We have all read the news reports about charges facing MP Blair Wilson, elected as a Liberal but now sitting as an independent. Blair Wilson is charged with serious breaches of the Elections Act. In order to help Canadians come to their own conclusions, I'll be posting the original complaint as it was delivered to Elections Canada, in its entirety, in this series of posts.
As far as I know, the original complaint has not be made available anywhere else.
In this post, we will look at the supporting documentation that alleges to show that Blair Wilson ran a full pages ad in the Coast Reporter but reported it as a quarter-page ad.
The second charge against former Liberal MP Blair Wilson under investigation by Elections Canada focuses on how advertising in the Coast Reporter was accounted for:
The Coast Reporter: Please find enclosed photocopies of all of Mr Wilson's advertisements in The Coast Reporter newspaper. Also enclosed is the original budget for Mr Wilson's campaign newspaper advertisements as prepared by Elizabeth Woods. It shows five ads planned, the first a 1/8th page ad and the rest 1/4 page ads. The costs are $131 for the 1/8th page and $241 for each of the 1.4th page ads. These rates can be checked with The Coast Reporter. On his return Mr Wilson claimed an expense of $1,226.01 for advertising with The Coast Reporter. An examination of the ads placed shows:
- December 9, 2005 - 1/8th page ad: $131
- December 16, 2005 - 1/8th page ad: $131
- December 23, 2005 - 1/4 page ad: $241
- January 6, 2006 - 1/4 page ad: $241
- January 13, 2006 - 1/4 page ad: $241
- January 20, 2006 - Full page ad - If the above amounts are correct Mr Wilson only recorded paying $241.01 for a full pge ad, only $0.01 more than he paid for the quarter page ads. While some size discount can be expected, this is clearly absurd. Mr Wilson reported a quarter page ad on January 20, 2006 but placed a full page instead.
You can study the supporting material related to the Coast Reporter advertising charge against Blair Wilson for yourself.
In the August 2006 email in which the people who collected this evidence consider the addvertising budget, it is noted that the full page ad went in "after Blair Wilson took over his own campaign".
The Charges Against Blair Wilson:
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