Article content

Ken Dryden – the former Toronto MP who lent himself $300,000 to take part in the 2006 Liberal leadership race – has no plans to raise money from individual contributors to pay off his outstanding campaign debt, says his lawyer.

And although it’s against the rules, Elections Canada can’t do anything about it.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Ken Dryden will not raise money to pay back loan for 2006 Liberal leadership race, lawyer says Back to video

The Canada Elections Act limits individual contributions to a federal or leadership campaign to $1,200 a person and forbids corporations from contributing at all. There is no restriction on how much a person can loan a campaign. When Dryden, a millionaire, ran for the leadership of the federal Liberals, all his loans came from himself and he never raised the individual contributions needed to pay off that debt and stay within the rules laid down in the legislation.

Elections Canada would like him to raise the cash, but his lawyer says he won’t be doing so.

“What Elections Canada is saying to (Ken Dryden) is go out and raise this money and put it in your pocket,” said Jack Siegel. “He says, except if being forced to by Elections Canada – which now appears not to be the case – ‘I will not do that.’ “