Liberals stick with candidate reprimanded by law society

The Ontario Liberals are standing by their candidate in a Toronto riding even though she was reprimanded by the law society over abusive and harassing tactics used by her firm when working for debt collectors.

“As part of our candidate vetting process, (Deanna Sgro) was upfront and made us aware of this situation,” said Patricia Favre, the Ontario Liberal Party’s vice-president of communications, via email.

“The interactions that led to the ruling from the law society were clearly unacceptable. Deanna took full responsibility for her staff, apologized and worked with the law society to address these matters at the time.”

Sgro — whose mother Judy represents the Humber River-Black Creek riding federally — was disciplined by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2013 for professional misconduct fol- lowing 155 complaints of aggressive and threatening behaviour by her staff.

She was found not to have properly supervised her staff, who “crossed the line” during phone calls as they attempted to get people to pay. As well, letters signed by Sgro — who at the time went by the name Deanna Lynn Natale — included “draft” court documents that led many recipients to believe legal action had been started.

The law society panel characterized the practice as “deceitful and misleading.”

On Tuesday, Sgro said in a statement that she took over the firm years ago.

“Unfortunately some mistakes were made and as a lawyer I am responsible for all matters in my office including the behaviour of my staff” and said she “fully cooperated with the law society and apologized,” Sgro said.