This morning, a judge denied Mayor Rob Ford’s eleventh-hour request to delay a hearing for eight months that will determine whether Ford will face an audit of his election campaign finances.

Had Ford been granted a delay it would have almost certainly allowed him to avoid an audit until after the next election, and would compromise the ability to prosecute Ford if the audit were to have found he broke election rules due to strict time limits in the Municipal Elections Act.

“We are pleased that a judge saw through Mayor Ford’s transparent attempt to delay a decision on whether he will face an audit,” said Fair Elections Toronto spokesperson Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler. “It’s time the mayor stopped playing costly legal games with taxpayers’ money and opened his books to the auditors.”

Fair Elections Toronto’s opposition to Ford’s delay was supported by the City of Toronto, whose lawyer told the court, “it is not in the public interest” to allow Ford to further delay a decision on whether an audit will be conducted.

But following this morning’s appearance at Old City Hall court, Ford’s lawyer warned that he is still considering other legal avenues to create further delays ahead of the April 16-18 hearing on the audit.

Fair Elections Toronto will continue to fight any unreasonable delay to justice to ensure that any politician who breaks municipal election laws is held accountable for their actions.