[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

It's not as if we're surprised.... :

January 13, 2006

Liberal tried to bribe me: NDP candidate

By STEVE MERTL

VANCOUVER (CP) - The New Democrats said Friday they've filed a complaint with Elections Canada alleging a Liberal candidate in the B.C. riding of Abbotsford tried to bribe the NDP hopeful into throwing his support behind the Liberals.

NDP national secretary Eric Herbert wrote Elections Canada Commissioner Raymond Lavigne on Thursday forwarding claims by New Democrat Jeffery Hansen-Carlson that Liberal David Oliver and his campaign manager offered "a job in Ottawa" and support if he wanted to enter civic politics.

"This allegation is a very serious matter and questions the integrity of the Liberal campaign," Hebert wrote.

An Elections Canada spokeswoman in Ottawa said the agency never confirms if it has received a complaint. Investigations can take months or even years to complete, she added.

A volunteer at Oliver's campaign office said the Liberal candidate was aware of the complaint but was not immediately available for comment.

In a notorized letter accompanying the complaint, Hansen-Carlson claimed he was invited to a meeting at Oliver's campaign office last Tuesday.

He said Oliver and campaign manager Gordy Kahlon told him the race between Oliver and Conservative Edward Fast was so tight that the Liberals could win if they got a couple thousand NDP votes.

"They figured they needed 1,300 votes in Abbotsford to win the riding and I should commit to this simply out of fear of the Tories," Hansen-Carlson said in an interview.

Abbotsford is a traditional Conservative stronghold. Retiring MP Randy White won it in 2004 with 61 per cent of the vote.

Hansen-Carlson said he was asked to issue a statement asking NDP supporters to back the Liberals out of fear of what a Conservative government could do to Canada and to Abbotsford, a city of 116,000 about 60 kilometres east of Vancouver.

In return, the two Liberals "guaranteed me a win in the next local general election and they also said a job in Ottawa would be waiting for me if Mr. Oliver did in fact win the riding," Hansen-Carlson said in his letter.

Hansen-Carlson, a 23-year-old graduate student who ran unsuccessfully for Abbotsford city council last year, said they told him he would also be a respected hero in the Liberal party.

"I walked out shocked," Hansen-Carlson said. "I simply said I'll sleep on it. I gave no commitment whatsoever in the discussion. I knew the meeting was set up to bribe me."

Hansen-Carlson said he didn't flatly turn down the offer because he felt cornered.

"I had two people I respected who I view as having influence in the community corner me in a private back office, completely putting me on the spot, telling me this is how Canadian politics really functions," he said.