Media agency executives who placed controversial campaign ads for the Conservative party in the last election say their firm was at one point worried about the legality of what the Tories wanted done.
One of the ad agents also told the Commons ethics committee that Patrick Muttart, a top aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was the main campaign contact for the “in and out” advertising scheme which has drawn fire from Elections Canada.
Andrew Kumpf, vice-president of Retail Media, said Muttart is also his chief contact with the Conservative party for advertising for the next federal election.
The Muttart disclosure was a surprise to MPs on the committee, and New Democrat Pat Martin said it suggests control over the ad campaigns went “right to the top.”
Kumpf told the committee his ad placement agency had second thoughts about whether federal election law allowed it to act for both the Conservative party and individual candidates.
At the centre of the controversy are Elections Canada allegations that the Conservatives orchestrated unorthodox cash transfers to 67 candidates to allow the party to exceed its campaign spending limit.
The party sent the money to the ridings, then instructed agents for the candidates to quickly transfer it back to party headquarters as payment for radio and television ads which were broadcast regionally but produced for the party’s national campaign.
Elections Canada alleged last April in an affidavit that the agents and candidates did not incur these ad expenses and had no control over the content of the ads, or where and when they were run. Had this advertising been included in the national campaign accounts, the party would have overrun its spending limit by $1.1 million, the agency said.
David Campbell, president and CEO of GroupM which owns Retail Media, told the committee on Wednesday the firm dealt only with the party while placing the ads, arguing it would have been an “administrative nightmare” to try to deal with 67 individual ridings.
But the two men told the committee they were assured by the Conservatives that the advertising was legal. The assurances came in telephone conference calls among the agency, Conservative officials and Paul Lepsoe, then the party’s general legal counsel.
Because of Lepsoe’s involvement, Kumpf and Campbell said, they could not disclose what was said during the calls because of solicitor-client privilege between the party and its lawyer.
Kumpf said his concern centred on whether Retail Media could be the media placement agency for both the party and the candidates. Federal election law stipulates candidate and party campaign expenses must be accounted and controlled separately.
“Party officials decided it was fine, it was perfectly legal,” he told the committee.
The committee hearings have been stormy and Wednesday saw more failed procedural arguments and objections from Conservative MPs.
