Evidence of meeting #44 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was elections.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That will depend on how things unfold over the next while. I can't provide a figure on that.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Thank you, Mr. Mayrand.
I'm going back to this invoicing issue that Mr. LeBlanc was mentioning earlier. As far as Elections Canada is aware, Retail Media did not generate any invoices to the candidates. Is that correct?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
That Retail Media did not provide invoices to candidates? That's correct.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
So in your view, it is an accurate statement then, when I look at this—I have this invoice I would like to table as well, Mr. Chair. One of the invoices that was to the official agents of the Conservative Party of Canada has the list of all the ridings, with a total expense of $591,411, plus GST. I have a copy of another invoice. It only says “York South—Weston”, and it says “$37,383.09”, and by hand is written “plus GST in a total amount of $39,999.91”. If we look at this invoice here, we see it has the other ridings precisely whited out, just leaving that riding. Personally, the way I see it, if it's in the general public I would see that a fraud is committed.
Do you see that this is a fraudulent act, when it comes to the Conservative Party committing an act like this?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Again, I cannot comment on those matters. These are matters of either the dispute before the Federal Court or matters that are a subject of the investigation by the commissioner. I think it would be highly inappropriate for me to comment at this point in time.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
At one point in time you were aware that the Conservative Party had defeated the spending limit by spending $1.3 million in excess of what they were allowed to spend. But after this decision is made by the Federal Court, and if—I'm saying the word “if”—the decision is that the Federal Court does not allow those 67 candidates to claim those expenses and the Conservative Party goes over the spending limit by $1.3 million, so that the Conservative Party will be in violation of the Canada Elections Act, what are the consequences, please?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
It is hypothetical at this point in time. We need to see what the court will rule, what the facts are that will come out, that have come out since my decision, that will continue to come out possibly before the decision is made. Again, I cannot speculate on the outcome of the Federal Court decision nor on the ramifications of that decision.
I provided earlier this morning a table showing what our possible sanctions and penalties are, relative to various offences. I would refer the members to the table that was in the presentation this morning.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I wonder if I could refer to the March 2007 handbook. Do you have a copy of this handbook, Mr. Mayrand?
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
With the chairman's permission, I'd like to offer this to Mr. Mayrand. I'm going to read from it, but I'd rather he....
Thank you very much.
What I'd like you to note about that handbook is whether you would agree it is the version that was in circulation during the January 2006 federal election campaign. Yes?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Well, it appears to be, but I haven't looked at it.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
I didn't type it up last night.
I want you to note on the first page that the document is for elections that started before.... It actually says right there on the document that it is to be used for elections that started before January 1, 2007. Is that what it says in that document?
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
That would be the handbook that was in circulation at the time we're all discussing today, January 2006.
Does the election handbook represent the Chief Electoral Officer's interpretation of the Canada Elections Act?
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
This one does not. This one is on or after January 2007.
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Can you confirm that this is the election handbook that was in circulation at the time of the 2006 election?
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
Good. Thank you.
So that version there is not the one. Let me ask you this: do you have a copy of the one that was in circulation on January 1, 2007?
Conservative
Gary Goodyear Conservative Cambridge, ON
May I, with the chairman's permission, give you the copy? I've recorded the pages--noted the pages--that I want to refer to.
I note there, Mr. Mayrand--
