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Federal Court judge dodges issue of legality of federal Conservatives' 2006 election ad spending scheme -- Elections Canada must appeal or prosecute to get ruling that clarifies the issue Set out below is a letter to the editor by Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher which was published on Macleans.ca on January 20, 2010, in the January 23, 2010 issue of the Winnipeg Free Press, and in the January 25, 2010 issue of the Hill Times The Federal Court's January 18, 2010 ruling on a court case filed by two Conservative MPs dodged the issue of the legality of the Conservatives' 2006 federal election ad spending scheme, as the ruling went in favour of the election candidates only because the basis of the "balance of convenience" principle means that they should be reimbursed for their full expenses now because the legality of the scheme is yet to be determined. So, in order to have the issue of the legality of the scheme ruled upon by the courts, Elections Canada must proceed with a prosecution of the Conservative Party and its candidates through the Director of Public Prosecutions, and/or an appeal of yesterday's ruling to the Federal Court of Appeal. In the meantime, based on this ruling and to save court resources, Elections Canada should reimburse all expenses to all the Conservative candidates who participated in the scheme. If Elections Canada does not prosecute or appeal until the courts rule on the legality issue, the fairness of Canadian federal elections will be undermined because it will remain unclear what types of transfers and spending between the national party campaign and local candidates' campaigns are legal. Sincerely, Duff Conacher, Coordinator Democracy Watch For more details, see Democracy Watch's news release about the Conservatives' ad-spending scheme, and/or go to Democracy Watch's Money in Politics Campaign