Conservatives Accused of Cheating in 2006 Election

Elections Canada says Harper's Tories hid $107,000 of campaign funds.

Allegations of campaign fraud against the Tories aren’t new. The party is still locked in a court battle over the so-called in-and-out scheme, in which the Conservatives allegedly evaded caps on campaign funding by shuffling money back and forth between federal and regional party coffers. Now Elections Canada is alleging a separate scheme, saying that the party failed to properly report $107,000 of federal campaign funds by dividing it up between 15 regional candidates’ offices in Quebec. Not all the candidates used the regional offices, which were being run by central party workers engaged in what appeared to be a national campaign. By labeling national campaign funds as regional expenses, the Conservatives could have exceeded federal spending limits.