Motkaluk raps rival mayoral candidate Murray for blowing federal campaign expense deadline

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk is accusing rival candidate Glen Murray of breaking federal election rules because campaign expenses from his bid to become leader of the Green Party are not yet public.

Motkaluk, a business consultant who finished second in Winnipeg's 2018 mayoral race, said Tuesday she has asked Elections Canada to investigate Murray's campaign expenses for the Green Party of Canada's leadership race, which Annamie Paul won on Oct. 3, 2020.

Murray finished fourth in that race, which saw eight candidates make it onto the final ballot.

Campaign expenses for two of those candidates — Murray and second-place contestant Dimitri Lascaris — do not appear on Elections Canada's website, even though they were due on April 6, 2021.

Motkaluk accused Murray of disrespecting campaign disclosure rules.

"If it's true that Mr. Murray failed to comply with the Canada Elections Act, the voters of Winnipeg can only presume that he believes the rules don't apply to him," Motkaluk said outside city hall.

"It would call into question his principles and integrity and it would cause Winnipeggers to question whether or not we can trust him."

Murray's official agent in that campaign, Heather Mack, said she has been trying to file those expenses since the fall of 2020, but was thwarted by a campaign volunteer who deleted the cloud-based records containing images of Murray's receipts.

That happened only weeks after the race, she said.

Mack said she has been forced to call every one of Murray's suppliers and get copies of those records, which totalled $71,995.20 in campaign expenses.

"It's been a colossal pain in the ass to get to this point. I didn't expect to spend the last two years of my life chasing down receipts, but here we are," Mack said.

Mack said she has provided the expenses to Murray's auditor, who still has questions about five receipts. After that, the expenses will be submitted to Elections Canada.

Elections Canada originally granted the Murray campaign a two-month extension to submit the expenses, Mack said.

A second extension can only be granted by a court.

"To the best of Elections Canada's knowledge, no such additional extension has been granted," spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in a statement.

Motkaluk said Murray should be held to account for violating the rules.

"There are rules in Canada that are part of the democratic process, and if candidates think that they don't need to follow those rules, that's a concern," she said.

"More concerning is the fact that it doesn't provide Winnipeggers with any information about who contributed to his election campaign, and also how those funds were used."

The Green Party of Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Motkaluk and Murray are among 12 candidates for mayor. The other candidates are Idris Adelakun, Rana Bokhari, Chris Clacio, Scott Gillingham, Shaun Loney, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Jessica Peebles, Rick Shone, Desmond Thomas and Don Woodstock.

Candidates must complete the nominations process in September in order to appear on the Oct. 26 ballot.