Getting the facts straight - Sinicrope accuses Rota of cheating

Nipissing-Timiskaming Liberal Candidate
Anthony Rota
News Release

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Earlier today my political opponent sent out a media release alleging that I took out an advertisement in the North Bay Nugget which was ‘in clear breach of federal election laws’. Unfortunately, Mr. Sinicrope made this allegation without proper information, and in complete disregard of the facts.

First of all, the order for the one-third page ad, which appeared on the front page of the Boys and Girls of Summer advertising feature on Tuesday, September 23rd, was in fact placed with the North Bay Nugget on September 2nd, prior to commencement of the current federal election campaign.

This is a standing order, as I have placed the exact same ad each of the last four years, in my capacity as the Member of Parliament for Nipissing-Timiskaming. It is worth noting that the decision to run the ad was made prior to Stephen Harper’s decision to violate his own fixed-election law which would have otherwise seen Canadians head to the polls in October 2009.

Furthermore, although Mr. Sinicrope states that this ad violates Sections 320 and 321 of the Canada Elections Act, a review of these two rules (as well as Section 319 entitled “Election Advertising”) with Elections Canada officials has clearly established that the ad in question in no way violates the legal guidelines. The ad does not promote or oppose a registered party or the election of a candidate, nor does it take a position on an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated.

It is regrettable that my Tory opponent has chosen to criticize an advertisement that was published in order to congratulate North Bay’s athletes, parents, and coaches who made this past summer’s sporting season such a successful one.

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Nipissing-Timiskaming Conservative candidate
Joe Sinicrope
News Release

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North Bay – Liberal candidate Anthony Rota’s Tuesday advertisement in the North Bay Nugget was a clear breach of federal election laws, Joe Sinicrope said today.

The one-third page ad, which appeared on the front page of the Boys and Girls of Summer advertising feature on Tuesday, September 23 in the North Bay Nugget, appears to violate Section 320 and 321 of the Canada Election Act. Section 320 requires all election advertising to include the authorization of the candidate’s official agent. Section 321 prohibits the use of public funds for election advertising.

“This is an outrageous misuse of taxpayers’ money to fund the Liberals’ election campaign,” said Sinicrope. “This shows that they learned nothing from the sponsorship scandal, and still believe that they are entitled to use your money for their own partisan political purposes.”

The Sinicrope campaign has filed an official complaint with Marc Mayrand, Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer.

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