Liberals Ask Elections Canada to Investigate By-Election Mailings
March 10, 2014
Commissioner of Canada Elections
c/o Elections Canada
257 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M6
Dear Commissioner:
I am writing to you concerning a serious matter involving the by-election that took place last fall in the federal electoral district of Bourassa.
Media articles at the time, notably a November 18, 2013, and a November 19, 2013, article in Le Devoir (links provided below), report that MPs from the federal NDP Caucus have been using their free mailing privileges to mass mail letter-style flyers promoting the NDP to households in Bourassa.
If, as it appears, these letters were delivered to households after the writ for the by-election was dropped, then the value of the mailings would constitute illegal donations to the NDP candidate prohibited by sections 405 (1)(b), 405.2 (1), and 405.3 of the Canada Elections Act.
The benefits accrued from these mailings are not a trivial matter. For example, if you are able to determine that these mailings were sent just once to each of the 40,000 households in Bourassa, the market value of such a first-class mailing would be about $20,000, or over 20% of the allowable spending cap for a candidate in the Bourassa by-election.
The letters include a “no postage required” tear off reply form, constituting a further taxpayer supported benefit apparently being used by the NDP to identify individuals likely to vote for their candidate.
If, in fact, the envelopes and the printing of the letters were also paid for with taxpayer-funded resources, then those would constitute additional unlawful donations using public resources to the NDP campaign.
Given the seriousness of this matter, I request that you investigate how many of these letters were sent, and if they were in fact delivered after the writ had been dropped. Once you have determined a fair market value for these mailings, it would seem that the Canada Elections Act would require that the NDP candidate in Bourassa be compelled to include their value as reportable campaign expenses under section 407 of the Act, and be forced to apply this value to the candidate’s $89,016.17 spending cap in Bourassa set out pursuant to section 440 of the Act.
As new by-elections will have to be called soon in currently vacant federal seats, I feel it is essential for Elections Canada to fully investigate this matter to ensure that there is no question of taxpayer-funded resources being used to support candidates in any future elections.
Yours truly,
Marc Garneau, M.P.
Westmount—Ville Marie
Links to the media articles cited above:
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/393025/le-npd-facture-au-parlement-des-envois-postaux-de-deputes
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/canada/393060/le-npd-affirme-ne-faire-qu-imiter-les-autres