The story the mainstream media buried! Except... never mind

From the Inkless emailbox, a blast email from the PMO to Conservative supporters:

Subject: Conservative Party Wins Election Rebate Court Case / Le Parti conservateur gagne une action en justice sur le remboursement des dépenses électorales

You aren’t likely to read about this in the mainstream media, which is why we are issuing this special Dec. 31 alert.

Today the Conservative Party won its court application, brought against Elections Canada, to prevent Rebate Double-Dipping.

Rebate Double-Dipping occurs when a political party collects both a GST rebate and an Elections Canada campaign rebate for the same expenses. The Conservative Party opposed Rebate Double-Dipping; Elections Canada defended it.  This may be the first time in history that a political party went to court to try to give money back to Elections Canada.

Related Posts

New federal budget will include up to $8 billion in defence spending

Politics Insider for Apr. 7: Foreigners to be temporarily barred from buying homes in Canada; Ottawa to summon the Russian ambassador for tough questions over Kyiv atrocities; an Atlantic oil megaproject gets approved

Inflation rate surpasses a three decade high

Politics Insider for April 21: Prices jump more than expected in March; Freeland and allies stage a G20 walkout; Poilievre’s brewing battle

Mr. Justice H.J. Wilton-Siegel of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice accepted the Party’s position.  Technically, this means that the Party’s 2004 and 2006 election returns will now reflect the GST rebates it received.  Practically, this is good news for taxpayers who should not be burdened with supporting political parties twice for the same expenditure.

Will today’s ruling affect other political parties?  If they benefitted from Rebate Double-Dipping then it is possible that they might owe refunds to Elections Canada.  We are not commenting on the implications for other parties.