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Description
Election Compliance Audit Committee - 16 December 2019 - Part 1 of 2
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWZ-IC3oYbk
The Election Compliance Audit Committee is an arm’s length City of Ottawa Committee and does not report to Ottawa City Council. Election Compliance Audit Committee reviews applications for compliance audits of the election campaign finances of candidates and registered third-party advertisers and considers report(s) from the City Clerk and Solicitor on apparent contraventions of contribution limits.
Agendas, minutes, decisions and more information on the Election Compliance Audit Committee may be found at: http://ottawa.ca/ecac
A
A
A
All
in
favour,
their
numbers
unanimously
confirmed.
Thank
you
before
considering
the
contributor
report
that
is
before
us
today.
I
would
like
to
make
a
brief
statement,
as
required
by
section
88
34
of
the
municipal
election
Act.
The
city
clerk
has
reviewed
contributions
made
to
candidates
and
registered
third-party
ad
advertisers
and
has
prepared
reports
outlining
any
apparent
over
contributions
by
contributors
to
assist
the
clerk
in
carrying
out
this
legislative
duty.
The
clerk
has
retained
an
auditor
to
review
the
contributions
and
report
his
observations.
A
The
clerk's
auditor
has
now
completed
as
review
and
the
clerk
has
prepared
six
contributor
reports.
Those
reports
were
submitted
to
the
committee
for
its
consideration
on
December
the
6th
2019.
The
committee
deferred
consideration
of
one
report
relating
to
john
vidal
to
today's
meeting
at
the
request
of
mr.
Adele's
Council.
A
A
Neither
this
committee
nor
any
auditor
before
the
committee
today
has
any
power
to
determine
whether
a
contravention
of
the
act
has
in
fact
occurred.
That
Duty
is
left
entirely
to
a
court.
The
contributor
or
his
counsel,
or
both
may
make
submissions
to
the
committee
on
today's
item.
If
they
wish,
once
any
speakers
have
spoken
committee
members
may
ask
them
or
city
staff
questions
or
speak
to
the
matter,.
A
The
committee
will
then
recess
the
meeting
to
deliberate
in
private.
It
will
then
reconvene
to
issue
a
decision
by
motion.
If
the
committee
decides
to
commence
legal
proceedings,
the
city
clerk
will
work
with
the
city
solicitor
to
carry
out
the
required
steps
to
implement
the
committee's
decision,
including
the
retention
of
an
independent
prosecutor.
Once
the
prosecutor
is
retained.
A
Mr.
additions
law
firm,
the
committee's
normal
independent
counts,
has
requested
that
the
committee
provide
its
consent
to
him
losing
himself
excusing
himself
from
consideration
of
these
contributors.
Reports,
as
his
firm
has
represents
one
of
the
contributors.
The
committee
has
agreed
to
that
consent
and
retained
alternative
independent
legal
counsel,
whoever
vailable
on
request
I
trust
that
everyone
who
wishes
to
speak
today
has
filled
out
a
request
to
speak
form
and
has
submitted
it
to
the
coordinator.
A
B
B
We're
gonna
get
we're
reiterating
not
introducing
anything
new
today,
it's
it's
sort
of
a
reiteration
and
clarification
of
those
submissions,
asking
that
the
committee
not
exercise
its
discretion
to
commence
proceedings
against
mr.
Vidal.
Mr.
Vidal
was
not
aware
of
the
$5,000
limit
and
if
he
were
aware,
he
would
have
complied
with
it
and
while
the
the
provisions
of
the
municipal
election
act
provided
that
this
is
a
strict
liability,
offense,
so
meaning
from
a
legal
perspective.
The
person's
intentions
is
not
considered
at
First
Instance.
B
That
intention
is
considered
and
is
important
context
when
a
court
considers
whether
or
not
the
contributor
exercise
due
diligence
so
said
in
another
way,
in
a
prosecution,
the
court
will
ask
itself
whether
mr.
Vidal
acted
reasonably
and
to
inform
or
reasonable
actions.
We
submit
that
the
court
would
consider
the
context
which
includes
the
obligations
of
the
candidates.
B
Section
88.2
to
1/r
of
the
Municipal
Elections
Act
requires
the
candidates,
inform
potential
contributors
of
the
limits,
including
that
$5,000
total
limit
and
mr.
Vidal
received
solution.
Solicitation
emails
for
of
those
emails
themselves
did
not
reference
the
$5,000
limit
for
the
fifth
contribution.
Mr.
Verdell
does
not
recall,
specifically,
it
was
likely
a
telephone
conversation
that
led
to
that
I
wasn't
able
to
find
any
emails
in
relation
to
say,
but
in
responding
to
this
matter,
we
with
full
disclosure.
