OTTAWA - The federal opposition parties have been doing everything in their power to make a scandal out of less than scandalous material for several years. In fact, this effort has been so widespread that the term 'scandal' is in danger of being significantly watered down. Whether, it is Bev Oda or the much-discussed fighter-jet purchase order - it seems like the opposition strategy is simply to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

Since 2005, one of the war drums that the Liberals have been beating relates to *gasp* an election finance scandal. Supposedly, the Conservative party violated campaign spending limits through a financial 'in and out scheme.' This is surely the least interesting scandal that could ever bear such a suggestive moniker. Supposedly, the federal Conservative party headquarters co-ordinated advertising costs with local constituencies and candidates that still had spending room available during the election campaign.

Canada's election spending laws are so convoluted and vaguely worded that it was unclear whether or not a breach was even taking place under this arrangement - yet, even so this certainly does not measure up to the benchmark of a 'scandal.' After all, the Party did not try to hide what they were doing - they openly reported their expenses and spending, likely thinking that their cleverness was the only headline grabbing issue to be seized by the media.

Instead, Canada's mainstream media jumped right on top of this issue - likening it to real scandals (such as Adscam), and proclaiming this to be an assault on our fragile, embattered democracy. Liberal MPs have claimed that the Conservatives have been 'caught red-handed' and their fraud has been exposed.

I ask only this - what fraud? These funds were not illegal, or ill-begotten. This is a question only of whether the advertising was local or national in scope. As the Conservatives have argued quite accurately, this is really more of an administrative dispute than anything else.

Is this really a scandal? Money did not go 'missing' - it is very easy to see where it went. Advertising. And it was simply supplemental advertising, too. It did not wrongfully enrich anybody - no secret contracts here, or envelopes stuffed with cash. This is not a scandal - let us call a spade a spade and move on.