Elections commissioner launches investigation into NDP delegate fees
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2015 (4145 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Manitoba’s Commissioner of Elections has launched an investigation into the NDP’s delegate selection process used to help Premier Greg Selinger keep his job.
The investigation by commissioner Bill Bowles was initiated last week following a complaint by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives. Bowles, in an email to the PCs on Monday, confirmed he had arranged for the matter to be investigated.
The complaint by the PCs asks Bowles to look at how some delegate fees were paid to attend last weekend’s convention.
The issue was raised in a Free Press story last week that found that the three leadership candidates, constituency associations or affiliated unions were paying the convention fees for many of the delegates.
In a complaint to Bowles, PC Party of Manitoba president Ryan Matthews said the party’s concern is whether payment of the fees, other than by the individual delegate, constitute a contribution to the NDP under The Election Financing Act.
The NDP has said the fees are to cover the cost of organizing and holding the convention and leadership vote, and are not a contribution. Delegates are not issued a tax receipt for their fees.
“The NDP would have reasonably understood that when an individual or organization, other than the delegate themselves, made a contribution to the party to cover a delegate fee, this individual or organization was doing so with the expectation they would be compensated by that delegate through support and a vote for their preferred leadership contestant,” Matthews said in the letter. “In accepting these payments the NDP may be in contravention of The Elections Financing Act.
“Understanding the number of violations could number in the hundreds, we ask that should you find the actions outlined above to be contraventions that you treat each contravention as an individual offence under the act.”
Maximum penalties under the act range from $5,000 for an individual and $50,000 for a registered political party.
Bowles did not indicate when his investigation would be complete.
When contacted today, he said he could not comment on the matter.