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Details Emerge on MP Gary Lunn's Third Party Advertisers

Watchdog wants Elections Canada to investigate.

By Andrew MacLeod, 19 Mar 2009, TheTyee.ca

Gary Lunn and Stephen Harper

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Gary Lunn with Prime Minister Harper.

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*Note: story modified Mar. 30, 2009 at 5:45 p.m.

The co-manager of Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn's re-election campaign, Byng Giruaud, helped a third-party advertiser get signs to support his candidate.

It's just one of the details revealed in financial reporting released in recent weeks for candidates and third party advertisers involved in the Oct. 14, 2008 election.

Five months after voting day, questions remain about the role third-party advertising played in Saanich-Gulf Islands, where five previously unheard of groups bought ads to support Lunn. Lunn was natural resources minister at the time, but after the election was demoted to a minister of state position.

Four of the groups shared a financial agent, Van Isle Marina owner Mark Dickinson, and were registered out of the legal office of Lunn associate and Victoria lawyer Bruce Hallsor. Hallsor was vice-president of the Conservative's electoral district association for Saanich-Gulf Islands at the time, and remains on the EDA executive in an "election readiness" position.

Citizens Against Higher Taxes list just one expense in the information posted on Election Canada's website: "Byng Giraud Richmond Plastics (has signs) purchase."

The group's financial agent, Dickinson, refused to answer questions. "I'm not going to talk to you," he said. "You have a real good day, OK."

Official agent Lynda Farmer, whose contact information is given as Hallsor's office, could not be reached for comment.

Giraud, however, was matter of fact about what he had done. "I picked up some signs for them," he said. "They just asked me to pick them up, and I said 'sure.'"

So, you were co-managing Lunn's campaign and you were in touch with and helping a third party advertising in the election? "I was co-campaign manager, yes," he said. "I guess that's in touch."

Giraud, by the way, is a registered lobbyist whose work in 2006 included approaching the Natural Resources Ministry when Lunn was the minister in charge.

Evidence of 'collusion': Democracy Watch

The Canada Elections Act defines a third party as "a person or a group, other than a candidate, registered party or electoral district association of a registered party."

"You shouldn't be allowed to be involved with a third party and be involved with a campaign at the same time," said Duff Conacher, the co-ordinator of the Ottawa advocacy group Democracy Watch.

That a third party would be buying signs from Giraud, as their submission states, raises questions, he said. "It seems to be some evidence there was co-operation and collusion between the third party and the minister's campaign workers."

The act also says, "A third party shall not circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, a limit set out in section 350 in any manner, including by splitting itself into two or more third parties for the purpose of circumventing the limit or acting in collusion with another third party so that their combined election advertising expenses exceed the limit."

Section 350 limits a third party to spending $3,666 on advertising during an election.

"It is worthy of an investigation by Elections Canada to determine if what they did would be collusion," said Conacher. "I feel very comfortable saying I think there is evidence pointing to them doing that."*

Sharing a financial agent would make it very, very easy for the groups to collude, he said. "I would say, yes, the fact they shared a financial agent shows they acted in collusion."

Elections Canada spokesperson Maureen Keenan said the agency's policy is to neither confirm nor deny whether an investigation is underway.

There's nothing in the law to prohibit four groups from sharing a financial agent, she said. As for collusion, she said, it is a matter of whether spending limits were broken.

Spending limits

Altogether the five groups that advertised to support Lunn spent $15,671. That's more than four times what any one of them could have legally spent on its own.

Lunn's own campaign, according to recently released campaign financing reports, spent $89, 575 on election expenses, putting him within a couple thousand dollars of the spending limit in the riding.

Lunn was in a hard fought contest in October with Liberal challenger Briony Penn. Penn, for comparison, spent $82,691 that was subject to spending limits.

Penn, by the way, received support from the group One Step at a Time that collected $4,200 from 60 individuals, according to its submission to Elections Canada, and spent $3,463 on a Times Colonist ad, as well as from Avaaz's national campaign, whose many donors included musicians Sarah Harmer, Leslie Feist and Dave Clarke.

When the votes were tallied, Lunn came out ahead of Penn by 2,625 votes.

