April 3, 2012 -- A historical charity that receives millions of dollars from the federal government each year has been paying the Conservative Party's main call centre company for fundraising work.

Historica-Dominion Institute has been using Responsive Marketing Group (RMG) for telephone fundraising to supplement the $5 to $7 million the charity has received from the federal government over each of the past three years.

The privately-owned RMG performs voter identification and fundraising work for the federal Conservatives using the party's sophisticated Constituent Information Management System (CIMS) database.

The company was thrust into the media spotlight last month when some RMG phone operators from Thunder Bay said they had filed complaints with the RCMP and Elections Canada about calls they made for the Tories during the last election campaign.

Historica-Dominion is a charity that raises awareness of Canadian history and is best known for its "Heritage Minute" television ads that recreate important moments such as the Halifax explosion and the execution of Louis Riel. It has also created videos commemorating the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, an event the Conservative government is heavily promoting.

As a registered charitable organization, Historica-Dominion is legally bound to scrupulously avoid involvement with partisan political activity.

Former RMG phone workers from the firm's Ottawa office on Albert Street said they made pitches for the charity. During the election, staff there were busy making calls to identify party supporters, to get people out to vote on election day and to raise money for the Conservatives.

Recently, workers at the call centre phoned Canadians - mostly rural, older people - seeking money for the Memory Project, a Historica-Dominion project that collects oral histories from veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War, sources said.

The federal Heritage Department has given grants of more than $3 million to the Memory Project.

RMG's Ottawa office also made calls on behalf of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, an anti-tax advocacy group that counts wellknown Conservatives, including Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, among its former staff. The federation confirmed it has used RMG for fundraising since at least 2009.

Historica-Dominion said its relationship with RMG dates to 2009, although it referred to a business relationship with Target Outreach.

Target Outreach is the brand the firm uses to market its political work in the United States, chiefly to the Republican Party.

"They do acquisition and retention telemarketing for us as well a direct mail campaign to existing donors," Historica-Dominion spokeswoman Davida Aronvitch said in an email. "Target Outreach does not use Conservative Party lists on our file."

RMG said it does not comment publicly on work it does for clients.

According to its website, Target Outreach works "exclusively with right-of-centre campaigns to develop fundraising and voter contact strategies that target your message to the right audience."

After media stories about the Elections Canada investigation into the Thunder Bay call centre, Target Outreach took down the section of the website that lists the firm's key staff, including RMG executives Michael Davis, Andrew Langhorne and Stewart Braddick, who was the key person who worked with the charity on its fundraising campaigns.

Records filed with the Canada Revenue Agency show that Historica-Dominion received $1.3 million in tax-receipted charitable contributions in 2010, but spent $587,000 on its fundraising.

The organization has declined to provide more detailed financial information that would show how much it has paid RMG for fundraising work, citing a confidentiality clause in its contract.

In its CRA filings, the charity reported receiving $7.8 million from the federal government in 2010 and Aronovitch said the figure for 2011 is around the same level.

The deal with RMG was inked before high-powered entertainment industry lawyer Michael A. Levine took over as Historica-Dominion's top executive. Levine is also representing Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the marketing of a book he wrote about the early days of professional hockey in Toronto.

Levine says he had nothing to do with the contract with RMG, which was established when broadcaster Rudyard Griffiths and former Liberal staffer Marc Chalifoux were at the agency.

"Somebody came to Historica-Dominion before my time and basically said this organization can help you expand your base of financing through direct contact," Levine said Monday.

Neither Griffiths nor Chalifoux could be reached for comment.

"My only involvement was to blow my stack because issues arose because there's no relationship," Levine said. "There's nothing political in this."

Levine, who also serves as chairman of Toronto entertainment agency Westwood Creative Group, took over the top job at Historica-Dominion in 2010.

According to a report in the Toronto Star earlier this year, Levine has been negotiating with book publishers on Harper's behalf. The hockey book triggered a bidding war among publishers and the advance payment on the royalties could run into six figures, the Star speculated.

Harper had been writing the book in his spare time over the past eight years. It is reportedly complete and ready for publication this year.

The Prime Minister's Office says a publisher has not been chosen yet, but said Harper cleared "all matters" concerning his book with the federal ethics commissioner, Mary Dawson.

Levine said he insisted that the prime minister check with Dawson's office to ensure there was no conflict of interest.

"I'm not a political beast," he said. "I'm a literary beast."

Levine, a longtime friend of Ignatieff, was apprehensive about that, but Harper wasn't.

"I thought the prime minister would stay away from me with a 10-foot pole because of Ignatieff," Levine said. "All I got was a wry smile. It's a small country."

In last week's federal budget, the government moved to crack down on registered foreign charities that do not act "in the national interest of Canada."

The move was seen by many as a way of checking the influence of foreign-based groups that are actively opposed to the expansion of the Alberta oilsands. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has gone so far as to complain about the effect of "environmental and other radical groups" on the Canadian economy.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com