Less Than Perfect Truths #3

The Conservative Party failed to follow its guidelines established under its own Accountability Act and those of Elections Canada, then repeatedly denied it, then had to acknowledge it, then failed to apologize:

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper must personally apologize for repeatedly denying that his party was caught in violation of the Canada Elections Act, now that the Conservative Party has acknowledged that he broke election financing rules by failing to disclose his delegate fees in the party’s 2005 Elections Canada return, Liberal Treasury Board Critic Navdeep Bains said today."

"In the revised report, the Conservative Party states that the additional "reclassified revenue related to the 2005 convention," including $539,915 in previously unreported donations and an extra $913,710 in "other revenue," was exactly equal to the additional $1.45-million they posted as "other expenses" in the same report." Liberal Press Release Dec. 27 2006: OTTAWA

For a complete and clear explanation of this odd series of events, see CBC.ca for Dec. 27, 2006.

Also note that Mr. Kingsley, the head of Elections Canada, who had had to make it clear to the Conservatives that party convention fees had been counted as donations for many years and was part of the law overseen by Elections Canada, handed in his resignation within days of these events. See the Toronto Star January 1, 2007. The Star also refers to disparaging comments against Mr. Kingsley made by Mr. H before he was PM.

"In the past, Harper, when heading the National Citizens Coalition, had criticized Kingsley over his enforcement of legislated bans on third-party election advertising and blackouts on Internet distribution of vote results in Eastern Canada before polls had closed in the West, saying his office was full of "jackasses."

Mr. H.'s comments on Kingsley are listed on the blog post for Dec. 31 2006 on The Cracked Crystal Ball II and elsewhere in the blogosphere.