By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
Only one of the three candidates for national chief pledged Tuesday evening to publicly reveal their campaign expenses and donor information submitted to the Assembly of First Nations chief electoral officer.
All candidates are required to submit their expenses and donor lists to the chief electoral officer before they appear at the AFN assembly all-candidates forum, which was held Tuesday. Each of the candidates faces a $35,000 campaign spending limit.
Chief electoral officer Loretta Pete Lambert told chiefs gathered in Winnipeg for the special assembly to elect a new national chief that all the candidates had submitted their required campaign financial information.
APTN National News asked each of the candidates Tuesday evening, following their speeches and question and answer session, whether they would release the information they submitted to the chief electoral officer.
Candidate Leon Jourdain, a former Treaty 3 grand chief, was the only one of the three who said he would release his campaign finances.
“If it’s ready yeah,” said Jourdain. “I got into the race late and I also made a commitment to myself that I would not accept any money from corporations.”
Jourdain said he didn’t have the information on him, but would get it from the person in charge of finances for his campaign.
Ghislain Picard, who was regional chief for Quebec and interim national chief of the AFN, said he would have to consult with his campaign team before committing to releasing his campaign financing information.
“I will consult with my team first before I make any commitment,” said Picard.
Bellegarde, the regional chief for Saskatchewan, would not answer the question one way or another. He said he did not have time to answer questions because he had to run to a meet and greet for chiefs and proxies at the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre.
“We got to go,” said Bellegarde, riding the escalator away from an APTN reporter. “We are going to keep going. Excuse me…We are going to go to my event, we are going to go to my event.”
APTN National News has been told by legal counsel working with the AFN electoral team that it is up to the candidates to release their campaign financial information, not the chief electoral officer.
The vote is expected to begin Wednesday at 9 a.m. Only chiefs or their proxies can vote for national chief of the AFN.
APTN National News will be following up with all three camps Wednesday on the question of releasing their campaign expenses.
@JorgeBarrera
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