If you've been watching the Conservatives over the last couple of days respond to the RCMP raids on their headquarters, you might think the raid was connected to the civil suit the Tories filed against Elections Canada last April. I get the sense the Conservatives want you to think that but you would be wrong.
I can tell you for a fact that the search warrant was executed on behalf of the Elections Commissioner and has nothing to do with the Conservatives suit against the Chief Electoral Officer. My source for this: Individuals involved in the lawsuit who do not wish to be named for fear of being seen to be arguing their case in the press but are happy to provide a little background on that lawsuit's process. I've reported this fact on day one of the RCMP raids and on day two.
The Elections Commissioner — his name is William Corbett and he is acting quite independently from the Chief Electoral Officer, Marc Mayrand — has a three-day warrant which expires today. So the RCMP could be back at Conservative HQ again today but sources have told my colleagues at Canwest News Service that the RCMP and the Elections Commissioner got everything they needed yesterday.
Meanwhile, you've got one commentator suggesting the raid is “revenge” for years of attacks on Elections Canada by Harper. One mainstream media outlet even led with their coverage by repeating that assertion. I'm not so convinced because both Corbett and his boss Mayrand were appointed on Harper's watch (a fact both the commentator and that other paper did not mention). Seems to me that even if you accept the odd assertion that bureaucrats have nothing better to do than 'get back' at politicians for calling them names, those individuals haven't had a key to the door at Elections Canada in a long time.
I'll be interested to see the details. While it doesn't technically relate to the civil suit, it wouldn't surprise me if this is about pursuing criminal charges under the Canada Elections act based on the same ruling that is under appeal. Of course, it would also make a lot of sense if this was related to the University of Calgary advertising that was reported the same day.
My apologies if I wasn't clear enough on this point (I'm pretty sure I've been clear on this in the reporting I've done for the papers and the links for that are in the copy above.) The warrants are part of Corbett's investigation into alleged advertising spending violations. The Conservatives (technically, it's the agents for the local candidates) are suing the Chief Electoral Officer to get a judge to overrule the Chief Electoral Officer's decision that no rebate cheques would be issued to some local candidates for their local advertising. So the lawsuit and the investigation stem from the same basic issues but they are two separate events and will be resolved by different legal standards.
That's what I thought. Your post just got me wondering whether there might be a completely different issue.