It is unclear how much the five third party advertisers helped Lunn to victory, but the message in their print ads was clear: "Vote for Gary Lunn."

The Economic Advisory Council of Saanich, one of the Hallsor-Dickinson groups, bought five copies of the same ad, spread throughout the Oct. 11 Victoria Times Colonist: "A Steady Hand for the Future. In challenging economic times, life is full of uncertainty. That's when we need leadership the most. Say no to tax hikes; say yes to leadership and certainty. Vote for Gary Lunn in Saanich Gulf Islands."

A photo of a hand placing a fifth flat stone on top of a stack accompanied the text.

Documents filed with Elections Canada show the ads cost a total of $3,365.82. The group's sole donor was Patricia Trottier, who paid $3,666.

Individuals giving directly to candidates or parties are limited to $1,100.

Trottier is married to Gwyn Morgan, who Le Devoir reported himself gave $20,000 to the National Citizens' Coalition, a group that Prime Minister Stephen Harper formerly headed.

'Gary Lunn delivers'

The Dean Park Advocacy Association, another Dickinson-Hallsor group, spent $3,392.59 on five ads in the Times Colonist on Oct. 11 and 12.

"Gary Lunn delivers," the ad said in capital letters. "With Gary Lunn, Vancouver Island has a strong and persuasive voice at the federal cabinet level."

It listed off three things Lunn "brought us": $10 million to expand Gulf Islands National Park; funding for two recreation centres and $5 million for local transit. "Keep our Cabinet Minister. Vote for Gary Lunn."

The Dean Park "group" had just one source of funds: $3,500 from Ralph and Linda Bodine. Ralph Bodine made his fortune as the chair of Sunkist Growers Inc. and President and CEO of the Bodine Produce Company.

A third Dickinson-Hallsor group, the Saanich Peninsula Citizens Council, spent $3,155 on ads in the Times Colonist and on three local radio stations. "Stop the Dion carbon tax," implored the paper ad. "If you don't want to pay more for your groceries, your utilities, and everything else you purchase, get out and vote against tax hikes. Vote for Gary Lunn in Saanich Gulf Islands."

The group had $1,500 from Van Isle Marina, the Dickinson family business, and Mark's daughter Dana, official agent for the group, gave another $100.

Craig Mearns gave $1,500 and Richard Holmes $250. Mearns also donated $250 to Jack McClintock, the Conservative candidate in Victoria. Both Mearns and Holmes sit on the fundraising campaign cabinet for the New Marine Centre at Sidney, a planned aquarium for which Lunn last year announced a $2 million grant.

Other members of that cabinet include Mark Dickinson and it is co-chaired by Murray and Lynda Farmer.

Signs from campaign manager

Which brings us to the fourth Dickinson-Hallsor group, Citizens Against Higher Taxes, which received $1,500 from Lynda Farmer. Farmer and her husband have wide business interests previously reported in The Tyee.

Another $1,000 for Citizens Against Higher Taxes came from Darlene White, the wife of retired entrepreneur and philanthropist Charlie White. The Whites appear with Holmes in a picture on the Mary Winspear Centre's website's donor recognition page.

The group spent $2,240 on signs: "Byng Giraud Richmond Plastics (has signs) purchase."

Giraud, as mentioned earlier, managed Lunn's campaign. Lunn's campaign expense form includes $4,200 paid to Giraud.

Lawyer Hallsor also shows up on Lunn's expense list, by the way, with $310 marked as "other advertising."

The fifth group supporting Lunn, Common Sense Advocacy of Victoria, had its own financial agent, Donna Evans, and its own address.

The group paid $3,517.50 to Redbird Communications for an ad placed in the Times Colonist. The ad attacks Briony Penn, suggesting she has no "personal credibility," and highlights Lunn's work on the Gulf Islands National Park, recreation centres and local transit.

"In good conscience, we must send the Hon. Gary Lunn back to Ottawa," the ad said. "Keep our strongest voice in Ottawa. Vote for Gary Lunn."

Funding for the ad came from Hyacu Air Ltd. ($500), Louis Webster ($500) and Brian Barrett ($2,117.50).

