CP: ...little doubt Tory failure to disclose donations broke the law

[tuvor]

JOAN BRYDEN
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley repudiated Tuesday all the arguments Conservatives have used to justify their party's failure to disclose up to $1.7 million in donations.

The independent elections watchdog, who is still investigating the matter, would not say outright that the governing party broke the law.

But during testimony before the Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee, Kingsley left little doubt that the Tories violated the Canada Elections Act when they failed to report delegate fees to the party's 2005 policy convention as political donations.

Some 2,900 delegates attended the convention, which charged a regular fee of $600 each. Treasury Board President John Baird, the Harper government's point man on ethics, and Conservative party brass have maintained that the fees did not constitute donations because they simply covered the costs of staging the convention, which did not turn a profit.

Kingsley bluntly demolished that argument.

http://www.brooksbulletin.com/news/national_news.asp?itemid=56708

[daleo]

1. He wouldn't say, but he left little doubt

I hope he just comes out and says it - "the Conservative Party broke the law with fraudulent political donations".

[CHIMO]

2. Tories under fire over fundraising

Also Wednesday, the Tories were asked to respond to charges the party is favouring former insiders who are now lobbying government. A member of the team that helped Harper make the transition into government was later given a contract to do public relations work on the Accountability Act. A report said she submitted a bill for $13,462.

"A very high ethical bar? Not even Mike Harris would have believed he could limbo that low," said Liberal MP Mark Holland.

Treasury Board Minister John Baird said the contract was terminated as soon as he was made aware of it, and that no political actors were involved in awarding it.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1158790224907&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News