In and Out scandal

The "In and Out" scandal is an investigation into allegations of improper election spending on the part of the Conservative Party of Canada during the closely contested 2006 federal election.

According to Elections Canada warrants, the scheme involved the wire transfer of over $1.3 million dollars from the party to bank accounts of 67 regional candidates who were unlikely to win their riding and were below the allowed $80,000 spending limit. [ [http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=222e0456-653b-4dde-b984-945a058a836f Campaign worker irked Tory brass by testifying, ethics committee hears] ] The money was to be returned to the party a week later and would then be used to buy generic advertising which was the same as the national party except for small print or the individual names of candidates. The local campaigns would then claim a taxpayer funder rebate from Elections Canada. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/15/rcmp-tories.html CBC article: Mounties search Tory headquarters] ]

Elections Canada contends that the advertisements did not qualify as local spending because they were too similar to the party's nation ads and they were paid for by the party.

An official investigation was launched in April 2007 after Marc Mayrand, the Chief Electoral Officer challenged the reimbursement claims. In April 2008, the RMCP raided Conservative offices in Ottawa looking for documentation and invoices from Retail Media, the agency that produced the Conservatives national media buys.

When executives from Retail Media were questioned about the invoices submitted to Elections Canada, chief operating officer Marilyn Dixon suggested the invoices "must have been altered or created by someone" because they didn't look like the ones her firm submitted to the Conservative Party of Canada and her company had no matching invoice numbers. [ [http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/416912 'Altered' ad invoice began Tory troubles] ]

In the sworn affidavit, Ronald Lamothe in the office of the Commissioner of Elections Canada described "a deliberate "in-and-out" scheme conceived to move money from national coffers into and out of the accounts of local campaigns, which have their own spending limits, in order to skirt the national spending limit."

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