Pre-campaign may bite O’Leary
Conservative’s politicking could be courting administrative headaches with Elections Canada
He is, after all, an inveterate showman, which is why it’s no surprise to see investor-turned-TV personality Kevin O’Leary doing his best to stretch out the suspense in deciding whether or not to make a bid for the Conservative leadership.
But while it may be standard practice south of the border, there’s no real precedent within the Canadian political sphere for the will-he-or won’t-he game of political peekaboo that O’Leary has been playing with both the party and the press since last spring.
By waiting until the last possible moment to decide if he wants to join the race, O’Leary may be unwittingly courting unnecessary administrative hassles for both himself and his putative campaign team down the line — even if he ultimately decides not to join the fray.
As it stands, neither the federal political financing laws or the rules laid out for the Conservative race are designed to accommodate the kind of American presidential nomination-style pre-campaign politicking in which O’Leary has been indulging.
Under the Canada Elections Act, a candidate “is deemed to have been a leadership contestant from the time they accept a contribution, incur a leadership campaign expense or borrow money,” regardless of whether he or she has formally entered the race — and, as such, subject to the same rules that apply to all other candidates, including limits on how much of their own money they can spend on the hustings.
And until he makes it official, party rules effectively bar O’Leary from raising any money from outside contributors, which reduces his theoretical pre-campaign budget to just $25,000, which is the maximum a candidate can donate to their own campaign.
So what, exactly, qualifies as a leadership campaign expense? Well, that’s where it gets tricky. According to Elections Canada, it includes all expenses that are “reasonably incurred by or on behalf of the leadership contestant during the leadership contest as an incidence of the contest,” which could cover everything from the entry fee charged by the party to costs related to campaign itself: advertising; polling; salaries for campaign staff; and renting a campaign office.
It could, however, also apply to OLearyForCanada.ca, the website launched by the “national advisory committee” unveiled by O’Leary last week “to mobilize public support” for his candidacy, which asks potential supporters to submit their contact information before voting on whether he should join the race, thus potentially providing fodder for any eventual voter database.
In fact, in theory, it could even include the cost of transmitting the press release introducing the site.
If Elections Canada were to decide the website — or, for that matter, any other initiative undertaken by the committee — constituted a leadership expense, it wouldn’t matter when the costs were incurred.
Alternately, if the website was funded by a supporter or supporters, it would be considered a nonmonetary contribution, and would be subject to the $1,550 annual limit on individual donations.
It would also be a violation of the party-imposed leadership rules.
As has become standard practice for federal leadership races, the Conservative Party requires all fundraising to be done via directed donations – payments made to the central party, which is responsible for issuing tax receipts and making sure donors don’t go over the cap.
Directed contributions can only be accepted by a campaign after a candidate has registered with Elections Canada.
That, as it happens, is one reason why New Democrat MP Peter Julian quietly filed his registration papers with Elections Canada last week: not because he’s made the decision to run for the NDP leadership, but out of what he describes as an “abundance of caution” in the event that he does.
“We have to be tracking any expenses and any contributions,” he told the Citizen.
“Some folks have wanted to make some contributions before the end of the year, just to encourage me to run, but the decision has not been made yet.”
But while the NDP is willing to provide potential candidates with the documents needed to register with Elections Canada before they have officially applied to join the race, Conservative hopefuls must first file their nomination papers before the party will certify his or her candidacy, a process that requires both time and money.
And, in the end, if O’Leary’s committee were to conclude that there was no “path to victory” in sight, he could still be required to file his expenses with Elections Canada if the total exceeded $5,000, with additional reporting obligations if he hit the $10,000 mark.
According to O’Leary’s spokeswoman Amy Mills, as of this week, no decision on entering the race has been made.
“If he chooses to do so, he will be in full compliance with all regulations pursuant to the Canada Elections Act,” she told The Ottawa Citizen via email.