2022 election candidates still not compliant with mandatory financial disclosure

Former councillors risk hefty fines and losing eligibility to run in 2026.

One of the biggest news stories as of late is the conviction of Donald Trump due to campaign finance irregularities. Trump is the first former President to ever be convicted of a crime. Although many questions surround the case, it does highlight the importance of accurate campaign financial reporting in a healthy democracy.

Like every other candidate in the country, those that ran in the 2022 West Nipissing elections are subject to disclosing their campaign financials transparently. When the municipality shared these financial statements publicly last year, a number of candidates appeared to be non-compliant with the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

The candidates financial reports which are still publicly available show that mayoral candidate, Dan Roveda was not complaint with section 88.25 of the municipal act.

As I first reported on this last year, this could be due to the fact that he is the only candidate that spent over $10,000 which necessitates an official audit. According to the Municipal Elections Act, candidates had until March 31st of last year to fulfill these obligations or file with the court for an extension.

As of June 2024, it appears on the West Nipissing municipal website like Roveda has done neither. Last week, I reached out to Roveda to inquire on the status of his financial report, but he has not responded. I also contacted the municipal clerk to see if any new or updated financial reports have been filed and it appears none have been submitted.

False Reporting

While Roveda appears to be violating the auditing requirement of the financial reporting laws, some candidates may be guilty of filing false financial reports.

When former councillor Christopher Fisher filed his report he indicated that he “did not incur any expenses”. Since his expenses were $0, he did not file pages 2-8 like all the other candidates did.

However, in 2022, Fisher clearly advertised in the local newspaper, the Tribune. All candidates in 2022 were solicited by the Tribune with a price list of various campaign advertising packages. It’s not clear how many issues Fisher’s ads appeared in but based on the size, each would have cost at least $300. In his report, Roveda disclosed that he spent $1,243 on Tribune advertising.

Former Councillor Rolland Larabie appears to have falsely reported his expenses as well. While Larabie does not claim that he spend $0 like Fisher, he indicated that his only expenses were flyers and gas.

Larabie’s 2022 ads in the Tribune were even bigger than Fisher. Again, it is not clear how many of these ads he paid for, but we can assume that they represented a significant campaign expense.

Even if the Tribune gifted these advertisement spots to these councillors, they would still legally have to be declared. Third-party contributions cannot be kept secret.

I reached out to Larabie and Fisher to ask if they had made an error or if they had refiled updated financial reports. While Larabie has not responded, Fisher seems to deny that he incurred any campaign expenses or contributions in 2022. He answered: “why would I file an obviously false form you giant turd?”

Ineligibility to run in 2026

While Fisher does not seem to take this clear violation of the Elections Act seriously, he does risk severe consequences. According to the Act, the penalty for failing to accurately file financial statements is the ineligibility to run in the next general elections. Other possible penalties include a fine of up $25,000 and up to 6 months in prison.

The fact that Larabie or Fisher spent money on advertising or were gifted such services would likely not affect the public’s opinion of them. However, voters and the 20+ other candidates who accurately filed financial statements in 2022 expect transparency. More importantly they expect that the law be followed. Because if the Election Act financial requirements are not enforced, then why would any candidate have to disclose these details in the future?

Last week, Fisher was quick to celebrate the campaign finance convictions of Donald Trump in the United States on social media. Ironically while still refusing to comply with very serious campaign finance laws in our own country.

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