
There seems to be some confusion within the Rae team about who 's paying for British Columbia campaign chair Mason Loh's "celebration dinner." In an interview with Public Eye earlier today, Mr. Loh said the dinner would be financed by the campaign and is considered a campaign event. But federal Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae's national spokesman Alexander Swann says the dinner isn't "a campaign expense" - although he didn't know "how the financing of it is being done." But "as far as the campaign expense rules goes" - which prohibit leadership campaigns from "facilitating in any manner whatsoever...the presence of any member of the Party at a delegate selection meeting" - Mr. Swann says "we have an undertaking from (Mr. Loh) that he will respect that."
When asked about Mr. Swan's position the Rae campaign wouldn't be financing the dinner, Mr. Loh responded "I think you probably were not contacting the right person. I think you should call the director of the campaign in British Columbia Pam McDonald."
Why doesn't the Rae campaign team just dump Loh from the campaign and get on with it?
I am waiting for Raymond Chan to pile on any day now.
This could become bit of a problem for Rae.
Rae's campaign could be plagued by this story.
Where is Greg Wilson on this?
"undertaking"???
At this point Mason should just fade into darkness
THE LIBERAL RACE
Paid band to vote, chief says
BILL CURRY
OTTAWA -- The Liberal Party is looking into statements by a Manitoba native chief who says he offered $20 to any member of his reserve who voted in the Liberal leadership race.
Chief Terry Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation said it is band policy to offer gas money to encourage the largely unemployed reserve population to take part in the democratic process.
Mr. Nelson, who supports Bob Rae, said the payment was for anyone who voted and there was no obligation to choose a certain candidate. He said 75 people voted on the reserve.
A spokesman for the Rae campaign said Mr. Nelson was acting on his own without any direction or involvement from Mr. Rae's team.
Print Edition - Section Front
Mr. Nelson said he has no way of knowing how the 75 people voted on the reserve.
He does claim to know that four people voted for Conservative MP Vic Toews, the Justice Minister, in the last federal election, when the reserve also offered gas money for voters. Mr. Nelson said the Tories would also get money if they wanted to organize voters for a Conservative convention.
"It's not a Liberal Party thing. It is trying to get people involved and I'm getting flak from our own people who are saying, 'What the hell are you doing in a white man's election?' "
Mr. Nelson said he tells his people they must vote before they protest.
Liberal Party national director Steve MacKinnon said the party has some concerns and is looking into the facts. He said candidates can't pay people to vote for them, but it is unclear what rules might apply in this situation.
"We're going to follow it up," he said. "If he calls it band policy, I just don't know. There is evidently a bit of a grey zone there. I'm just not entirely aware of all the legal ramifications as of yet until we get all the facts and have some analysis done."
Mr. Nelson is a vocal critic of the Conservative government and Mr. Toews.
Mr. Nelson is accusing Mr. Toews of effectively blocking Roseau River's plans for an urban reserve that would set up a business park in Winnipeg.
After Mr. Toews wrote a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice about a previous land deal between Roseau River and a Manitoba municipality, Indian Affairs imposed new environmental rules on the urban reserve site that Mr. Nelson says are impossible to meet.
Mr. Toews said Mr. Nelson has a long history of controversy, pointing to a letter Mr. Nelson wrote last year saying news coverage of the David Ahenakew hate-speech trial would cause natives to "hate Jews even more than some of them do now."
Mr. Toews said he has no firm position on urban reserves but wanted Mr.
Prentice to be aware that a previous business deal of Mr. Nelson's with a municipality led to a dispute over fees.
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