Allyson Beauregard
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC – On September 26, former councillor Eddie McCann was ordered to pay a $500 fine issued by Elections Quebec for failing to file a financial report related to the 2013 municipal election on time. The case was heard at the court house in Campbell’s Bay.
Allyson Beauregard
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC – On September 26, former councillor Eddie McCann was ordered to pay a $500 fine issued by Elections Quebec for failing to file a financial report related to the 2013 municipal election on time. The case was heard at the court house in Campbell’s Bay.
The report asked McCann to clarify the sources of funding for his electoral campaign, which included a $1,013 rebate received from the municipality. “The report was required to account for the balance owing to his electoral campaign account since the candidates only receive partial reimbursement from the municipality for their expenses. This would have required obtaining contributions from electors since the residual debt exceeded the spending limit that an independent candidate can contribute to his own campaign,” said Dominic Labrie, municipal Director of Communications.
The fact that McCann funded his own campaign and, by doing so, exceeded the limit a person is permitted to contribute to a campaign, was the reason he was removed from sitting as a municipal councillor and was disqualified from running in any election for four years (effective from January 1, 2015). This was the ruling in a court case held in May. McCann has since launched an appeal that will be heard October 25.
McCann plead guilty to the infraction for submitting the report late and said he purposely waited to pay the fine until this issue was heard in court. “I wanted to make sure there was no connection made between the two issues and that by pleading guilty to this one, I was not influencing the decision of the other case,” he said, referring to the upcoming appeal. “It’s a non-issue. I compare it to a speeding ticket,” he added.
McCann also said he submitted the report late because he did not know how to fill it out and was awaiting further clarification.
Both McCann and the municipality are confident the upcoming appeal will rule in their favour.
