearson Party. Then I’d advertise for leaders. No one’s going to miss them between now and then anyway.

National Post

[styky]

Nearly one-third of Liberal candidates fail to qualify for election expense rebate

*

Postmedia News May 26, 2011 – 8:20 AM ET | Last Updated: May 26, 2011 8:26 AM ET

By Elizabeth Thompson, iPolitics.ca

Nearly one-third of Liberal party candidates failed to garner enough votes to qualify for Elections Canada reimbursements of their election expenses, iPolitics has learned.

A study of the this month’s election results has revealed that 92 Liberal candidates, or 30%, received less than 10% of the vote — the party’s worst showing since at least 1997.

Moreover, the number of Liberal candidates who fail to meet the threshold to be reimbursed has been rising steadily in recent years.

While only one candidate garnered less than 10% in 2004, that number rose to 25 in 2006 and 36 in 2008.

Controversial Liberal candidate Andre Forbes, who was dumped as the candidate in the Quebec riding of Manicouagan after his anti-aboriginal comments were publicized, is among those who didn’t qualify for a reimbursement.

A request for an interview with Liberal party president Alfred Apps about the result was declined by a party official.

While the per-vote subsidy each party receives is better known — in part because Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives want to scrap it — the reimbursement candidates receive is also part of the financial lifeblood of Canada’s larger political parties.

Under Canada’s election financing rules, any candidate who receives at least 10 per cent of the vote is entitled to a reimbursement of 60% of their election expenses.

Elections Canada reimbursements to candidates following the 2008 election cost taxpayers nearly $58 million.

The reimbursement allows bills to be paid, gives the riding association seed money for the next election campaign and helps the party attract future candidates. In many parties, including the Liberal party, candidates also pledge to return a portion of their reimbursement to the party’s national office.

While the Bloc Quebecois was reduced to four seats and lost its official-party status in the House of Commons, it will fair far better when it comes to reimbursements. Only 10 of the Bloc’s 75 candidates didn’t meet the threshold — most of them in predominantly anglophone areas of Montreal.

Spokeswoman Karine Sauve said the result didn’t come as a surprise to the Bloc and consequently the candidates in those ridings were given much smaller budgets than candidates in ridings the party expected to win. <a href=http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/05/26/nearly-one-third-of-liberal-candidates-fail-to-qualify-for-election-expense-rebate/>continued</a>

[styky]

Court rejects ex-Liberal leadership candidates’ pleas for extension on debts

The Canadian Press Jul 3, 2012 – 5:59 PM ET | Last Updated: Jul 3, 2012 6:50 PM ET
OTTAWA — A top Ontario court has turned down three failed Liberal leadership candidates in their request for an extension to pay their 2006 campaign expenses.

Hedy Fry, Martha Hall Findlay and Joe Volpe are still tens of thousands of dollars in debt as a result of their campaigns to lead the Liberal party, and asked for more time to pay............http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/03 ... -on-debts/

[styky]

Failed Liberal leadership candidates in pickle

By Mark Dunn ,Senior National Reporter

First posted: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 04:29 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 06:15 PM EDT
OTTAWA - Hall of Fame puck stopper Ken Dryden has joined three other failed 2006 Liberal leadership candidates who have run afoul of the Elections Canada Act and could face fines or jail.

The foursome — including Hedy Fry, Joe Volpe and Martha Hall Findlay — is in hot water for not repaying hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses incurred during the leadership race won by Stephane Dion...............http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/04/fa ... -in-pickle

[styky]

Turning a blind eye: Elections Canada gives a shrug of the shoulders to leftie antics


By Brian Lilley ,Parliamentary Bureau

First posted: Thursday, July 05, 2012 05:43 PM MDT
Did you hear about Elections Canada investigators busting down Ken Dryden’s door with the help of the RCMP this week?

Neither did I, and chances are it will never happen, even though Dryden and three other former Liberal leadership candidates are now in violation of the Elections Act. Dryden, Joe Volpe, Hedy Fry and Martha Hall Findlay have failed to pay back their campaign debts from the 2006 Liberal leadership race despite more than five-and-a-half years of fundraising and two extensions.

The campaign debt should have been paid off by the middle of 2008. Back then, several other Liberals, including then-leader Stephane Dion, Gerard Kennedy and others, still had debts to pay. Rather than apply the law with an even hand, Elections Canada offered an extension rather than prosecution.

Now compare that to their treatment of Conservatives. In April 2008. Canada’s “non-partisan” elections watchdog raided Conservative Party headquarters as part of a criminal investigation. The Conservatives took a different interpretation of how advertising could be bought and paid for on a campaign and had already taken Elections Canada to court to get a definitive ruling on the matter...............http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/07/05/t ... tie-antics

[LAR]

What's the Cole's Notes version of this anyway?
Taxpayers give them money for their leadership campaigns but they have to pay it back because they didn't get 10% of the votes?
It's unbelievable they can each spend hundreds of thousands of other people's dollars and accomplish nothing. OK it's believable but maddening.

[styky]

What's the Cole's Notes version of this anyway?
Taxpayers give them money for their leadership campaigns but they have to pay it back because they didn't get 10% of the votes?
It's unbelievable they can each spend hundreds of thousands of other people's dollars and accomplish nothing. OK it's believable but maddening.