Webster is the lawyer who worked on freedom of information requests for the defence in the Basi-Virk B.C. Rail case. He also acted for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Conservative candidate Troy de Souza, according to a Times Colonist report, on the recount after the October vote.

The Tyee sought comment from MP Lunn, but was unsuccessful.

Related Tyee stories:

[Tyee]

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. You can reach him here.

21 Comments:

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  • verso

    3 years ago

    Conservatives...

    We only cheat when we can't win.

  • sunshine coast girl

    3 years ago

    This guy is a creep...

    [EDITED FOR LEGAL CONCERNS. -MODERATOR.] I'd love to see an investigation.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    A good start

    I think this article is a good start on getting to the bottom of the shenanigans that went on in Saanich and the Islands.

    Now it's time to go beyond Lunn, to turn over all the rocks on Penn's campaign, and to find out how and by whom West's candidacy was terminated with the help of uncritical, east-to-use media.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    AVAAZ: "musicians Sarah Harmer, Leslie Feist and Dave Clarke"

    The article links to the Elections Canada report for a group called AVAAZ, which is described as receiving support from musicians.

    The EC report shows that AVAAZ raised a total of $155,583. It spent $57,734 on advertising, but doesn't say what became of the remaining $97,849. Would it be a good guess that most of it remains on hand for the next election?

    Of the $155 thousand raised, $9,932 came from 25 large donors who are identified in the report and who gave an average of just under $400. The rest of the money, 94% of it, came from 4,131 people who gave an average of $35. That's quite a feat for a group that is essentially unknown, to attract smaller but still significant donations from over four thousand people.

    The agent for the group is a Ricken Patel, who gives an Ottawa business address for the group, but who is from New York. One of the identified donors is a Millan Patel of Richmond, BC. A Millan Patel is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Medical Genetics department of UBC.

    There was some discussion of the New York residency of Ricken Patel in the comments at a MacLeans blog during the election:

    http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/10/06/avaazca-vs-baird-the-shadowy-foreign-organization-strikes-back/

  • RickW

    3 years ago

    I live in Saanich-Gulf Islands............

    ......and Lunn simply has to go. That Harper does not cooperate fully with an investigation indicates the real morality of himself as well.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    sunshine coast girl: Anything else worth investigating?

    [EDITED FOR LEGAL CONCERNS. -MODERATOR.]

    If I understand what you're saying, sunshine coast, the only thing you think needs to be investigated in relation to the NDP are these late campaign phone calls urging people to vote for the NDP.

    I believe the biggest thing that needs investigating in relation to the NDP are all the circumstances surrounding the forced withdrawal of candidate Julian West. Who really authored the "women coming forward" press release? What degree of honest fact checking did certain jounalists do before running that press release as fact? What political affiliations do the authors and journalists have? How much of this political theatre was arranged by Liberals or by officials of environmental NGOs?

    Please recall, sunshine coast, that there was an earlier attempt at excluding a non-Liberal candidate. When the Green Party met to pick a candidate, all their members received strongly worded messages, ostensibly coming from one of the ENGO leaders, ordering them not to field a candidate so that all the non-Tory vote could be coalesced into a single {READ: Liberal] column. That attempt didn't work. The Greens ignored these orders from the ENGO official and the Liberals and nominated a candidate anyway.

    Given that earlier attempt to forcibly winnow the field by eliminating any Green candidate, how can it possibly be a coincidence that West was later pushed out of the race, and that his supporters were told by Liberals and ENGO leaders to vote for Penn or else?

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    Victoria Lawyer Richard Schwartz: One Step at a Time

    The article lists a third party group called "One Step at a Time" as among the supporters of Liberal candidate Penn.

    The Elections Canada report states that the official agent for One Step is a Richard Schwartz, and gives his law office as the address for the group. The group raised $4,020 from 60 individuals, none of whom gave enough ($200+) to be named.

