Much is at stake for Elections Canada

This is from the Star. Interesting that Hebert speaks of political party brands which reminds of e e cumming's line 'as freedom is a breakfast food'. Parties are in effect brands marketed to the public. A type of democratic junk food composed mostly of the same high moral rhetoric and illusions to keep the masses content.
Well climbing down from my own high rhetoric, Hebert is probably right that Elections Canada has a lot at stake but if Elections Canada is right the effect may be negative enough that the Liberal party polls will rise high enough for them to declare that Canadians want an election right now!


Much is at stake for Elections Canada
TheStar.com - Canada - Much is at stake for Elections Canada

April 23, 2008
Chantal Hébert

OTTAWA - Given the headlines of the past week, this will come across as counterintuitive but when all is said and done, Elections Canada has more at stake in its escalating feud with the Conservatives than Stephen Harper.

If it turns out that the Conservatives did break the election rules in 2006, there will undoubtedly be a political price for the party to pay but in the end, a lost battle over its past campaign spending will not destroy it.

One only needs to see the Liberal resilience in the face of the sponsorship debacle to know that it takes more than a bit of acid to permanently corrode a major political brand in this country.

As a rule, voters tend to be more forgiving of parties' ethical breaches than politicians are of each other and more discerning in their application of the tar brush. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who emerged personally unscathed from a scandal that literally took place in his political backyard, has cause to know that.

But if it should turn out that Elections Canada overplayed its hand, the cost to its institutional reputation could be prohibitive. A failure to make a persuasive case against the Conservatives would bolster allegations that vindictiveness played a part in its approach. It might never totally recover from the loss of confidence that would ensue.

Over the past decade, Elections Canada has gone from election watchdog to arbiter of Canada's democratic life, taking on a more central role in every aspect of federal electoral politics, including the leadership campaigns of the various parties. It has never been easier for a politician to run afoul of its regulations.

But in this affair, its moral authority is on the line.

By calling in the RCMP to assist them in executing a warrant against the governing party, election officials had to know that they were hanging the Conservatives out to dry, creating a perception of guilt that will not be easily dissipated and a sense of wrongdoing that may yet not live up to the facts.

Having forced his way into the filing cabinets of the governing party, elections commissioner William Corbett has now staked his credibility on building an airtight case.

Given the high stakes for both sides, chances are that this issue will not be put to rest until all legal avenues have been exhausted. The Conservatives are unlikely to abandon their oft-repeated contention that they did nothing wrong until proven otherwise in a court of law.

Given all that, the dispute could linger beyond the next election campaign, even if one did not take place until next year.

Should Harper secure a majority in spite of the cloud that is hanging over his party, he would almost certainly treat it as validation of the Conservative defence and an invitation to shorten the leash of Canada's election watchdog.

But that's not even necessarily the worst-case scenario. Should the Conservatives take a hit at the ballot box on account of this affair and it then turns out that Elections Canada was not able to make a winning case against them, the episode would leave an indelible black mark on the agency's reputation.

One way or another, having taken a very public shot at the Conservative net last week, Canada's election referee is in the awkward position of having a stake in the outcome of the next federal campaign.

Chantal Hébert's national affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.