The Mayor of Toronto has one less thing to worry about.
This morning the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal from the Divisional Court's decision in Magder v. Ford, 2012 ONSC 6929, a decision that kept Mayor Ford in office by reversing a lower court ruling that found him in breach of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and declared his seat on Toronto City Council vacant. The Court does not customarily give reasons for its leave decisions and none were released today.
The legal issue concerned whether Mayor Ford had voted on a matter involving a personal pecuniary interest. In this case, the Mayor had voted to rescind a decision of Council that required him to repay $3,150 in charitable donations made to the Rob Ford Football Foundation. The Divisional Court held that even though the matter engaged the Mayor's pecuniary interest, the vote was a nullity because City Council did not have jurisdiction to order the original sanction.
The sanction against the Mayor was ordered in response to a report from the City's Integrity Commissioner who found that Mayor Ford had improperly solicited charitable donations via his office and using City's official letterhead.
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Bennett Jones