New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus’s campaign broke election rules by failing to close down the bank account it used in the 2008 election, Canada’s Commissioner of Elections has ruled.

In a notice published in this week’s Canada Gazette, Yves Côté said his office had reached a compliance agreement with Helen Gerteis after she re-used the bank account for the 2011 election in the riding of Timmins-James Bay.

Under Canada’s election rules, a candidate must open a separate bank account for each election and then close the account after the election is over and the paperwork has been completed.

In the notice, Côté said Gerteis “acknowledged that the bank account opened for the candidate’s electoral campaign for the 2008 general election was not closed, that the same bank account remained open and was used for the 2011 general election and that a new, separate bank account was therefore not opened for the 2011 general election.”

Côté said the bank account has since been closed and Gerteis is now aware of the law.

In an interview with iPolitics, Angus said the mistake was an innocent one on the part of Gerteis, who was a volunteer.

Angus said Gerteis moved to close the bank account after the 2008 election wrapped up only to be told by the bank that, in the wake of the banking crisis in the U.S., banks were reluctant to hand out loans. It told her the NDP and Angus’s campaign risked losing their line of credit if it closed the account.

Angus said the bank convinced Gerteis to leave the account empty and dormant, then reactivate it for the 2011 election. Angus said she followed the bank’s advice, unaware that it violated the elections law.

Angus said most election campaigns are run by volunteers and his campaign isn’t the only one that has run into problems. However, Angus said Canadians should distinguish between administrative infractions and deliberate attempts to flout the law — such as the robocalls that directed voters to the wrong polling station in nearby Nipissing-Timiskaming or overspending by former Conservative cabinet minister Peter Penashue in Labrador.

“I’ll take what I did over what Peter Penashue did any day of the week.”

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