Stronach’s spending probed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2005 (7472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Canada’s elections watchdog is reviewing Belinda Stronach’s 2004 campaign expenses for possible overspending.

Questions surround a $75,378 expenditure that appeared on the books as part of her lavish $100,000 victory party.

Documents obtained by the Free Press show that on June 24 last year, voting day, her Tory campaign team held a victory party and spent more than $25,000 on items such as hall rental, catering and performances by rock bands Glass Tiger and the Carpet Frogs. These party expenses are not being investigated because they are outside the campaign period and not subject to the spending limit.

But the review is concerned with the $75,378 bill from a Toronto public relations firm called Atlantis Creative Group for what was listed in Stronach’s official campaign expenses as marketing and communications work.

The Atlantis invoice includes a $34,240 charge for what was classified as an election-day project, suggesting the work was done while polls were still open and was therefore subject to campaign spending limits.

A subsequent invoice from Atlantis treats that earlier payment as a deposit for a project whose final price tag was $75,378.In the 2004 election, the campaign spending limit for candidates in Newmarket-Aurora constituency was $76,613. In her filing, Stronach says she spent only $71,141.

The review of her successful campaign as a Tory could prove troubling for the millionaire politician, who crossed the floor of the House of Commons and now, as Liberal human resources minister, is responsible for the Liberals’ democratic renewal policy.

Presented with documentation of Stronach’s spending by a reporter, Elections Canada couldn’t explain how she could incur a $75,378 bill for marketing and communications after the polls closed. Elections Canada also couldn’t provide proof the Atlantis expense was incurred outside the campaign period covered by a spending limit.

The investigation into Stronach’s expenses is being done by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, an independent arm of Elections Canada responsible for enforcing the Canada Elections Act. Dan Fuoco, Stronach’s official agent in her 2004 campaign as a Tory and also her agent in her current re-election bid as a Liberal, confirmed Elections Canada continues to have questions about her spending and that the file remains open even though the election took place 18 months ago.

“I have spent the past year dealing with audits and filing people with Elections Canada,” said Fuoco, who also was a key player in Stronach’s 2003 run for the Tory leadership won by Stephen Harper.

Fuoco insisted that questions surrounding her 2004 campaign do not deal with her expenses, but rather a statement of surplus that has yet to be filed. As well, Fuoco maintains the bill to Atlantis was to pay for arrangements so television networks could cover her campaign live on election night.

“They (the networks) wanted to do a national live broadcast from the hall,” Fuoco said.

“It was a large expense to accommodate the TV stations. It was to occur after the election closed, so it gets treated as a post-election expense.”

Fuoco’s explanation that the money was used to pay for equipment that television needed to cover Stronach’s campaign is unusual, because not only do TV reporters bring their own equipment, such as satellite trucks, to cover events live, but journalists rarely demand a politician foot the bill for covering a campaign event.

Peter Seemann, Stronach’s campaign manager in 2004 and now part of the Tory team trying to unseat her, said he was in the dark about much of Stronach’s spending because her campaign was being directed by Fuoco and other officials of Magna International, the auto-parts giant of which she is a former president.

“It was a total surprise to me when I finally saw that return (involving Atlantis Creative),” Seemann said.

NDP candidate Ed Chudak, who ran against Stronach in 2004 and is back again for the New Democrats in this race, called on Elections Canada to ensure the financial playing field is level for every candidate in Newmarket-Aurora riding this time.

“If the (expenditures) prove to be an over-expenditure, it makes a farce of the electoral process and democracy and it’s a very odd position for the minister of democratic renewal to be in,” Chudak said.

Earlier this year, Manitoba Tory MP Vic Toews was convicted in Manitoba for $7,500 in campaign overspending during the 1999 Manitoba provincial campaign.

Toews (Provencher) wanted an absolute discharge so he wouldn’t have a record, but received a $500 fine. At the time, federal Treasury Board President Reg Alcock immediately called for Toews to be stripped of his role as Tory justice critic.

Atlantis Creative, which has done work in the past for Magna, did not return phone calls to discuss the nature of the work it performed for Stronach on election day last June.

paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca

What Stronach did:

The Newmarket-Aurora MP reported

she spent $71,141 on her 2004 campaign.

What Stronach was allowed to do:

Based on the population of the riding,

she was allowed to spend $76,613.

What is being questioned:

A bill for $75,378 from Atlantis Creative Group for marketing and communications work appears as part of a $100,000 bill for a lavish victory party after the election.