A problematic sales pitch

CTV reports on Martha Hall Findlay's plan to sell her Big Red Bus on eBay. But in doing so, one of the reformist Lib leadership candidates is sending out some worrisome signals:

Martha Hall Findlay, the first Liberal leadership candidate knocked out of voting at the recent convention, is selling her tour bus on eBay.

"The bus has done a great job, so we do it with heavy heart," Hall Findlay told CTV's Mike Duffy Live. "But financially, it's served its purpose and now we need to say goodbye to it."

Hall Findlay has yet to figure out an appropriate opening bid for the "Big Red Bus," but said it cost her roughly $100,000...

A Globe and Mail report suggested that by early November, Hall Findlay had a debt of about $130,000.

"It was in fact frugality that gave us the reason for the bus in the first place," she said.

"It was an incredibly efficient way to travel across the country, a great way to travel, and it allowed us to visit communities we simply wouldn't be able to visit by jet. But it was the frugal aspect that was really important. You can't lease these. So we actually had to buy the bus and finance it, and that's why we need to sell it. If we can sell it for a bit more than we paid for ... and raise the money for the campaign debt, then that would be fantastic."

It's certainly understandable that Hall Findlay would hope to recoup her investment to the greatest extent possible, and perhaps put a dent in the remaining debt. But assuming that she paid fair market value for the bus to begin with, any additional price fetched now beyond what Hall Findlay paid initially would seem to be little more than a donation from the purchaser to Hall Findlay. Which is particularly problematic when Hall Findlay appears to expect to pay off debt in an amount seven times the individual donation limit beyond the value of the bus itself.

Now, the above isn't to say that Hall Findlay has anything but the best of intentions, particularly in using a public process to sell the bus. But a loophole allowing parties or candidates to raise large sums of money through the purchase and sale of capital assets could entirely undermine Canada's election-financing laws - no matter how much (or how little) of a gain Hall Findlay actually stands to make with the sale of her bus. And given such a readily foreseeable problem, we can only hope Hall Findlay will avoid setting that precedent.