Tories disqualify Karahalios – again

OTTAWA an Ontario judge overturned the Conservative Party’s disqualification of Jim Karahalios from its leadership race, the party has once again disqualified him.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Perell quashed the party’s initial disqualification of Karahalios because the decision was made by a subcommittee that didn’t have the authority to do so.

However, the decision left open the possibility of the party’s 18-member leadership election organizing committee (LEOC) taking up the matter and choosing to disqualify Karahalios through the proper means. LEOC met on Thursday and decided to do exactly that.

“In the decision, the judge makes clear that the authority to disqualify is reserved to the LEOC and the LEOC is in the position to determine if the conduct of Mr. Karahalios was such that he should be disqualified as a candidate,” said a statement from party spokesperson Cory Hann on Thursday.

“With that guidance in mind, and after a thoughtful meeting to deliberate the circumstances around the Chief Returning Officer’s decision in regards to Mr. Karahalios’ conduct, the LEOC has determined that Mr. Karahalios will be disqualified from the leadership election.”

Karahalios’ lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they will seek to challenge this in court.

Karahalios was barred from the race after leadership rival Erin O’Toole complained to the party that Karahalios had defamed O’Toole’s campaign chair, Walied Soliman, and engaged in “racist Islamophobic remarks that besmirched the expressed principles of the Conservative party,” according to the ruling.

The complaint related to a letter Karahalios circulated in February accusing O’Toole of promoting Shariah law by having Soliman, who is Muslim, on his campaign. It cited a decade-old newspaper article where Soliman answered readers’ questions about Shariah financial products. Karahalios has strenuously denied the letter was racist.

The race’s chief returning officer, Derek Vanstone, originally levied a $50,000 fine over the letter and ruled Karahalios needed a further $50,000 for his refundable deposit. Karahalios challenged that ruling to the four-member dispute resolution committee, who then chose to increase the punishment by disqualifying Karahalios. In his ruling, Perell said the dispute resolution committee only had the authority to recommend disqualification to LEOC.

Jim Karahalios