You just knew this was coming. The Ottawa Press Gallery is now being forced to finally acknowledge the Liberals who had broken the Election Act due to their leadership debts (see here) but instead of reporting honestly on it, take a look at how the Liberal friendly media are trying to deflect it back on the Conservative government.
Globe and Mail’s Gloria Galloway:
The former contestants are caught in a bind the Conservative government created by changing the law halfway through the 2006 campaign to prevent any donor from giving more than $1,100, in total, to candidates in a single leadership race. (see here)
Umm, except that the facts and dates don’t support this meme.
- The Liberal leadership race date was announced on March 19 2006
- The Federal Accountability Act, with the rule changes for donations, was introduced into the House of Commons on 11 April 2006 – only three weeks later
- Three of the four candidates announced their candidacies after that date:
Joe Volpe April 21
Ken Dryden April 29
Hedy Fry May 4
Only Martha Hall-Findlay did so before then (Feb 8) but there’s no way on God’s green earth did she spend all that money prior to April 11.
Also, the membership cut-off was not until July 4, the delegate selection started on Sept 29 and the convention started on Nov 29.
So, for Galloway to state that the donation changes came “half-way through” is complete BS as these Liberals all knew what the rules were or were going to be well before throwing their hat in the ring.
Another example of the Liberals, through their media cohorts, caught making up lies and/or omitting the truth to avoid taking responsibility for breaking the law.
