Political interference charges dog Baird and other Conservatives

Allegations of meddling in environment grants, municipal politics, and rebates through in-and-out campaign financing are under investigation.

A HARPERINDEX.CA UPDATE

[OTTAWA , September 22]: Earlier this month, environmentalists accused environment minister John Baird of playing politics when he rescinded a $100,000 Environment Canada grant to the Sierra Club of BC. Green Party leader Elizabeth May formerly headed the organization, which Baird reportedly views as anti-Conservative. The Globe and Mail reported that Baird, who has been accused of political meddling in the past, insulted environmental activists at a meeting in Ottawa in April, 2007. For instance, he reportedly told the Sierra Club's Emilie Moorhouse, "Oh, you're a Liberal, because Elizabeth May's a Liberal, so that means you are too."

Other environmental groups complain they too have been targetted. Since the withdrawal of the Sierra Club of B.C.'s grant, environmental organizations are expressing concern over the future of the funding process. The Ecology Action Centre of Nova Scotia had two recent funding proposals turned down with no explanation. "We can handle being turned down," EAC policy director Mark Butler said. "But we want to know why and we want the process to be fair."

OTTAWA, October 10, 2007 [updated October 12]: Electoral skullduggery is not the domain of any one political party, but the Harper Conservatives remain in the news because of charges they have repeatedly gone over the line. Despite evasions and delays, two cases dog them.

A potential source of embarrassment is the involvement of environment minister John Baird in Ottawa city politics in last year's municipal election campaign. Baird, then treasury board president, is accused of helping get arch-conservative Larry O'Brien elected mayor in two unseemly ways.

Charges are still before the courts that O'Brien tried to bribe his political rival Terry Kilrea into dropping out of the 2006 mayoral race. Part of the deal may have included an appointment facilitated by Baird. Kilrea has charged in a court affidavit that in July, O'Brien offered to help Kilrea secure a job on the National Parole Board and to give him $30,000 for campaign expenses if he dropped from the race.

Last week an Ottawa judge lifted a publication ban at the request of lawyers. This move led to the release of a police application for a search warrant that was part of an investigation of the bribery charges.

Baird's involvement in electing O'Brien was also overt. The future environment minister helped scuttle Ottawa's plan for light-rail transit - opposed, as a major election plank, by O'Brien. In October, at the height of the municipal election campaign, Baird announced that $200 million in anticipated federal funding for the project would only be available if the next council re-approved the project.

The project was put on hold in October, O'Brien won the mayoralty, and the costs for Ottawa taxpayers of broken contract commitments continues to climb as a result.

The other unresolved case involves charges of election finance violations that surfaced in September. Just before the Quebec by-elections, the Commons procedure and House affairs committee voted for a parliamentary study of Conservative campaign expenses in the 2006 election. The committee vote, won over the objections of the Conservatives by the combined votes of the three opposition parties, came after Elections Canada raised questions with the Conservatives about so-called "in-and-out" campaign financing.

Under this scheme, the party's national office transferred money to candidates, which is legal, and the candidates immediately transferred the money back to the headquarters to pay for advertising. The ads they paid for were ostensibly local ads, but, in fact, they were central ads with small titles added for all candidates involved.

Then the candidates claimed public funding for these advertising payments, which they claimed to be local spending. Public funding is given to local riding associations on the basis of actual campaign expenses, so these in-an-out transfers were used to inflate the size of local campaign budgets and, as a result, the size of federal rebates. Through the exchange of cheques, the Conservatives claimed millions in tax subsidies for their campaign.

"The chief electoral officer expressed doubts that the advertising was genuinely a local expense because he was given no evidence of a direct engagement by the candidates in the contracting of the ads," reported the Toronto Star. "Some candidates have told Elections Canada and reporters they were unaware of the purpose of the money transfer. The ads were identical to spots that appeared on national television, except for fine print in the final frame that listed ridings or candidate names."

Shortly after this news surfaced in September, Stephen Harper launched the Muslim veil controversy, which, with the excitement over the by-election, has deflected attention from in-and-out financing, at least until the Chief Electoral Officer reports again.

In August, Conservative MP Dick Harris (Cariboo-Prince George) named Houston (BC) Mayor and Conservative candidate Sharon Smith as "go-to person" for Skeena-Bulkley Valley residents with federal government concerns or issues, and to bypass riding MP New Democrat Nathan Cullen. When news of this emerged, Conservative party officials were quick to disown the plan and place the blame on Harris even though the central party apparently supported the idea.

The Conservatives, who campaigned on accountability and democratic reform, will be on the defensive if the opposition can focus public attention on this apparent pattern of political interference.

Related individuals, organizations and significant events
Ethical issues haunt Conservatives after campaigning on accountability
Quebec byelections - Veil controversy, sponsorship, Mulroney book, all play into strategy to win next election

Harper Conservative vs. Public Values Frame
  Interference / Democracy
  Secret deals / Openness

Links and sources
  Tories fail to block probe of election expenses, Toronto Star, Canada - September 11, 2007
  City slapped with another light-rail lawsuit, The Ottawa Citizen, September 20, 2007
  O'Brien won't comment on police document, CBC News, Thursday, October 4, 2007
  'I can take care of him' - Rival didn't worry O'Brien, McGarry tells OPP, The Ottawa Citizen, September 29, 2007
  Judge releases evidence in case against Ottawa mayor, CBC News, October 3, 2007
  O'Brien bribery probe reaches PM's inner circle, The Ottawa Citizen, October 12, 2007

Posted: October 10, 2007

Harper Index (HarperIndex.ca) is a project of the Golden Lake Institute and the online publication StraightGoods.ca