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December 23, 2011Mayor Rob Ford’s legal team has filed a motion in the Ontario Court of Justice relating to its appeal of the May 2011 decision to order an audit on Ford’s election campaign finances. Ford’s lawyers are seeking to have the decision of the Compliance Audit Committee discounted entirely by the court and the opportunity to introduce new evidence.
Opposing Ford’s motion are Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler and Max Reed, the two citizens who brought the successful application for an audit of Ford to the Compliance Audit Committee. While these citizens will present their full response to Ford’s motion in January, Chaleff-Freudenthaler offered the following comments:
“In May, the Compliance Audit Committee made a lawful decision based on the overwhelming evidence that was presented to it showing reasonable grounds for an audit of Rob Ford’s election campaign. At that time, Ford had a chance to present all the evidence he desired to rebut our allegations but chose not to. In our view, there is no reason for a court to undermine the Compliance Audit Committee.”
A December 21 Ontario Court of Justice decision (Dickerson v. City of Pickering) found that no new evidence should be allowed in an appeal of a Compliance Audit Committee decision. The Supreme Court of Canada has found similarly in more than one dozen cases that pertain to a wide range of tribunals that are similar to the Compliance Audit Committee.