For the last two posts, I've been considering whether the Elections Canada Investigators' Manual has any bearing on the search warrant executed at Conservative Party headquarters.

I've been trying to understand the requirements set forth in the manual.  I might be getting it wrong, but here is my best understanding.

According to the manual, suspects have to be informed that they are suspects.  If Elections Canada needs documentation in the possession of a suspect, the investigator has to ask specifically for that document.  The suspect has to be cautioned, that is, has to be told that he is under no obligation to deliver the documents requested, but that Elections Canada could pursue a court order to search for and seize the documents.

Was this process followed with regards to the officials at Conservative Party headquarters?  The warrant application suggests it wasn't.

But that is not proof of anything.  So I posed these questions of someone in the know.

Did anyone in the Conservative Party HQ who would have had the authority to extract and deliver election financing information ever get interviewed by Elections Canada?

No

Was that person formally told that he was being treated as a "suspect" -- using that word in particular?

No

Was that person directed to produce specific documentation?

No

Was that person told that they did not have to produce the documentation, but that Elections Canada could pursue a court order to seize that documentation? 

No

Interesting.

Check out other entries from the In-and-Out category
Results will open in a new window.

Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords
 Elections Canada  Conservative Party  search warrant 

Sphere presents related news articles and blog posts
Sphere It!