    Victoria Lawyer Richard Schwartz is a director of the Legal Services Society of BC and that organization's website describes him as follows:

    Quote:
    Richard Schwartz practices law in Victoria, focusing on criminal law and youth criminal justice law. He also represents wards of the Director for Children and Families in criminal and youth courts, and appears as ad hoc Crown Counsel — both by appointment of the Attorney General. His experience includes several years as president of Victoria’s John Howard Society (1987– 1992) and of the Fairfield Community Association (2003 – 2005). Other community contributions include involvement in the Youth Program Committee of BC, the City of Victoria’s Downtown Advisory and Advisory Planning committees, and chairing the Canadian Bar Association’s Youth Justice Section (1999 – 2005).

    http://www.lss.bc.ca/about/BoardOfDirectors.asp

  • politico

    3 years ago

    Other shoe to drop

    While the incestuous details roll out about the third party shenanigans you can not help but wonder what of the mysterious robo-calls that worked to put Mr. Lunn over the top.

    That Elections Canada does not divulge details related to their investigations or if they are even investigating at all leaves inquiry minds to their own devices.

    All of this will culminate just in time for the Olympics and our little minister of State must be very anxious......

  • politico

    3 years ago

    Whats to investigate, Smelser?

    There is no doubt the greens cooked up some back room play in this riding all three candidates were former green party activists.

    A well established sect with influence in the party pushed to get a rogue candidate out of the way of their plans with full knowledge of the content of West's closet and with little doubt of there intent.

    It was reported on these pages that the New Liberal Democrat Zubyck spoon fed the media the regurgitated scandal from West's past.

    There is little doubt the embarrassing occasion actually occurred so what are ya driving at? What else do you need to know?

    The real issues here lie in the behavior of the incumbent and the illegal nature of the robo-calls, in addition to the labyrinth of incestuous conservative operatives laid bare in MacLeod's excellent piece of journalism.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    I don't see it that way, politico

    I think Julian West was improperly forced out with a pre-packaged smear, an act worthy of the late Junior Senator from Wisconsin. I am not at all satisfied with the fifth estate's conduct in this matter.

    Yes, Zubyk played a role. Yes, Green politics were involved. That's part of the story, but all the dots need to be connected, and the university climate experts who were in the eye of the hurricane need to take responsibility for their conduct.

    The voting public needs to understand that there's a green element who feel the ends justify the means. Their lofty claims to being great idealists need to be seen alongside their appetite for very rough tactics.

    What does come out of the Lunn third party groups' expense statements is far bigger than Lunn. In fact, he's not even an issue as far as I am concerned. Many of his support groups got donations from business, which are not allowed for parties or candidates. So if enough third party groups are setup, there's a way around the ban on business and labour donations.

  • Andrew MacLeod

    3 years ago

    Phone calls

    Election officials have dropped the investigation into the election eve calls for the withdrawn NDP candidate in Saanich-Gulf Islands.

    You'll find details here:

    http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Federal-Politics/2009/03/19/PhoneFraudDrop

  • politico

    3 years ago

    Phone calls

    It is inconceivable in today's age that this investigation be dropped based on the claim made by officials reported by MacLeod.

    This is an outrage and I hope Democracy Watch presses hard and finds support from all corners in pushing to reopen this file.

    Where is the NDP?

  • politico

    3 years ago

    Smelser

    You are obviously privy to some piece of the puzzle not yet aired to your satisfaction.

    Clearly anyone who cares knows that a group of politically motivated folks with influence in the green party and others obviously cooked up a set of circumstances they felt were sufficient to beat the incumbent.

    They might have been aggressive but that is not illegal, impersonating people and making fraudulent claims that affect an election is.

    If you think a complicit media is the angle then you clearly do not have a solid grasp on the traditional role of the media during elections.

    Who cares if some clever Machavellian wannabes got over zealous in their bid to a tale out a Cabinet Minister?

    If that kinda stuff was relevant then pretty near all nominations for political candidate would be making headlines.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    politico: I care very much

    Who cares if some clever Machavellian wannabes got over zealous in their bid to a tale out a Cabinet Minister?

    I care very much if clever Machiavellian manipulators, aided by an uncritical, even cooperative press, willing to print smears as fact, are seriously impacting election results. Perhaps that's because I think McCarthyism is wrong in general, not just when practiced by the political right.

    The smear on West, featured by national media, was seen by far more people and had a far bigger impact on the vote than anything these anonymous phone calls could conceivably have had.

    In your own opinion, politico, what has Lunn done that deserves this "any and all costs" type of approach, what has he done that is so awful that defeating him is an end that justifies the use of any means? Why the violent, all-consuming obsession with Lunn?

