From Piggy Banks to 24 Sussex Drive

For a party that found itself forced to the outside to watch for a while, the Liberals sure do have a hard time learning the concept of optics.

With sponsor gate still resonating among Canadians, the Liberal leadership campaign has been hit by a rather unseemly bit of financial fundraising, which includes over 27,000 dollars in money collected from children, some under the age of 14.

Liberal leadership hopeful Joe Volpe finds himself at the centre of a bit of a head shaker, what with his return of the money collected from the young, suggesting that when it comes to fundraising the Liberals just can’t seem to help themselves.

While Volpe did the right thing by sending the kids allowance monies back to where they belong, other questions are starting to arise about the nature of those donations and their ties to two rather high profile Canadian families. Volpe’s campaign received over 54,000 dollars from the relations of the president and former president of Apotex Inc. a generic drug making company. From wives to children, the Volpe campaign benefited from the largesse of those with the urge to give. While companies are not allowed to donate to political parties, there’s no apparent limit on individual members of a family to give til they don’t want to give anymore.

Some Parliamentarians are asking the question if the donations were just a way around the Elections Canada Finances Act, some on the Hill are worried that the donations were tendered as a form of collusion to get around the Act. It will be with interest that observers follow Mr. Volpe around for the next few days. Watching as he tries to stickhandle his way around what has if nothing else, been a rather poor bit of public relations for a candidate hoping to lead the Liberals back to power and out of the cloak of scandal that has enveloped them the last few years.

We can already see the editorial cartoonists having a field day with the vision of piggy banks, troughs and Liberal politicians!