Chief electoral officer drops financial hammer on delinquent Liberals, Greens

New Brunswick's chief electoral officer has begun turning financial screws on the provincial Liberal and Green parties for broadly missing the deadline to disclose their donation and expense information to the public from last year's election.

"I have a number of duties that are imposed on me," said Kimberly Poffenroth, who also holds the position of supervisor of political financing .  

"It's not possible for me to fill those obligations if political parties don't comply with their obligations to file timely and complete financial returns."

Poffenroth informed both parties in a letter earlier this month they will not be getting their latest quarterly installment of public financing until they submit valid financial returns from 2018, which were legally due months ago.  

The NDP also received the letter but has since filed its return.

Allowance withheld

Provincial Liberals were scheduled to receive $60,299 this month in a quarterly public financing payment based on their 2018 election vote total, with the Green party entitled to $20,231.25.  But Poffenroth said she will hold the money at least until the end of the quarter on Dec. 31 unless the parties file their complete financial statements before then.

"I advised the parties whose returns are outstanding that I would not be authorising the payment on their annual allowance until I received their annual return for 2018," said Poffenroth.

Party returns are a key element of political transparency across Canada, offering the public a window into how parties raise and spend money and who their major donors are.

It's a top priority to deal with it.​​​- Greg Byrne, New Brunswick Liberal Party

But it is so far a mystery who financed the Liberal and Green party campaigns in 2018, how much was spent by each and what kind of financial shape they were left in to fight a future election if New Brunswick's minority government falls apart unexpectedly.

New Brunswick legislation requires all parties to file audited financial statements for each calendar year disclosing all important information, including donations, debts and expenses "no later than May 31 of the following year."   

That date was originally April 1 but loosened to May 31 by the Legislature in 2017 to give parties more time to comply with the law.  

It didn't help. 

This year only Progressive Conservatives and the now defunct Keep It Simple Solutions (KISS) party met the deadline. The People's Alliance did not file its return until mid-September, 15 weeks late, with the NDP return showing up only recently.

Parties blame staffing changes

Greg Byrne, acting executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Party, said internal changes following the party's defeat in 2018 has caused a delay in disclosing its financial information.

"It's a top priority to deal with it," said Byrne

"We have had some changes here at the party office. The executive director has left and we've had a change in controller here, too, and we're just adjusting to the transfer of responsibilities and we're working through everything. Hopefully everything will be finalized this week."

The Liberal party has had a change in personnel, but former executive director Keiller Zed left the position in September, long after the May financials were due.

The Green Party's executive director also blamed staffing problems for missing the deadline and said it could still be "weeks" before its return is ready.

"We went through a staff change since the election," said Marco Morency, who was hired by the party in April.

"This is what slowed us down. The work is almost complete."

Half-year returns also missing

New Brunswick parties are also legally required to file half-year returns which, for 2019, were due Sept. 30.   

All parties, with the exception of Progressive Conservatives, have missed that deadline as well.

Poffenroth said she has not yet turned her attention to those violations. 

"I haven't determined what my next steps are going to be on the mid-year returns yet," she said  

"Two of the parties haven't yet submitted their 2018 return so I want them to focus on getting the full year return in".