Watch the video http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/05/el ... ning-debts

[styky]

Debts put former Liberal candidates in awkward spot

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Jul. 31 2012, 10:31 PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Jul. 31 2012, 10:37 PM EDT
Three of the four former candidates who have debts outstanding from the 2006 Liberal leadership race have been thrust into a bizarre form of legal limbo after opting not to appeal a judge’s decision that they had run out of time to pay the money back.

Martha Hall Findlay, Hedy Fry and Joe Volpe exhausted two extensions of the original deadline for returning the money they borrowed to finance their campaigns. They cannot close their campaign bank accounts until all debts have been paid, but, because they chose not to appeal the ruling of the Ontario Superior Court, Elections Canada rules dictate that they can no longer make payments unless the creditor takes them to court.

In other words, should Ms. Hall Findlay raise the less-than $45,000 she estimates she still owes, all of which she lent to herself, she will have to take herself to court to pay it back.

Ken Dryden, who owed hundreds of thousands of dollars at last count – also to himself – is on a different payment schedule to the other three former candidates, but will likely be in a similar situation......................http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le4453533/

[RadicallyLiberal]

Personally I think it is undemocratic to have limits on personal donations to either a party or leadership.

I despise most politicos. but I despise restrictions on donations far more.

[styky]

thread cross link viewtopic.php?f=2&t=157354

[styky]

Candidates deserve debt leniency: Ex-Elections Canada head


By Jessica Murphy ,Parliamentary Bureau

First posted: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 03:06 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 03:17 PM EDT
OTTAWA - A former head of Elections Canada says it's more important to have people running for office than it is to chase down past candidates who have outstanding campaign debts.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley was responding to reports that in the past 20 years, Elections Canada hasn't prosecuted any candidates for failing to pay back campaign debts with a prescribed period of time.

Kingsley, who served as chief electoral officer between 1990 and 2007, said Wednesday that candidates - especially those running for fringe parties or as independents - deserve a little leniency because they're making a "statement for democracy."

"If those guys, those gals get into a little bit of trouble, we have to be careful about that," he said, adding it was for that reason the Canada Elections Act gave the independent elections oversight body a range of options in handling these cases, from sending letters outlining the rules to jail time.

In filings submitted 18 months after each election - the deadline for repayment - candidates from 2004 owed a collective total of $1,303,964, from 2006 owed $793,702, and from 2008 owed $802,426.

The outstanding amounts ranged from a few dollars to more than twenty-thousand dollars. Indebted candidates were scattered across the country and across party lines and included independents and fringe party candidates.

In his report to Parliament after the 2008 federal election, current chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand ask MPs to review the rules governing unpaid claims and make them simpler for candidates, calling the current system "burdensome, complex and very ineffective."

"Payment of these claims can extend over months, if not years in some cases. When that happens, there is a risk that the transparency and integrity of the political financing regime will be undermined," he said at the time.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/08/08/ca ... anada-head

Poll
Should Elections Canada cut candidates a break on campaign debts?

3%
Yes, it's only fair.

4 votes


79%
No, they should pay what they owe on time.

91 votes


17%
As long as it doesn't affect taxpayers.

20 votes

[styky]

Still not paid So what is he saying, that the Liberal party is a fringe party that deserves special treatment????

OTTAWA - A former head of Elections Canada says it's more important to have people running for office than it is to chase down past candidates who have outstanding campaign debts.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley was responding to reports that in the past 20 years, Elections Canada hasn't prosecuted any candidates for failing to pay back campaign debts with a prescribed period of time.

Kingsley, who served as chief electoral officer between 1990 and 2007, said Wednesday that candidates - especially those running for fringe parties or as independents - deserve a little leniency because they're making a "statement for democracy."

[styky]

NDP willing to support campaign-financing changes


By Jordan Press September 28, 2012
OTTAWA — A government bill that would close a “loophole” in campaign financing will move through the Commons with ease after the opposition NDP announced Friday that it would support the legislation.

But in confirming that support, the New Democrats said the bill was flawed and the result of a Conservative vendetta against the Liberals, who still have four 2006 leadership candidates with campaign debts not yet repaid.

An Ontario Superior Court judge ruled against a request from Hedy Fry, Martha Hall Findlay and Joe Volpe to receive a further extension to repay tens of thousands of dollars in loans from their unsuccessful bids to lead the Liberals six years ago. Former MP Ken Dryden, who still owes money, wasn’t part of those court proceedings.

In allowing the bill to pass second reading — approval in principle of a bill before a committee studies it prior to a final vote — the NDP argued that the Conservatives were willing to let this bill languish on the legislative agenda and milk every opportunity to skewer the Liberals for being in violation of campaign financing laws.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/health/willing+su ... z27o00KdhO

[WestViking]

In allowing the bill to pass second reading — approval in principle of a bill before a committee studies it prior to a final vote — the NDP argued that the Conservatives were willing to let this bill languish on the legislative agenda and milk every opportunity to skewer the Liberals for being in violation of campaign financing laws.

(Warning)

Not to fret; Justin Trudeau let it be known that he will accompany his errant fellow liberal MPs to prison if necessary. "It would be unjust to jail these people for expenses incurred in striving to serve their party and their country", said Trudeau, "putting people of this calibre in prison would be truly tragic. They would lose their jobs as representatives and it would have a negative impact on their pensions. We must not allow that."