Province’s elections commissioner under fire for lack of transparency Tory constituency officials charged with host of financial violations after Manitoba's 2019 vote but information kept from public; trust in democracy at stake, ethicist says By: Carol Sanders Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 27, 2021 Last Modified: 11:43 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 27, 2021 Updates

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Manitoba’s elections watchdog buried information about charges laid against two Tory constituency officials following the 2019 provincial election.

And the lack of transparency from Manitoba’s Commissioner of Elections is troubling and inexplicable, ethics and political experts say.

Multiple charges have been laid after a brief mention of “financial irregularities” involving two unnamed constituency association officials was buried in the commissioner’s latest annual report.

“It’s troubling that charges have been laid and the appointed officials have not been transparent about what the charges are.”
– Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba

The accused are to appear in provincial court next month.

Rajbir Grewal, 30, and Rajpal Grewal, 32, face several Election Financing Act charges, including obstructing an investigation and withholding information. At the time of the 2019 provincial election, they were listed as treasurer and president, respectively, of the Progressive Conservative party’s Waverley constituency association. They are presumed innocent and scheduled to appear in court Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, respectively.

Manitoba elections commissioner Bill Bowles — who was appointed in 2011 — didn’t respond to questions about the alleged violations that he alluded to in his annual report when he was contacted last week.

Elections Manitoba also declined to comment, saying it has nothing to do with compliance and enforcement investigations. It provided the name of the outside counsel appointed by Bowles to prosecute the cases. When contacted, lawyer Evan Roitenberg provided the names of the accused but not the charges, which the Free Press learned at provincial court.

“Why has the commission made it so difficult for the public to find out charges have been laid?” said Arthur Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba.

“It’s troubling that charges have been laid and the appointed officials have not been transparent about what the charges are.”

Manitoba’s Commissioner of Elections has the authority to launch an investigation and recommend prosecution if there are grounds to believe that laws may have been broken, said University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas.

The commissioner hires an outside investigator, often a lawyer, to conduct a probe, give the accused an opportunity to rebut any negative information brought against them and prepare a report, Thomas said.

“You don’t want to prematurely disclose that someone is accused of having done something wrong without having done a full investigation,” he said.

“Once it’s headed to court, I would’ve thought you should be prepared to explain and defend what you’ve done. If you get to the stage where you’ve charged people, it’s serious. We should know the names of these individuals. I would think that information is fair to both sides.”

The charges against Rajpal and Rajbir Grewal have not been proven in court.

Election finance laws are fundamental to a democratic society and have to be taken seriously and handled transparently, Schafer said.

“The integrity of the rules and the enforcement of the rules is a promise to the citizens of Manitoba that no individuals, or parties or groups will be allowed to take unfair advantage of the rules– that there is a level playing field, everyone is held accountable and those who violate them will be held responsible.”
– Arthur Schafer

“The integrity of the rules and the enforcement of the rules is a promise to the citizens of Manitoba that no individuals, or parties or groups will be allowed to take unfair advantage of the rules — that there is a level playing field, everyone is held accountable and those who violate them will be held responsible,” the ethicist said.

“If someone cheats on election financing, they gain an unfair advantage. In a democratic society that’s considered a deeply serious crime. It’s not a trivial matter like a parking ticket. Following election financing laws goes to the integrity of our democracy— if the rules aren’t enforced and the guilty aren’t convicted, blamed, shamed and held accountable, the public becomes cynical.

Schafer said the erosion of public trust in democracy is clear to see just over the border, where many Republicans are claiming losses suffered by the party are because of “rigged elections.”

“I think American democracy is under real threat at the moment,” he said, adding that one constituency association facing charges of violating election financing laws here isn’t necessarily a threat, but whenever election officials aren’t forthcoming, it becomes a concern.

“The process whereby the rules are enforced has to be seen to be scrupulously honest and transparent, and people involved have to be held accountable,” Schafer said.

“Any hint of secrecy, coverup and concealment — or the suspicion of a coverup — feeds cynicism and mistrust. The elections commissioner has a stringent obligation to apply and enforce the rules with integrity.”

The harshest penalty for an individual charged under the act is a $5,000 fine.

— With files from Dean Pritchard

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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