Byelection candidates unaware of any campaign infractions or complaints
By Collin Gallant on October 31, 2017.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com @CollinGallant One year after the byelection in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner, officials with Elections Canada may or may not be looking into two outstanding complaints about politicking during the race to fill the local federal seat. All candidates contacted said they had no knowledge about two issues briefly mentioned in the final report on the Oct. 23, 2016 vote, tabled earlier this year. This week, successful Conservative candidate Glen Motz said he’s essentially closed the books on the byelection. “I’ve had no issues, and I think if it was anything serious we’d have known by now,” said Motz. “They’re basically done with our finance end of it and that’s usually the biggest concern.” Similarly, federal Liberal campaign staff told the News this week that beyond a minor printing error, they knew of no other potential problems or complaints. Spokesman Braeden Caley said the campaign to elect local candidate Stan Sakamoto “fully complied” with rules and regulations. “The party’s returns being reviewed by Elections Canada is standard procedure after every such campaign,” he said. In late 2016, there was widespread speculation in the strongly conservative riding that Liberal expenses would surely be pushed beyond limits by a campaign stop from prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A submitted financial report from the Liberal campaign states that its expenses were $106,841, below the mandated spending limit of about $112,500. The campaign brought in $107,000, including transfers from the federal party of $96,000, likely in part to cover the overnight visit by Trudeau and stage an event that drew 2,000 people to downtown Medicine Hat. “Hard work by Stan Sakamoto and his volunteers helped the Liberal Party of Canada see its strongest result in southern Alberta in over 42 years, and our movement has continued to grow over the past year,” said Caley. In the final accounting, the Liberals outspent the Conservatives in a race many saw as a foregone conclusion. Motz won the seat with about 70 per cent support and almost tripled Sakamoto’s vote count. The Grits did manage to win a higher percentage of votes compared to previous elections and boasted higher local campaign contributions of $11,175. The Tory campaign raised $27,570 specifically for the race and received a large transfer from the party and local riding association. In total it brought in about $100,500 and spent $83,400. A total of 23 complaints were officially lodged with Election Canada, including 15 related to voting day, the list of electors, or signs and accessibility of polling locations. Eight related to the activities of political parties or campaign spending, of which two were forwarded to Office of the Commissioner of Elections Canada for further evaluation. Spokesperson Michelle Laliberte, of that office, said “Any investigations that are undertaken are generally not disclosed.” She said issues are not made public unless the office lays charges under the Elections Act or if a compliance agreement is agreed to between elections Canada and the subject of the complaint. Caley told the News that some campaign signs failed to state the name of the official agent of the candidate — a necessity on campaign literature — but the Liberals proactively informed Elections Canada of the mistake. Christian Heritage Party Leader Rod Taylor told the News he had noticed the apparent problem on the Liberal signs but felt it was minor and didn’t bother reporting it. “I’m not aware of anything else that’s come up and certainly not involving our campaign,” he said from his home in Telkwa, B.C. Taylor placed third in voting and raised $21,456 from donors mostly outside the riding. Libertarian Party candidate Sheldon Johnston spent a total of $1,800 on a self-funded campaign that received a $1,000 transfer from that party. That outpaced the New Democrats, whose financial statements show only $422 was spent on the fourth-place finish for candidate Bev Waege. Rhinoceros Party hopeful Kayne Cooper has not filed financial documents. 28
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