Mr.
Vidal
did
become
aware
that
one
of
the
PDF
attachments
from
from
mr.
B
Watson's
campaign
did
reference
that
limit,
but
but
mr.
Vidal
had
doesn't
recall,
looking
at
that
PDF
and
just
it
was
a
mistake,
and
he
wasn't
aware
of
it.
He
did
comply
with
the
$1200
per
candidate
limit
because
he
was
aware
of
it,
and
I
would
suggest
that
that
goes
to
the
credibility
of
saying
the
the
the
you
know.
If
he
was
really
disregarding
it,
why
would
he
comply
with
the
1200
but
not
comply
with
the
$5,000
and
and
further
we
submit
that?
It's
not
in
the
public
interest
to
commence
cheating's
against
mr.
Vidal.
B
A
C
C
D
D
C
A
A
D
Yes,
mr.
chair
bill,
181
the
municipal
election
modernization
act
in
2016,
amended
the
Municipal
Elections
Act
and
introduced
this
new
requirement
that
the
clerk
report
on
any
apparent
instances
where
a
contributor
appeared
do
you
have
contributed,
contributed
more
than
the
1200
or
$5,000
limits.
Okay,.
A
A
B
E
Thank
you
for
this
opportunity,
I'm
just
here
to
speak,
to
my
points
of
view
on
the
merits
of
the
public
interest
of
having
this
committee
recommend
this
particular
matter
for
prosecution,
I'm
essentially
arguing
the
inverse
of
the
previous
comments.
Money
is
power
and
mr.
riddles
over
sorry
rails
over
contributions
violated
the
quality
of
opportunity
for
election
candidates
in
four
different
wards
and
for
the
mayor's
race.
Mr.
riddle
likely
gave
one
to
many
$1,200
checks.
It
seemed
he
had
a
desire
to
contribute
the
maximum
to
each
candidate,
which
is
entirely
valid
and
produced
one
additional
check.
E
We
can't
blame
the
candidates
for
that,
but
unfortunately
they
were
given
an
unfair
advantage
over
their
competitors
in
the
process
that
decides
who
is
going
to
run
our
city,
one
of
the
most
important
decisions
that
happens
relating
to
the
the
place
we're
in
right
now,
the
over
contribution
to
mr.
Qadri
was
eight
point:
eight
percent
of
his
rivals
entire
budget.
It
was
similarly
six
point
five
percent
of
harder.
The
harder
campaigns
rivals
budget
in
Ward
two.
It
was
seven
percent
of
the
of
the
rivals
budget
and,
finally,
the
contribution
to
mr.
E
Ellison
theory
was
10%
of
the
rivals
budget.
These
are
significant
disturbances
in
the
sanctity
fairness
and
integrity
of
our
democratic
process.
How
many
ads
in
local
papers
were
the
preferred
candidates
able
to
purchase
with
additional
funds
that
they
were
given
beyond
the
limits?
What
effect
might
those
additional
ads
have
had
in
the
outcome?
This?
The
list
of
questions
goes
on
and
on
and
unfortunately
those
questions
are
unanswerable.
E
We
cannot
know
how
the
process
was
disturbed
by
the
over
contributions,
so
I'm
glad
the
Ontario
law
was
changed,
requiring
the
clerk
to
produce
the
report-
that's
before
you
today,
but
that
is
only
one-half
of
the
corrective
measures
that
the
Ontario
government
chose
to
put
in
place.
The
other
half
of
those
corrective
measures
is
this
body
proceeding
on
the
very
clear
apparent
over
contributions.
E
This
body
simply
can't
make
that
finding
that's
why
this
body
is
charged
with
you
know,
dealing
with
administrative
errors,
as
we
saw
the
previous
meeting
errors
in
paperwork
that
make
an
apparent
over
contribution,
with
a
little
bit
of
review,
become
not
over
contributions
after
we
can
see
some
paperwork,
that's
an
improvement
in
this
case.
It's
very
clear
that
there
are
no
such
you
know.
Accidental
things
happening.
E
This
is
a
clear
breach
of
the
law,
as
the
council
mentioned
that
that
the
intent
does
not
matter,
and
this
body
I
believe,
must
precede
the
correct
body
to
accept
admissions
of
guilt
or
make
those
public
interest
findings
about
what
should
happen
in
this
case
is
a
prosecutor
who
can
negotiate
with
a
defendant
come
to
that
finding
make
a
make
a
sworn
statement
with
a
sworn
admission
of
guilt,
and
that
is
the
intended
outcome
of
the
law
that
the
Ontario
government
put
in
place.
So
I
encourage
this
committee
to
proceed
as
needed.