Bill Morneau speaks to media during a press conference in Toronto on July 17. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston)

Election Commisioner rules Morneau guilty of breaking campaign rules

Former finance minister Bill Morneau has been found guilty of breaking federal election campaign rules ahead of last year’s federal election by promoting prospective Liberal candidates in his capacity as minister.

Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté released the findings Thursday in the form of an undertaking signed by Morneau, who resigned as finance minister last month as his name became linked to the so-called WE Charity scandal.

Morneau was ordered to pay a $300 fine and post the decision on his website and social media accounts for 30 days.

The commissioner said there was no indication Morneau had intended to use public resources for partisan purposes or that he was involved personally in planning the events in question and that his office had co-operated in good faith with the investigation.

“Ministers are prohibited from using public resources and funds from their departmental budgets for partisan purposes,” Côté said in his ruling.

The commissioner pointed to two examples in which Morneau visited Ontario ridings in his capacity as minister of finance, but used the visits to promote the local Liberal candidate.

Former finance minister Bill Morneau in pictured in downtown Ottawa today. Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté released a ruling today that said Morneau violated a part of the Canada Elections Act in 2019 by promoting prospective Liberal candidates in his capacity as minister. (Andrew Lee/CBC)

The CBC’s Catharine Tunney reports that according to the agreed-upon statement, Morneau gave a speech to the Oakville Chamber of Commerce on July 29, 2019, during the pre-writ period, in his official role as minister of finance.

Following this event, Morneau participated in a roundtable discussion with local business owners and residents, toured a clothing factory and met leaders of the Muslim community with then-prospective candidate Anita Anand, who is currently the minister of public services and procurement.

The second incident occurred on Aug. 27, 2019, when Morneau toured a Caledon-area business in his capacity as finance minister. Michele Fisher, the local Liberal candidate for Dufferin-Caledon, was on the tour and they shared photos of the events on their social media accounts.

Fisher failed to win the seat, losing to Conservative Kyle Seeback.

Morneau resigned as finance minister on Aug. 17, saying he had never planned to serve two full mandates.

He had been under pressure to resign due to his involvement in the WE Charity controversy, where he had failed to recuse himself from Cabinet discussions about the charity’s contracts after accepting, then repaying $41,000 in expenses covered by the charity, as well as the fact that two of his daughters worked or volunteered for the charity.

Morneau announced that he would seek to become secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

With files from CBC News (Catharine Tunney), The Canadian Press,

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