Windsor West MP Brian Masse hopes to hear back from the Elections Commissioner Wednesday after a ruling that he violated the Elections Act during the last federal campaign.
A complaint from Windsor West resident Edy Haddad, who later became the campaign manager for Liberal candidate Audrey Festeryga in the riding of Essex, launched the investigation.
Activist Edy Haddad speaks at a rally at the University of Windsor on March 20, 2019. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
Haddad complained that the billboards erected in Windsor West amounted to partisan advertising when one remained up after the writ was dropped on September 11, 2018.
"When I called the [constituency] office to look into it to see if this was an election expense, they told me it was being paid for by constituency money," said Haddad. "It was wholly inappropriate for that to happen and to use taxpayer money to try to influence people's vote during an election."
The billboards calling for an urban national park at Ojibway Shores have Masse's name on them and were paid for with taxpayer money, an expense that Masse insists it was done with a House of Commons committee's approval.
They went up days before the election was called. Once Prime Minister got permission from the Governor-General to call an election, Masse said his office called the two billboard companies to have them taken down. One complied, while the other company took it down a week later.
"We had confirmed that they would take the billboards down if an election was called, because we didn't know the exact date," said Masse. "We're just sorting out what else we could have done because we certainly don't want to be outside of any election issues, and we thought we were safe with regards to the process."
An investigator in the Office of the Elections Commissioner, Eli Froese-Germain wrote to Haddad on Tuesday, "once the election was called, these billboards became elections advertising and were subject to tagline requirements as per section 320 of the Act -- The Commissioner has determined that an offence was committed, and has chosen to address the matter using informal means."
Masse is not sure what consequences he faces. He told BlackburnNews.com his office only became aware of the investigation last week when his office received an email from the commissioner's office. He insisted he has not heard from the office since and was blindsided Tuesday when members of the media called for his reaction.
Haddad released emails between himself and Froese-Germain to multiple media outlets Tuesday morning.
Masse said his office was hoping to issue a statement to the media on Monday after speaking with the Office of the Elections Commissioner.
"We tried to get the ads down right away. The election was called sooner than expected so, we immediately called, and we immediately emailed to make sure we could try and get them down. Unfortunately, one billboard was not able to come down," he said.
Haddad is not buying it. He claimed Masse should have known during the pre-election period that the writ could be dropped any time.
"He knowingly did this. We called him at the beginning of this. He refused to do anything about it. He willfully flouted the law, and it's really hard to believe from a guy that's been there for this many years that he wouldn't know. It's not like he's some neophyte," Haddad alleged.
He also said he is not impressed the commissioner did not tell him what penalties Masse will face and hinted there may be more to come.
"Elections Canada will be auditing Brian's returns. It has to include these billboards as an election's expense. That may bring him over his limit," said Haddad. "I'm very interested to see what his limit will be after he includes these billboards. That could open up another issue."
A tight race was expected Election Night in Windsor West, but ultimately Masse won a resounding victory against his Liberal competitor, Sandra Pupatello. All the same, Haddad wondered if the billboards could have swayed the result in Masse's favour.
"We all know one week in politics is a very long time," he said. "I do believe that this would have had an effect because this was right at the beginning of the campaign. It was just before it, and it was a big deal."
