Green party kept donations meant for Glen Murray campaign in error

Glen Murray talks to media at Queens Park in Toronto on Thursday, December 12 2013. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)

Ottawa — The federal Green party says it accidentally kept donations that were meant to support the leadership campaign of Glen Murray.

The party says contributions meant for the former Winnipeg mayor and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister were incorrectly treated as general donations.

That led to what the party calls a "significant under-reporting" of the money Murray raised.

Besides making his fundraising look weaker than it was, the party says the mistake likely meant Murray couldn't afford to do all the campaigning he would have liked.

The Greens couldn't immediately say how much money was involved.

Voting for the party leadership has been underway since Saturday, with the winner to be announced this weekend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2020.