Del Mastro vows civil lawsuit
Former Peterborough MP disappointed after bid to appeal election overspending conviction dismissed by Supreme Court of Canada
Dean Del Mastro’s case won’t be heard by the Supreme Court, but he wrote on Facebook on Thursday that he plans to file a civil suit against Elections Canada.
The former Peterborough Conservative MP applied last fall for a hearing before the Supreme Court over his election fraud conviction, but the application was dismissed on Thursday morning.
The dismissal comes after he lost two appeals, one in Oshawa court two years ago and one at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto last year.
But Del Mastro wrote on his Facebook page Thursday that he’s asked his personal counsel, Jeff Ayotte, to file a civil suit against Elections Canada “for the negligent investigation that led to this unjust outcome in the first place.”
He also wrote that the Supreme Court failed all who voted for him in the 2011 election when it dismissed his case. “The decision was wrong then, it’s wrong today,” he wrote.
Del Mastro didn’t speak to The Examiner on Thursday, but he was interviewed by Colin Perkel of The Canadian Press.
“It seems like a modest word at times like these, but I’m obviously terribly disappointed,” Del Mastro told Perkel. “I had hoped to be able to fight for a just outcome through the courts, but it’s not to be.”
Del Mastro was found guilty of having overspent on his election campaign in 2008 and of having taken steps to cover it up.
But he was not returned to jail at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay on Thursday, stated his lawyer Scott Fenton, even though he only served 17 days of his 30-day jail sentence.
Fenton said Del Mastro has already served the custodial portion of his sentence. After a trial in Peterborough in 2014, he was sentenced to a month in jail and four months of house arrest from his 83-hectare farm in Bailieboro, south of Peterborough, although he told The Canadian Press he would be allowed to travel to his energy-development work a couple of times a week.
“I guess it’s more like farm arrest in this case,” Del Mastro said. “I wanted to start immediately, so I have.”
His conviction also precluded his
running for Parliament for five years from the time of the conviction (which was rendered on Oct. 31, 2014, nearly 3 ½ years ago.)
Within days of that conviction, the disgraced politician resigned the Peterborough seat he had won three times.
Del Mastro, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, remained defiant on Thursday, insisting the voters were shortchanged by what happened to him and refused to rule out another run for political office at some point.
“If I can’t get justice and a just outcome from the courts, then maybe I should seek it from the voters,” Del Mastro told CP.
“The most fundamental right of citizenship is people’s democratic franchise, and that’s what was crushed and taken away and that’s why the Supreme Court should have heard the case.”
On Thursday Fenton said he and his client are “extremely disappointed” that his case won’t be heard before the Supreme Court.
“He (Del Mastro) is both surprised and disappointed in the result, but the court has spoken,” he said.
At issue is a $21,000 personal cheque that Del Mastro wrote to a voter-calling firm that put him over the spending limit for his campaign.
His limit was $92,566; he spent about $17,000 more than that.
NOTE: View Dean Del Mastro’s statement at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.