I'm shocked, shocked that Harper and Co. may not have been entirely honest

Elections Canada has opened a second front in its battle with the Conservative Party over what it considers systematic attempts to hide national campaign expenses during the 2006 election.

The Canadian Press has learned that chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand has taken the governing party to task for what he describes as failing to properly report the cost of running two regional campaign offices in Quebec.

The $107,000 tab was divvied up and claimed as a shared expense by 15 candidates in Montreal and Quebec City.

Elections Canada found many candidates never used the regional offices, which were staffed by central party workers involved in what appear to have been national campaign activities.

Mayrand said the regional offices should have been reported as a national campaign expense. Indeed, he says the party itself anticipated — in successive, early drafts of its campaign budget — that the offices would be paid for by the party and would constitute a national expense.

Read more here.