Del Mastro risks losing ‘everything,’ court told

Former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro did not apologize for breaking spending rules in his 2008 campaign, instead telling a court on Tuesday how difficult the prosecution and trial had been on his family.

Speaking at the end of the sentencing hearing, Del Mastro, 44, described a 2 ½-year ordeal since he learned of the Elections Canada investigation into his campaign finances. The investigation and trial, Del Mastro said, has taken a financial, physical and emotional toll.

He was found guilty in October of overspending on the campaign, breaking his personal campaign contribution limit and filing a false return with Elections Canada to conceal the overspending. His campaign official agent, Richard McCarthy, was also found guilty.

With his voice quivering, Del Mastro recounted a life that had taken him from a childhood in a “poor but hardworking and closely-knit farm family,” to becoming MP and parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.

“Everything I have worked for, or achieved in my life, I have lost, or is at risk, from these proceedings,” he told the court.

The only regret he expressed in his statement was that he had ever met Frank Hall, co-owner of the voter-contact firm at the centre of the case and key witness against him, and the impact of the charges on his immediate and extended family.

“I never realized I was placing them in harm’s way simply by entering public life,” he said. He told the court he “deeply regretted” that effect of the case on them.

Many of his family members, including his wife Kelly, were in the courtroom to hear his statement.

The closest he came to contrition for the offences was a reference to the many sleepless nights he suffered since Cameron’s guilty verdict.

“My thought and prayers were dominated by questions, research, and discussions about things we could have done differently,” he said.

The former MP’s apparent lack of remorse was cited in sentencing arguments from Crown prosecutor Tom Lemon earlier in the case.

After he was found guilty in October, Del Mastro told reporters the verdict was simply Judge Lisa Cameron’s “opinion.”