Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, June 17, 2015. Mr. Harper was in Quebec City Thursday, where he accused Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair of playing electoral politics by opposing Canada’s Islamic State mission in Iraq and Syria.Chris Wattie/Reuters
HarperPAC, a conservative third-party group, has announced it is shutting down operations less than a week after its launch.
HarperPAC was formed by a team of Conservatives including several former political staffers. Its efforts included a radio ad that targeted Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
In an statement delivered on Twitter late Thursday, spokesperson Stephen Taylor said recent debate about the group brought the issue of third-party advertising out of the shadows.
Taylor said HarperPAC was formed to respond to left-leaning, union-funded organizations such as Engage Canada. That group was launched earlier this month by former NDP and Liberal strategists.
"We have contributed to a new discussion about political financing in a fixed election era that is critical to our democracy," he said.
It's been a heck of a week! Here's an update on HarperPAC. pic.twitter.com/V0GgxiHmVZ
— Stephen Taylor (@stephen_taylor) June 26, 2015Tom Flanagan, a retired University of Calgary political science professor, earlier said he was hopeful that HarperPAC would help to offset the pre-writ advertising efforts of its left-leaning counterparts.
"I think it is a matter of self-preservation for the Conservatives to be able to fight back," Flanagan said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley earlier said he feared Canada was going down a path similar to the U.S., where political action committees, or PACs, raise and spend untold amounts of money to influence political outcomes.
Taylor, a longtime Conservative and former director of the National Citizens Coalition, denied that the group was taking a page from the American political playbook. He said the acronym simply offers a useful recognition factor.
The federal New Democrats used HarperPAC as an excuse to launch a fundraising campaign of its own Wednesday, calling on supporters to pony up $5 donations before the end of June in order to gird the party for battle.
Third-party groups such as Engage Canada and HarperPAC can accept money in the pre-writ period without having to disclose dollar figures or where donations come from.
Taylor said HarperPAC would return all donations to contributors.