A municipal committee has dismissed another complaint made by a failed Chatham-Kent mayoral candidate -- this time, alleging current Mayor Darrin Canniff violated the Municipal Elections Act.
Among the complaints in the application submitted by Robert Salvatore Powers was an allegation that a website registered to Mayor Canniff contravened the act because it was an expense incurred before the beginning of the election period. However, the report also notes that while Canniff did concede that the website was registered early, he also claimed it didn't cost him anything and Powers didn't submit any evidence to the contrary.
"The committee noted that the possibility, belief or speculation on the part of the applicant is not sufficient for this committee to recommend an investigation," the municipality said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the Municipal Elections Act, a candidate must not raise funds or incur expenses prior to registering for an election. If a candidate did not follow that law, they would be forced to resign from the office.
Power's complaint also alleged that media events held by Ben Labadie constituted a contribution to Caniff’s campaign but the committee rejected that complaint, too, saying the event did not appear to favour any one individual candidate. Therefore, the committee found "no credible reason to invest taxpayer funds in an audit of these public events organized by Mr. Labadie."
Through numerous complaints to the municipality, Powers also alleged that Canniff’s involvement in "Positivity Day" resulted in preferential media treatment but presented no indication of knowledge of facts to support the contention. Positivity Day was introduced by Canniff as an event aimed to get schools, residents, businesses and not-for-profits to create their own personalized positive video about Chatham-Kent.
A release from the municipality notes this is the 11th complaint application submitted by Powers in connection with the 2018 election. All of those complaints have been rejected.
Powers now has 15 days to appeal the committee's latest decision in the Ontario Court of Justice.
The deadline to submit an application for election complaints has ended.