The man who served as Peter Penashue's official agent in the 2011 federal election says he doesn't know anything about overspending or questionable campaign contributions that have been placed at his feet.
Penashue, the federal minister of intergovernmental affairs, said in a statement Tuesday that "no one is more surprised than I am" at allegations of campaign spending that have dogged him for weeks.
Penashue pointed responsibility for campaign finances to Reg Bowers, his official agent, who "was responsible for administration and bookkeeping. I focused on campaigning across this massive riding and meeting the people of Labrador."
Penashue said his disappointment in the revelations is why "there is a new official agent in place to examine all of the paperwork and to work with Elections Canada to correct any mistakes."
But Bowers, in an interview with the Toronto Star, said Penashue's campaign fell within federal limits.
"I did not sign off on the $4,000," he said, referring to a figure that had put the campaign over the limit.
"When it left my desk, it was under the cap," Bowers, who was subsequently appointed to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, told the Star.
Bowers also said he believed that Penashue's campaign would be able to clear the air with Elections Canada over allegations of overspending.
'Mitigating factors' cited in airline writeoffs
Penashue's campaign has come in for opposition criticism for months, since CBC News began disclosing irregularities in his campaign.
Last month, CBC reported on Elections Canada data that show Penashue's campaign appeared to have received a $5,500 campaign contribution from St. John's construction company Pennecon. Earlier, CBC revealed that six senior officials with the company made similar contributions to the same value to the campaign, with all but one being sent from the company's postal address.
"I was in charge of the accounting and I was in charge of the campaign, there's no question about it, and these are all allegations at the moment," Bowers told the Star.
"We were very clear to all our people that there was no corporate donations, I will tell you that," he said. "One came in that I'm aware of now with some instructions attached to it, but we did make everybody aware that we were not receiving corporate donations."
Late Tuesday, Penashue's official released an email from April 7, 2011 — about four weeks before the election — in which Penashue instructs an undisclosed party that corporate donations are not acceptable.
Meanwhile, Bowers said "there were mitigating factors" as to how Penashue's campaign came to have Provincial Airlines writing off thousands of dollars worth of chartered flights during the campaign.
Liberal Leader Bob Rae has asked Elections Canada for a formal investigation into the campaign, in which Penashue unseated Liberal incumbent Todd Russell by 79 votes.
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