Straight Talk

Conservative MP and former police chief Julian Fantino under fire over campaign spending

by Charlie Smith on March 10th, 2012 at 9:14 AM
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      A campaign-finance scandal is swirling around another former police chief turned politician.

      CBC has reported that three former members of the Conservative riding association in Vaughan, Ontario have sworn affidavits asking for an investigation by Elections Canada into Julian Fantino's campaign accounting.

      Fantino, a former Toronto police chief and associate minister of defence, became an MP in a by-election in Vaughan in 2010.

      According to CBC, the trio claim that Fantino's fundraising chair said there was a "second bank account that contained more than $300,000". Fantino's spokesperson, Chris McCluskey, denied the allegation.

      Here in B.C., former West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed, now the B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a special prosecutor, though he was fined $8,000 for violating the Election Act by exceeding the campaign-spending limit.

      Heed's former campaign manager, Barinder Sall, claimed that close to $40,000 in election expenses were not accounted for—an allegation that Heed denied.

      Sall pleaded guilty to misleading investigators and violating the Election Act. He was fined $15,000 and put on probation for a year.

      Heed, the former solicitor general, hasn't indicated yet if he will seek reelection in 2013.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Ron S

      Mar 10, 2012 at 12:02pm

      The police are more likely to be criminals than the criminals and more likely to get away with it.

      Min Reyes

      Mar 10, 2012 at 1:18pm

      We have compiled a number of documents in regards to Vaughan elections funds, etc... You can find them here

      Please help us spread this information.

      http://404systemerror.com/leaked-documents/

      ds

      Mar 10, 2012 at 3:00pm

      Anything the police does along with politians does not surprise me any more and they all seem to get away with it and when they do get caught all they get is a slap on the wrist and they go back to doing te same thing. They all should be sent to jail that Harper wants boilt along with tough on crime bills.

      Just Wondering

      Mar 11, 2012 at 9:41am

      This is not about the police but the party. We should be asking ourselves, "why so many problems?" In and out scandal, contempt of parliament, indiscriminant arrests of Canadian citizens during the G20, legislation invading our personal privacy without a warrant, cutting election funding to the other parties when they have millions because the are the fair haired boy of the big corporations, robocalls etc. Really what is going on here?