Tories make U-turn over Elections Canada powers
Harper backs NDP move to give more investigative powers to elections boss
Prime minister stephen harper’s Conservatives, in a sudden flip-flop, have revealed they are prepared to support giving more investigative powers to Canada’s chief electoral officer.
The development occurred Wednesday, when Harper told the House of Commons his party will support an NDP motion to be debated by MPS today. The motion calls for legislation within six months to provide strengthened powers to Elections Canada.
Just a day earlier, the government had adopted a different position, insisting that its MPS on a parliamentary committee had blocked a move to give new audit powers to Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand because it would add expenses to the elections agency’s budget.
Mayr and had sought new powers to force parties to verify their election expenses with detailed records and receipts — a responsibility the Tories said should instead rest in the hands of private-sector compliance auditors hired by the parties themselves.
But as the robocalls controversy dominates debate on Parliament Hill — and as Elections Canada conducts an investigation into complaints of electoral fraud in last year’s election — it has become clear that Harper wants to forestall a public perception that he is obstructing the elections agency.
Opposition parties have alleged that the Tories are stonewalling when asked to provide details on the robocalls affair. Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said Wednesday that Harper has a long “ideological” history of opposing Elections Canada, which he once described when he led the National Citizens Coalition as an agency staffed by “jackasses.”
But in the Commons this week, Harper has begun to stress that the governing Tories will provide their records from the last campaign to Elections Canada.
Moreover, the Tories have dropped their appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in a long-running battle with Elections Canada that dates back to the 2006 election in connection with the so-called “in-and-out scheme” on election financing.
In question period Wednesday, Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel asked the prime minister if the Tories will support her party’s motion to grant new powers to Mayrand.
“We have no objection to this proposal,” replied Harper. A senior aide to the prime minister later confirmed the Tories will support the NDP motion.
On Tuesday, Harper had sidestepped questions in the House over why his party had previously refused to grant more leeway to Mayrand to probe party expenses for all elections.
Opposition parties revealed that over the course of the last two years, a commons committee has examined how to reform the Canada Elections Act. One of the changes they said Mayrand preferred was to be given extra powers to order documents to verify party expenses — similar to the way the auditor general probes federal agencies and departments.
Opposition parties say they were willing to provide those extra powers to Mayrand, noting that he was simply seeking the powers that his provincial counterparts have for provincial elections. But they said that once the Tories won last year’s election, they used their majority power on the committee to block that change.
New Democrat MP David Christopherson, who has been at the forefront in pushing for greater powers for Elections Canada, reacted with bemusement Wednesday to the Tories’ flip-flop.
“If that’s the case, that’s wonderful,” he told reporters.
He said it appears the robocalls controversy has the Tories on their heels. “Are the wheels beginning to fall off their wagon? Are they finally getting some oxygen and realizing what the right thing is to do? I don’t know, but at this point, they’re sending out a mixed message.”