Compliance Agreements

COMMISSIONER OF CANADA ELECTIONS

CANADA ELECTIONS ACT

Compliance agreement

This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9 (hereafter referred to as the "Act").

On May 30, 2013, and pursuant to section 517 of the Act, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a compliance agreement with Ms. Jody Riley (hereafter referred to as the "Contracting Party"), of the unincorporated community of Bowmanville, in the municipality of Clarington, in the province of Ontario, who was the first official agent of Mr. Stephen Leahy, a candidate in the 2008 federal general election in the electoral district of Durham.

In the compliance agreement, the Contracting Party has acknowledged that:

• Section 437 of the Act imposes requirements on an official agent related to the candidate's campaign bank account, notably the requirement in subsection 437(3) that all financial transactions of the candidate's electoral campaign that involve the payment or receipt of money be paid from or deposited to that account.
• Failure to abide by the requirements of section 437 of the Act could constitute an offence pursuant to paragraph 497(1)(r) of the Act.
• Subsection 473(1) of the Act imposes requirements on an official agent to dispose of a surplus of electoral funds within 60 days after receiving the notice of estimated surplus.
• Paragraph 473(2)(a) of the Act imposes requirements on an official agent to dispose of a surplus of electoral funds, in the case of a candidate who was endorsed by a registered party, to that party or to the registered association of that party in the candidate's electoral district.
• Failure to abide by the requirements of section 473 of the Act could constitute an offence under paragraphs 497(1)(z) and 497(3)(w) of the Act.
• She was required to dispose of the campaign surplus by July 27, 2010, and did not do so before another individual succeeded her as official agent on September 27, 2010.
• A refund in the amount of $314.16 from a campaign supplier was received by her as official agent but was not deposited in the campaign bank account as required by subsection 437(3) of the Act.
• This impeded the efforts of the official agent who succeeded her to dispose of the full amount of the surplus to the Durham Federal Green Party Association.
• She later paid the $314.16 in question to the candidate's current official agent, who then paid it to the Durham Federal Green Party Association.

The Contracting Party accepted responsibility for these acts.

Prior to the conclusion of the compliance agreement, the Commissioner of Canada Elections took into account that the Contracting Party promptly admitted the facts, that she took responsibility for the acts that led to the compliance agreement, that the amount not deposited into the campaign bank account was ultimately repaid by the Contracting Party, and that the amount comprising the surplus was ultimately disposed of by the succeeding official agent.

Ottawa, June 13, 2013

Yves Côté, QC
Commissioner of Canada Elections