Heather Stephenson broke the rules for funding the election in her candidacy last fall to be elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and thus prime minister of Manitoba, according to the Manitoba election commissioner.
Stephenson defeated rival Shelley Glover in the PC leadership race, which ended on October 30, less than two months after Brian Palister resigned as prime minister and party leader.
Tim Johnson, the NDP’s chief financial officer for the NDP, later filed a complaint with Manitoba Election Commissioner Bill Bowles.
Johnson accused Stephenson of incurring expenses for her candidacy for PC leadership before the official start of the race, which is a violation of the Election Funding Act, Bowles said in a May 12 letter.
Bowles said in the course of the investigation, Stephenson confirmed that she had spent $ 1,800 before the start date of the August 23 campaign.
“Prime Minister Stephenson acknowledged that, in retrospect, these expenditures were made prematurely and apologized for his mistake,” Bowles wrote.
“She explained that she did not think that spending money on her campaign was prohibited at the time.”
His letter states that he found no evidence to suggest that Stefanson’s campaign intentionally violated the rules.
As such, he decided it would not be in the public interest to prosecute the prime minister for the violation. Instead, Bowles issued an official warning to Stephenson.
“The early start of a leadership candidate’s campaign may have benefited this candidate, and I do not believe it would be appropriate to ignore this breach of the law altogether,” the statement said.
In his official warning to Stephenson, Bowles said it was the responsibility of leaders and their campaigns to be aware of the rules governing election spending.
Jordan Sison, Stefanson’s campaign manager, reiterated that the violation was not intentional.
“Prime Minister / MLA Stephenson has already apologized for the unintentional mistake,” Sison said in a statement on Friday.
Sisson said the $ 1,800 expense was related to an event on August 18, 2021 at the Waverly Heights Community Center, in which Stephenson announced his intention to run for the leadership of the computer.
NDP MLA Malaya Marcelino accused Stephenson of not following the rules that “everyone else follows”. She cited the prime minister’s failure to reveal $ 31 million in personal property sales as an example.
“Manitobans hold their political leaders to a higher standard,” Marcelino said. “It is clear that Prime Minister Stephenson cannot meet with this bar.
Add Comment