Newly revealed documents show Elections Canada has uncovered more than 40 cases of corporate contributions being accepted during the campaign.
The donations ranged in value from $25 to $3,000 and included both money and services — all of which are forbidden, as only individuals are allowed to contribute to campaigns.
Elections Canada spokesman John Enright said the majority of cases involving corporate donations are likely unintentional and involve situations such as individuals using company cheques instead of personal cheques.
“Often what’s going to happen though is it’s probably inadvertent,” he said. “(Campaigns) probably received money from somebody and they just received a cheque and then all of a sudden it’s like ‘Oops, that’s a corporation contribution, I can’t receive it.’ ”
But the fact the donations slipped into campaign coffers even though they aren’t allowed is a concern, said former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley.
“It is surprising because it’s in all the literature that Elections Canada provides,” Kingsley. “Everything that they provide to candidates highlights this. Everything they provide to parties, they highlight that. There are ads that appear saying you cannot make a corporate contribution.”
Donations from companies, unions and other associations were first limited by the Liberals in 2003, and then banned outright after the Conservatives came to power in 2006.
But the Elections Canada documents, obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, show 41 instances, totalling about $17,000, of a corporate donation having been accepted by individual campaigns.
The documents are censored so as to hide the parties and candidates that received the donations, as well as which companies made the contributions.
However, they do show instances where the same corporation made more than one contribution to the same campaign, and one instance where five private firms contributed a total of $1,350 to the same campaign on the same day.
It’s unclear whether any of the records relate to Penashue, who resigned in March after accepting 28 ineligible donations during his 2011 election campaign, including $27,000 in illegal monetary contributions and $18,000 in in-kind contributions from an airline.
Penashue repaid $30,000 but was defeated by Liberal candidate Yvonne Jones in a byelection in May.
The documents indicate that in most instances in which corporate donations were accepted, Elections Canada simply told the campaign to either return the unspent money to the donor or to send a cheque to the Receiver General of Canada within 30 days.
The majority of those notices appear to have been acted on as Elections Canada sent followup letters reiterating the ban on corporate donations, but concluding: “No further action is required on your part at this time, since the ineligible contribution has been returned.”
Kingsley said the number of cases is “not that overwhelming, but I would prefer if it was zero” as such incidents have an impact on the credibility of the electoral system.
Penalties related to ineligible contributions rest heavily on the donor, who can face a $1,000 fine, three months in prison or both for making such a donation, though the penalties increase to $5,000, five months or both if a person intentionally makes such a contribution.
In contrast, when it is discovered that an ineligible donation has been accepted, the campaign that accepted the money must return it to the donor within 30 days or, if it has already been used, the campaign must cut a cheque to the federal government.
Only if a campaign fails to do so can it face up to a $5,000 fine, five-month imprisonment, or both.
Kingsley said the only way to make sure parties, candidates and their staff get the message is to come down hard on some of the most egregious cases involving illegal donations.
“If you look at all the contributions that were made and the numbers that you’re talking about, then it is not huge,” he said.
“But if there is an instance where you can tell prima facie that there was an intent to circumvent the law, then I think it would stand us in good stead to see examples come forward and to see court cases.”
Enright said candidates and their official agents, who are responsible for managing campaign finances, are provided manuals and other information in advance of a campaign that include what types of donations are allowed and not allowed.
Elections Canada also holds training sessions after a federal election campaign to help prepare financial filings, but he said while candidates and their agents are encouraged to participate, “nobody is forced to attend those.”
“The act does not provide anything other than the manuals in the Canada Elections Act,” Enright said. “If people have questions, the door is always open here for us to respond. And we do that regularly. There’s always a lot of dialogue between us and the agents.”
Enright said there were 299 participants in post-election training sessions after the May 2011 election, out of 1,587 candidates and their staff.
The documents also show several instances in which individuals made donations in excess of the legal $1,200 limit, as well as several improper loans or transfers between riding associations, candidates and their staff.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Lee Berthiaume
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