  • politico

    3 years ago

    Smelser

    First off, what you claim to be "smear" is not.

    Clearly the media can be criticized for sensationalism, but the story was not a smear job. It was a news story from Julian's past that is indisputable.

    Politics is dirty business and speaking personally I have never engaged in the darker side of campaigning. However, many do and in this case it was the NDP's own operative who blew the file open on West.

    The reason I advocated for a pre-election election amongst the opposition parties to defeat Lunn was three fold.

    1) To stop conservative manipulation of the vote split among progressive thinkers
    2) To send a strong message of opposition to the agenda forwarded by the candidate in his role as Minister
    3) To send a better candidate to Ottawa with a stronger support base who would forward an agenda that better reflects the majority of voters in S-GI

    In addition to these primary reasons I felt it would have an impact beyond the borders of S-GI and encourage others to stop the conservative manipulation of the vote split and start delivering more democratic results in Ottawa.

    I never advocated doing anything "at all costs" nor did I involve myself in any violent all consuming obsessions. ( Nice example of violent overblown rhetoric though!)

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    It very definitely was a smear, and it is highly disputable.

    politico
    First off, what you claim to be "smear" is not.

    Clearly the media can be criticized for sensationalism, but the story was not a smear job. It was a news story from Julian's past that is indisputable. ]

    It very definitely was a smear, and it is highly disputable.

    Politics is dirty business and speaking personally I have never engaged in the darker side of campaigning. However, many do and in this case it was the NDP's own operative who blew the file open on West.

    That politics is a "dirty business" and should remain so seems to be an article of faith with many of your political allies in Saanich-Gulf Islands. Nice to know that you don't like to play that way yourself, but will align yourself with those who do, and denounce anyone who gets in their way. As for "the NDP's own operative", I assume this is a reference to Brad Zubyk. In what sense does he belong to the NDP? When was the last time he did any work for that party? Is he going to be working for the BC NDP in this May's provincial election?

  • G West

    3 years ago

    I think this is a Faustian bargain

    Clearly, Penn had a choice and she chose to run for the Liberals - backed by the old line David Anderson 'win at any costs' philosophy whose tactic of busing in new members to nominating conventions - many holding memberships they didn't actually pay for themselves - was instrumental in turning politics in BC into a dirtier business than it need bee.

    I don't think there were any SERIOUS party mediated efforts to coalesce support around one candidate to defeat Lunn - if there had been, the ostensible choice (on the basis of the previous results) would have been the NDP.

    [i]Ex post facto[/i} to argue that this was Penn's objective in the face of the clear involvement of her campaign officials in the demonization of West for something far less problematic (and which happened long before he was involved in public life) seems to me to be special pleading.

    Especially in a province where we have a CEO leader who was convicted of an criminal offence while he was the Premier of BC.

    I think Penn and her supporters should be doing every bit as much, and probably more, soul searching as Julian West undoubtedly did.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    Yes, they should be. No, they won't.

    G West
    I think Penn and her supporters should be doing every bit as much, and probably more, soul searching as Julian West undoubtedly did.

    Yes, the should be. No, they won't. That's not their style, it's not the Liberal way.

    And with the Nanos poll showing the Liberals at 36%, based on a fall-off in NDP support to 13%, they have no incentive to change their behaviour. To say I am appalled at the public's gullibility and easiness, and their refusal to realize that it was Layton who moved Harper towards a more stimulative fiscal package, shows just how difficult and thoroughly dysfunctional Canadian federal politics have become in the age of TV, internet, etc.

  • G West

    3 years ago

    In Tommy Douglas's phrase

    They're both cats....and the mice still don't GET IT.

  • Rod Smelser

    3 years ago

    Yeah, ... it's too bad about those mice.

    As usual, Douglas had it right.

    I think the public is essentially befuddled by the infotainment aspects of modern media and the time consuming demands of their daily routines. As for the internet, it's spawned more conflict than conversation.

  • G West

    3 years ago

    spawned more conflict than conversatio

    Couldn't agree more - generally speaking much of the effect of 'discussion' online is to harden views and reinforce prejudices...

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