Double-double trouble: N.S. Tories accused of vote-buying with Tim Hortons gift cards

HALIFAX — A Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative constituency campaign manager has resigned amid accusations of “vote-buying” with Tim Hortons gift cards.

Peter Zwicker, the Tory campaign manager for the constituency of Lunenburg, N.S., resigned Tuesday morning after the Nova Scotia Liberals lodged a complaint with election officials about the party giving gift cards to people at a drive-thru on Saturday.

Zwicker issued a statement saying the campaign was hosting an event with local candidate Susan Corkum-Greek at the Lunenburg Tim Hortons location, and he handed out gift cards valued at $2.07 — the price of a medium cup of coffee. He said that over 15 minutes he gave out cards totalling $51.75.

Zwicker said Corkum-Greek did not know this had happened, and he said he is “sincerely sorry” that his actions caused a distraction from the campaign.

The Liberals said they were made aware of the gift card giveaway by a community member who was present. The party said it was reported that a campaign worker handed out the cards to people in line at the drive-thru while Corkum-Greek was stationed at the other end, greeting patrons and requesting their support in the Nov. 26 provincial election.

“This potential vote-buying activity raises serious concerns about election integrity,” Liberal party president Margaret Miller said in a statement Tuesday.

“A Nova Scotia Conservative candidate allegedly out there bribing Nova Scotians to vote for her and her party — was this an isolated incident? This is certainly not behaviour people expect from their elected officials in this day and age,” she continued.

Elections Nova Scotia confirmed the receipt of the complaint from the Liberals, and a spokesperson said the agency is investigating.

During a news conference Tuesday morning, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston said he wasn’t at the drive-thru Saturday, but he was in Lunenburg later in the day knocking on doors.

“It wouldn’t be uncommon for political events to have coffee and doughnuts, this might be a spin on that. But we’ll let Elections Nova Scotia have their say,” he said, speaking to reporters before Zwicker issued a statement about his resignation.

Houston said handing out gift cards is not a party strategy, and that “local campaigns make decisions.”

Tom Urbaniak, a professor of political science at Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S., said in an interview Tuesday there is an ethical difference between offering doughnuts and coffee at a campaign event hosted by a party and handing people a direct gift.

“It has the echoes of a practice that was common historically in Nova Scotia … where candidates would distribute rum or boxes of chocolates and it was a form of vote-buying. But this essentially disappeared by the early 1990s,” Urbaniak said.

“That would seem to echo a historical (practice) now considered generally unsavoury,” he added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

— With files from Michael Tutton.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press