HALIFAX -- An investigation has found that councillors in a Nova Scotia municipality who expensed money spent on a Liberal fundraiser were unaware that it breached the Elections Act.
The Richmond County councillors each paid $50 for a May 2014 fundraiser attended by Premier Stephen McNeil and Energy Minister Michel Samson, and were illegally reimbursed by the municipality.
In a report Friday, Elections Nova Scotia said it has entered into "compliance agreements" with six councillors, the chief administrative officer and the warden to follow the act in future.
The probe into 11 councillors and the CAO cleared two officials, while eight of them accepted responsibility and one councillor had not signed an agreement.
The report found the contributions that were illegally reimbursed had been accepted by the Liberal Electoral District Association for Cape Breton-Richmond, but then returned to the Finance Department.
Chief Electoral Officer Richard Temporale said in a news release that Elections Nova Scotia is also launching an amnesty period for reporting similar breaches of the act in the past.
"It is unknown how widespread the practice of organizations reimbursing individuals who attend political fundraising events might be," says the agency.
The agency says it understands corporations, unions or municipalities often reimburse employees or members for such events on the grounds that their attendance "fosters mutually beneficial community and corporate stewardship."
However, it says this doesn't apply to political fundraisers, because the public needs to know who is providing financial contributions and the amounts any individual has contributed in a given year.
The donations were singled out in a Grant Thornton forensic audit of municipal spending in Richmond County.
Former warden Steve Sampson had suggested in an email to Richmond councillors that they could be reimbursed. Sampson did not re-offer in last fall's municipal elections, but was fired from his job with the Nova Scotia Liberal caucus on Nov. 1.
Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill has said the government is now considering options including spot audits of select municipal units, or appointing a municipal auditor general.
