Tories broke regulations on election finances, Liberals say
GLORIA GALLOWAY, Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — The Liberals accused the federal Conservatives yesterday of exceeding election spending limits by more than a million dollars in the final days of the 2006 campaign by passing off national advertising costs as money spent by local candidates.
Elections Canada is now locked in a court battle with 37 of the candidates who want the government - which returns 60 per cent of the election expenses of candidates who get at least 10 per cent of the votes in their riding - to reimburse them for the costs.
And a related story: Elections Canada rejects Tory ad expense claims
by Jennifer Ditchburn, Canadian press
OTTAWA – The Conservatives and Elections Canada just don’t see eye to eye on political financing rules.
The federal agency is refusing to reimburse at least three dozen Tory candidates for advertising expenses incurred during the 2005-2006 election, in a dispute over whether those expenses were genuinely spent on local TV and radio spots or used to benefit the national campaign.
Official agents for those candidates, represented by the Conservative Party’s lawyer, have taken Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand to Federal Court over the issue.
