Advocate clears Liberals of voter fraud allegations after MLA complaint
CBC
A provincial watchdog says there's no evidence voter fraud occurred when a majority of residents at two Bathurst-area seniors' homes registered with the provincial Liberals in 2022.
Seniors' advocate Kelly Lamrock reported his finding in a written response to allegations made by Green Party MLA Kevin Arseneau in the legislature last month.
Arseneau raised the issue, and filed a complaint with Lamrock's office, after he said his grandmother, who has dementia, was registered by the Liberal Party at Foyer Chez Annie.
Steven Sisk co-owns two homes in the Bathurst area. Arseneau said in the legislature that both of those homes saw the majority of residents register with the Liberal Party to vote in a leadership race.
The Kent North MLA questioned whether all who were registered had given consent and called it a "suspected case of fraud and abuse."
But Lamrock dismissed that allegation in a report sent to MLAs on Friday.
"There is no evidence of any wrongdoing, directly or indirectly, by any member of the legislative assembly or any leader or agent of any registered political party," he said.
"There is no evidence of any act which, in my understanding of the terms, constitutes fraud or abuse toward any senior or vulnerable adult."
Hannah Fulton Johnston, executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Party, said in a statement that she is satisfied with the report.
"We are committed to ensuring that all party processes are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency, and this report confirms that standard was upheld," she said.
Sisk told CBC News a supporter of Liberal leadership candidate Donald Arseneault asked him to invite residents to join the party ahead of its vote for a new leader.
"Everyone who was enrolled consented to it," Sisk said.
Lamrock declined a request for comment. His report notes a response to the complaint was only made public because Arseneau raised it publicly.
"I understand [Arseneau's] suspicion when over 80 per cent of residents of a facility join the same party," he said in the report.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
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