Liberal MP Jaime Battiste fined for four electoral law violations

OTTAWA — The federal elections watchdog has fined Liberal MP Jaime Battiste for a battery of electoral offences in 2019, including donating over the legal limit to his campaign and filing a “false and misleading” financial statement.  

Thursday morning, the Commissioner of Canada Elections said he issued fines totalling $600 against Battiste for four different violations of federal electoral laws. Battiste is the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.

All the offences were linked to the 2019 Liberal nomination race in the Nova Scotia riding of Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish, which he won. Months later, Battiste was elected for the first time to the House of Commons.  

The commissioner found that Battiste donated nearly $1,500 over the legal limit when he contributed $4,051 in a single day to his own nomination campaign in May 2019.  

The Canada Elections Act states that only a candidate’s financial agent can accept political donations or pay for expenses on behalf of a campaign.  

Yet Battiste admitted to the commissioner during a 2023 interview that he accepted over $8,000 in campaign contributions and e-transfers to his personal bank account.  

Battiste and his agent also confirmed to the federal watchdog at the time that he had paid for $722.32 in campaign expenses on his personal credit card.  

Finally, the commissioner fined Battiste for signing a declaration attesting that his final nomination campaign return was complete and accurate when he likely knew it contained “false and misleading” Information.  

Battiste namely reported a total of $8,201 in donations while a total of $9,701 was deposited in campaign bank account during the nomination race.  

“There are therefore reasonable grounds to believe that Jaime Battiste signed a declaration that he knew, or ought reasonably to have known, to be false or misleading,” reads a summary of the violation.  

The fines originally totalled $1,600, but the commissioner reduced them because Battiste cooperated with the investigation and because of unidentified “personal circumstances in Jaime Battiste’s life”.  

Battiste’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the four fines.  

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

• 'The stakes are high': Courts across Canada are asking Ottawa for more judges
• Supreme Court plucks last hope of saving B.C. ostrich flock from cull

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.