Conservatives agree to plea deal in "in-and-out" scandal
Charges against four senior members of the federal Conservatives, including two senators, were dropped on Thursday as part of a plea deal in the “in-and-out” election financing scandal. In exchange, the Conservative party and its fundraising arm have plead guilty to charges the party exceeded election spending limits and filed election records that didn’t include all of its expenses. The prosecutor and defence attorneys agreed the Conservative party and its fundraising arm would pay fines of $50,000 and $2,000, respectively, to settle the case. Senator Doug Finley, Senator Irving Gerstein, Michael Donison and Susan Kehoe had originally been charged under the Elections Act for their roles in a scheme to shift expenses between local campaigns and the national campaign during the 2006 election.