Ontario court won’t hear appeal in Trost’s battle against the Conservatives
SASKATOON The Court of Appeal for Ontario has refused to hear an appeal in Saskatoon — University MP Brad Trost’s ongoing court battle with the Conservative Party of Canada over a fine stemming from an allegedly leaked membership list.
The court, without providing reasons, last week declined to hear Trost’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that the party is a “private actor” and therefore its decisions — in this case a $50,000 fine — are not subject to judicial review.
That ruling, handed down this spring, left Trost — who ran for the party’s leadership last year, and subsequently lost his nomination race to Saskatchewan Party MLA Corey Tochor — on the hook for $22,000 in court costs.
“We’re pleased the court agreed this is an internal party matter, and a matter that shouldn’t cost the Conservative Party, and its members and donors unnecessary legal costs,” Conservative spokesman Cory Hann said in an emailed statement.
Trost said he was “not totally surprised” by the appeal court’s decision, and that while he has not made any decisions about whether to continue the legal fight, he plans to consider his options carefully.
“I have a very strong sense of right and wrong,” Trost said. He maintains that neither he nor his camp leaked the list, but that he is unable to prove who might have allowed the document to go out.
“And this whole incident has totally violated my sense of right and wrong. For me, politics is not usually about who has the most power. It’s about what’s right and what’s wrong, and that’s still the fundamental issue here.”
The well-known social conservative’s spat with the party began during the leadership race, when he was fined for allegedly leaking a Conservative membership list to the National Firearms Association, a gun owners’ rights group.
Telling CBC News that the accusation was a “deliberate smear,” Trost launched legal action against the party he has represented in the House of Commons since 2004 by requesting a judicial review of its decision.