What's with Elections Canada, Liberals and loans?
First earlier this year Elections Canada gave failed 2006 leadership candidates 'till the end of 2011 to pay off their debt in which they really shouldn't have. It was the second extension granted.
Now this,Elections Canada has decided they won't probe Liberal MP Marc Garneau for loaning himself $20,000 for his election campaigns without a written contract. There is no paper trail, nada, nothing and he gets off?
Elections Canada has ruled that no investigation of Liberal MP Marc Garneau is warranted after he loaned his own election campaigns $20,000 without a written contract.
In March, a longtime member of the Liberal riding association of Westmount-Ville Marie submitted a complaint to the Commissioner of Canada Elections regarding the circumstances of a June 2009 payout of more than $20,000 from the riding association to Mr. Garneau. The MP-- a former astronaut and the Quebec lieutenant to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff -- and his wife, Pamela Soame Garneau, had taken out a line of credit and made two $10,000 loans for expenses on two election campaigns during the fall of 2008."Duly reported?" Huh? With no paper trail just word of mouth? How can that be?
The basis of the complaint of Daniel Sweeney, a director of the riding association, had been that no documentation exists for the loans.
In a March 17 letter to the elections commission, Mr. Sweeney wrote: "I have not been able to find any records stating that the Member of Parliament (the candidate at the time) had directly, in his name, loaned, or laid claim to $20,000, plus interest, to our association."
On Tuesday, Mr. Garneau told the Post that he made a pair of $10,000 loans in the fall of 2008, one to the riding association and one to his own campaign, which were to be reimbursed with interest later on.
"There's a complete paper trail available for all of that," he said. "I cannot understand why this person [Mr. Sweeney] has decided to do this."
However, in a phone call yesterday, Marc Laperriere, Mr. Garneau's official agent for the 2008 campaigns, admitted the loans were made on the basis of a verbal agreement alone -- which is not prohibited by the Elections Act.
In a decision letter written in French and addressed yesterday to Westmount-Ville Marie Liberal association president Brigitte Garceau, an Elections Canada official wrote that all loans made by the Garneaus to Mr. Garneau's own campaign were "duly reported."
Mr. Sweeney said Mr. Garneau and the riding association should have acted in a more transparent manner.
"They've admitted that there is no loan contract that was written between the MP and either the riding association or his campaign," Mr. Sweeney said, calling the agreement "unethical and not transparent, unprofessional and irresponsible in my view."
"It's ridiculous and absurd for the MP to go into an alleged loan agreement" without documenting the terms, he said.
On the other hand a couple of years ago the CPC got their office raided by Elections Canada concerning the "so called in and out scheme"something in which all parties have been engaged in and is legal. But it was just the Conservatives that got hammered.
How come all the special treatment for the Libs? If it were the Conservatives, they wouldn't be let off so lightly. I bet Elections Canada would come down hard.
Are there different rules for Liberals than Conservatives? Are there double standards? That's what it looks like. Elections Canada biased? Looks like that to me. What I'm saying is Conservatives wouldn't be allowed to get away with what the Liberals are able to get away with. Thankfully, the Conservative Government has introduced legislation that would restrict loans.
BTW. Where is the mainstream media with this story? Shouldn't they be all over it? If this involved Conservatives, they would. Fife, Taber,etc and the whole CBC cabal would be on the case and make sure it was the top story. Will Tom Clark or Evan Solomon even mention it on their shows? I highly doubt it.
Another thing, who holds Elections Canada accountable anyway? Time to fire them all!
