Compliance Agreements

Commissioner Of Canada Elections

Canada Elections Act

Compliance agreement

This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9.

On September 26, 2017, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a compliance agreement with Mr. Luc Sarrazin, pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act. The text of the compliance agreement is set out in full below.

September 26, 2017

Yves Côté, QC
Commissioner of Canada Elections

Compliance Agreement

Pursuant to section 517 of the Canada Elections Act (the Act), the Commissioner of Canada Elections (the Commissioner) and Luc Sarrazin (the Contracting Party) have entered into this compliance agreement to ensure compliance with the Act.

The provisions of the Act applicable at the relevant time were former subsections 404(1), 405.2(1), 478.12(1), 478.17(1) and 478.4(2) and former paragraphs 497(1) (i.4), (z.25), (z.27), (z.36), 497(3) (z.13) and (f.14) of the Act. Under those provisions, the following constituted offences: (1) failure by the financial agent of a nomination contestant to open a separate bank account for the sole purpose of the contestant's campaign; (2) failure by the financial agent of a nomination contestant to dispose of surplus nomination campaign funds pursuant to the Act; (3) circumventing the prohibition for any person or entity other than an individual who is a citizen or permanent resident to make a contribution within the meaning of the Act; and (4) failure by the financial agent of a nomination contestant to pay a contestant's unpaid claim within four months after the selection date set for the nomination campaign.

Statements by the Contracting Party

For the purpose of this compliance agreement, the Contracting Party acknowledges the following:

• The Contracting Party is the financial agent of Gregory Fergus, nomination contestant during the nomination contests held by the Liberal Party of Canada in the electoral district of Pontiac, Quebec, in 2009 and in the electoral district of Hull—Aylmer, Quebec, in 2014.
• As financial agent, the Contracting Party is responsible for administering the financial transactions of Mr. Fergus's nomination campaigns.
• The selection dates for the relevant nomination contests were September 13, 2009, for the 2009 contest, and December 11, 2014, for the 2014 contest.

Failure to comply with the bank account requirements

• The Contracting Party failed to comply with the requirement to open a separate bank account for the sole purpose of Mr. Fergus's 2014 nomination campaign. Moreover, he kept open, and used for the campaign in question, the bank account he had opened and used for Mr. Fergus's 2009 nomination campaign.

Failure to dispose of surplus nomination campaign funds

• Mr. Fergus's 2009 nomination campaign had a surplus of $3,099.88 that the Contracting Party transferred to Mr. Fergus's 2014 nomination campaign. The funds should have been disposed of within 60 days following the filing of Mr. Fergus's financial report for the 2009 nomination campaign, by transferring it either to the Liberal Party of Canada or to the Electoral District Association of the Liberal Party of Canada of Pontiac, as required by the Act.

Circumventing the prohibition for an entity to make a contribution

• By improperly transferring the surplus funds from the 2009 campaign to the 2014 campaign, the Contracting Party caused the 2009 campaign to make a monetary contribution to the 2014 campaign, and thereby circumvented the prohibition for a person or entity other than an individual who is a citizen or permanent resident to make a contribution pursuant to the Act.
• Upon being notified of the ineligibility of the contribution made, the Contracting Party issued a cheque to the Receiver General for Canada for an amount equal to the value of the surplus funds transferred.

Failure to pay the claims related to the campaign within the prescribed time frame

• Mr. Fergus provided his 2009 nomination campaign with goods and services for a total value of $5,581.06 that the Contracting Party had to reimburse, out of the 2009 campaign funds, by January 13, 2010, that is to say within four months after the selection date set for the 2009 nomination campaign.
• As of January 13, 2010, the Contracting Party had yet to pay Mr. Fergus the claim owed him by the 2009 nomination campaign.
• On December 31, 2009, and February 9, 2017, Mr. Fergus waived the recovery of $1,000 and $1,550, respectively, from the amount of his claim against his 2009 nomination campaign, and thereby made non-monetary contributions to his 2009 nomination campaign totalling $2,550, thus reducing his claim against his 2009 nomination campaign to $3,031.06.
• On the date of signing of this compliance agreement, the Contracting Party had just reimbursed Mr. Fergus the outstanding balance of his claim against his 2009 nomination campaign.
• Mr. Fergus also provided his 2014 nomination campaign with goods and services for a total value of $5,111 that the Contracting Party had to reimburse, out of the 2014 nomination campaign funds, by April 11, 2014, that is to say within four months after the selection date set for the 2014 nomination campaign.
• As of April 11, 2015, the Contracting Party had yet to reimburse Mr. Fergus the $5,111 owed to him by the 2014 nomination campaign.
• On September 24, 2015, the Contracting Party paid $3,255.86 to Mr. Fergus out of the 2014 nomination campaign funds, thus reducing the outstanding balance of his claim against his 2014 nomination campaign to $1,855.14.
• On the date of signing of this contracting agreement, the Contracting Party had just reimbursed Mr. Fergus the outstanding balance of his claim against his 2014 nomination campaign.
• The Contracting Party acknowledges and accepts responsibility for these actions.
• The Contracting Party understands that acknowledgement of non-compliance of the Act does not constitute an admission of guilt in the criminal sense and that no record of conviction is created.
• The Contracting Party acknowledges that the Commissioner has advised him of his right to be represented by counsel and that he had the opportunity to obtain counsel.

Factors considered by the Commissioner

In entering into this compliance agreement, the Commissioner took into account the factors set out in paragraph 32 of the Compliance and Enforcement Policy of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which is available on the Commissioner's website. In particular, the Commissioner took the following factors into account:

• The Contracting Party's good faith and his full collaboration with Elections Canada auditors.
• The Contracting Party, after being advised by Elections Canada of the ineligible contribution made to the 2014 nomination campaign by the 2009 nomination campaign, diligently issued to the Receiver General a cheque for an amount equal to the value of the contribution in question.
• The Contracting Party has confirmed that he collected contributions in the amounts of $3,031.06, for the 2009 nomination contest, and $1,855.14, for the 2014 nomination contest, and deposited those contributions into a separate bank account opened for the sole purpose of each of the campaigns.
• The Contracting Party has confirmed that he recently reimbursed Mr. Fergus the balance of the unpaid claims owed to him by his 2009 and 2014 nomination contest campaigns, out of the separate bank account opened for each campaign.

Undertaking and agreement

The Contracting Party undertakes to revise, based on the foregoing, the financial returns for Mr. Fergus's 2009 and 2014 nomination contest campaigns, and to submit the revised document to the Chief Electoral Officer and to advise the Commissioner of the revised documents and their submission to the Chief Electoral Officer, no later than October 23, 2017.

The Contracting Party agrees to comply with the requirements for opening a separate bank account for the sole purpose of a nomination contestant's campaign if, in the future, he is still acting as a financial agent for a nomination contestant.

The Contracting Party agrees to dispose of surplus nomination campaign funds pursuant to the Act if, in the future, he is still acting as a financial agent for a nomination contestant.

The Contracting Party consents to the publication of this agreement in the Canada Gazette and on the Commissioner's website.

The Commissioner agrees that the Contracting Party will have complied with this compliance agreement when it has satisfied the requirements contained therein.

In accordance with subsection 517(8) of the Act, the Commissioner and the Contracting Party acknowledge that when a compliance agreement is entered into, the Commissioner may not refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions unless there is non-compliance with the compliance agreement and, in any event, the Director of Public Prosecutions may not institute such a prosecution unless it has been shown that the compliance agreement has not been fulfilled.