Election spending audits requested for Horizon Ottawa, city council candidate

City Hall in downtown Ottawa is seen in this undated file photo. (CTV News Ottawa)

The city of Ottawa's election compliance committee has granted audit applications in two of three cases with regard to campaign spending in the 2022 municipal election.

The committee is an independent, statutory body responsible for reviewing and making decisions on applications for the municipal election campaign finance compliance audits. Following consideration of applications for a compliance audit, the committee may appoint an auditor to review campaign finances and decide whether to commence a legal proceeding.

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The committee was asked to consider election compliance audit applications of the campaign finances for Coun. Shawn Menard, Ward 20 candidate Doug Thompson and third-party advertiser Horizon Ottawa. The same Ottawa resident filed the applications for all three candidates.

On Monday, the committee rejected the audit application for Menard, saying there was no reasonable ground to believe a contravention took place, but granted audit requests in the cases of Thompson and Horizon Ottawa.

Thompson ran unsuccessfully for the Ward 20 seat, coming in second behind incumbent George Darouze by a margin of 238 votes. Thompson was the previous councillor in that ward from 2001 to 2014.

The committee found, and Thompson admitted, that his financial statements regarding the cost of signs re-used from previous elections was inaccurate. Thompson put the cost of the signs at $100, which he called an accounting error.

Thompson offered to file further materials, but the committee rejected them because the filing deadline has passed.

Horizon Ottawa was a registered third-party advertiser in the 2022 municipal election, and the audit application accused the group of benefiting from an event called "Horizonfest" in September 2022.

The event, described by Horizon Ottawa as a music festival, featured several council candidates, including Menard and Somerset Ward candidate Ariel Troster, who would go on to be elected councillor.

The complaint alleged Horizon Ottawa had an anonymous donation jar, which was not monitored to comply with election law stating donations could not be greater than $25.

Horizon Ottawa's lawyer told committee that Horizonfest was not intended to be primarily a fundraiser to purchase advertising, noting that Horizon Ottawa actually lost money on the event. He also said the complainant provided no proof that cash donations ever exceeded $25.

However, the committee found there was reasonable ground to suspect there was a violation based on social media posts advertising the Horizonfest event on social media on Aug. 12 and 20, 2022, days before Horizon Ottawa officially registered as a third-party advertiser.

The committee believes the applicant was reasonable in inferring that, at minimum, the costs incurred to design and produce flyers promoting the event violated laws saying that third-party advertisers cannot incur campaign expenses before they have officially registered, which Horizon Ottawa did on Aug. 24, 2022. The posters had already been produced and distributed in Ottawa prior to that date.

The city clerk has been directed to call up to three auditors for the committee to select to perform audits of Thompson's and Horizon Ottawa's respective campaign finances.

The decision of the committee to grant a compliance audit may be appealed to the Superior Court of Justice within 15 days after the decision is made, and the court may make any decision the committee could have made such as granting or rejecting the request for a compliance audit.

Should an audit proceed, the committee will review the auditor’s report and decide whether legal proceedings should be commenced against the candidate or registered third party advertiser for apparent contravention(s) within 30 days of receipt of the auditor’s report. 

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle.