Chrystia Freeland, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in June, 2024.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland unknowingly violated the Elections Act by answering reporters’ questions at two budget-related press conferences, according to Caroline Simard, the Commissioner of Canada Elections.
Ms. Simard posted several notices of Elections Act contraventions and their associated compliance measures on the commissioner’s website on Friday. They included an undertaking, or statement, from Ms. Freeland, as well as 16 administrative monetary penalties, or fines, levied against six other people.
On two occasions in June, 2024, Ms. Freeland answered questions about a Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election taking place that year with supportive remarks about Leslie Church, her former chief of staff who had resigned to run as the Liberal candidate, according to the undertaking Ms. Freeland signed.
Myriam Croussette, a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, said that Ms. Freeland was acting as a government representative at the time of the press conferences.
“In the course of their duties, ministers cannot use public funds or resources for partisan purposes, such as promoting a candidate for a political party,” she said in a statement. “By doing so, she caused a portion of the expenses related to this press conference to become non-monetary contributions under the Canada Elections Act.”
Ms. Croussette said the office received complaints alleging wrongdoing under the act, but confidentiality rules meant it cannot disclose information that could identify a complainant.
Commissioner of Canada Elections Caroline Simard posted several notices of Elections Act contraventions and their associated compliance measures on the commissioner’s website on Friday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The undertaking said the total cost of the events had a commercial value of $910.58, which was paid back to the government by Ms. Freeland’s riding association last month. Ms. Freeland did not have to pay any personal fine because of the violations.
The Globe and Mail asked Ms. Freeland for comment, but she did not respond by deadline. She is attending the Munich Security Conference.
A former Liberal financial agent, Andrew Goodridge, received eight of the 16 administrative monetary penalties, which totalled $2,300. Each violation was summarized on the Elections Commissioner’s website.
Two of the violations were related to being the financial agent for Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, an incumbent Liberal candidate, in the 2019 and 2021 general elections.
As financial agent, Mr. Goodridge was required by law to dispose of surplus electoral campaign funds by transferring them to either the Liberal Party of Canada or the Beaches–East York Federal Liberal Association.
For the 2021 election, the commissioner’s office said it determined that there were no wage agreements or honorarium letters for campaign volunteers.
As well, it found that four wage agreements for campaign workers appeared to be falsified.
Therefore, it said the total amount given to volunteers exceeded the nominal gifts limit by $6,491.25. As well, the $9,938.75 associated with the four wage agreements were also not allowed.
The office said Mr. Goodridge violated the rules by not properly disposing of $16,430 by sending it to the Liberal Party or the riding association.
For the 2019 election, the office said it found that payments made to volunteers were deemed ineligible campaign expenses.
It sent a notice to Mr. Goodridge in August, 2021, saying that $1,939 had to be returned to the campaign. However, it said that the bank statement provided by the campaign before closing its bank account did not indicate that this had happened.
The office said Mr. Goodridge failed to dispose of surplus electoral campaign funds to either the Liberal Party or the riding association.
Mr. Goodridge had been given a fine of $500 for each violation, but they were reduced to $300 each.
The other penalties were related to a federal Liberal nomination contest held in August, 2021.
Mr. Erskine-Smith has been a Liberal MP since 2015 and served as the minister of housing and infrastructure from December, 2024, to May, 2025. He came second in the 2023 Ontario Liberal leadership race and is exploring another bid.
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He said in a statement that Mr. Goodridge did not serve as the financial agent for his 2023 leadership campaign or his 2025 election campaign, and “won’t act in that capacity for any future campaign.”
Mr. Erskine-Smith said Mr. Goodridge’s two violations were administrative errors in which payments were made to Young Liberal volunteers as honorariums, after consultation with a professional auditor.
Long after they were paid, “Elections Canada subsequently determined these payments should be classified as wages or independent contracts,” he said in a statement. “The clerical misclassification was corrected on a going forward basis, and Young Liberals were always fully paid for the campaign work they performed.”
He added that correcting the errors retroactively would have meant making Young Liberals repay funds where there had been a prior verbal deal to pay them through honorariums for hours worked.
With a report from The Canadian Press