OTTAWA - Conservative election candidates have regularly missed deadlines for repaying campaign debts, indulging in the same supposedly illegal conduct for which the Tories are now denouncing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
Oblivious to their own record, Tories escalated their attacks on Dion and eight of his former leadership rivals who failed to pay off their leadership campaign debts by Tuesday's midnight deadline.
Sources say Dion still owes $560,000. He and the other eight have applied to Elections Canada for more time to clear their debts.
Tory MP Pierre Poilievre repeated his party's claim that Dion's failure to fully pay off loans and unpaid bills is against the law. And he again suggested that the independent elections watchdog, by granting extensions to the leadership contenders, is turning a blind eye to Liberal illegality.
"What penalty has Elections Canada applied to this breach?" Poilievre asked in the Commons.
But Poilievre might want to consider his party's own record before pressing too hard for penalties.
The law governing political loans to election candidates is almost identical to that which applies to leadership contenders. The only difference is that election candidates have only four months in which to pay off their debts while leadership candidates have 18 months.
In both cases, candidates are legally entitled to seek extensions.
According to a chart compiled by Elections Canada, 426 candidates - including 121 Conservatives - sought extensions to pay off loans after the 2004 election.
As well, 401 candidates - including 125 Conservatives - sought extensions to clear unpaid bills.
Elections Canada was not immediately able to say how many of those requests were granted but typically most candidates would have been given more time.
In a guide to understanding the rules for leadership debts, the agency notes that "under similar rules that exist for candidates during an election, the Chief Electoral Officer has normally authorized late payments as long as the sources of all contributions and details of all loan repayment schedules are disclosed."
Furthermore, Elections Canada's web site lists 19 candidates - five of them Conservatives - with loans that remained unpaid 18 months after the 2006 election.
It further lists 10 candidates - four of them Conservatives - whose unpaid loans were deemed to count as donations after 18 months. In five of those cases - three involving Conservative candidates - the donations exceed the legal maximum of $5,400 per donor.
Elections Canada spokeswoman Diane Benson could not immediately say what penalty may have been applied in those cases. Such breaches are most often settled out of court through what's called a compliance agreement but they can be prosecuted, resulting in a fine or even a jail term.
Regardless of his own party's record, Poilievre demanded Tuesday that Dion immediately disclose the "special arrangement" he's struck with the agency to extend his leadership repayment deadline. And he demanded to know what the "wealthy elites" who loaned Dion money have "asked in return."
"The public has the right to know which vested interests are pulling the strings of the Liberal leader. It is time he came clean with Canadians," Poilievre asserted.
Ralph Goodale, the Liberals' House leader, said the Tories are employing "a double standard," trashing extensions for Liberal leadership loans while gladly accepting extensions for their own election candidates.
"They're just making up arguments of convenience," Goodale said in an interview.
He said the attacks are a "diversionary tactic" to deflect attention from the Tories own legal troubles with Elections Canada. The agency has accused the Tory party of election spending fraud during the last campaign.
For his part, Dion said he and other Liberal leadership contenders have nothing to apologize for.
"We respect the letter of the law. We respect the spirit of the law and they (Tories) cannot read the law. And they are in breach with the law according to Elections Canada."
James Morton
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