Appeals in the Sona Case Denied, the Man Himself is Now in Jail

In the Ontario Court of Appeal last Wednesday, Michael Sona arrived with one of three roads in front of him, more jail, less jail or the same amount of jail he was sentence to back in November. Ultimately, the three judge panel chose door number three, but does that mean the case is over, and what about the unanswered questions that linger still?

Sona and Crown Appeal Sentence Today in Toronto

We may have put a whole other election between us and it, but the robocall scandal returns to the foreground today when the parties arrive at Osgood Hall to appeal the sentence of Michael Sona. The Tory staffer has tried and convicted of  "preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting" back in 2014, but according to his appeal, Sona's been either punished too harshly, or, according to Crown, his nine month prison sentence is too light.

Galatianos Fights City Hall and Wins.. Ish

If Jim Galatianos can take pride in one thing, it's that he managed to subvert the old adage, "You can't beat city hall." But that surely comes as cold comfort to the former city council candidate who spent nearly six years and thousands of dollars to get City of Guelph staff to admit that they overstepped their authority when they removed what they called "debris," and added a charge to his tax bill for the privilege.

Robocalls: Klevering Loses Appeal, 2011 Results Stand

With just a few months to go before the 2015 Federal Election, the final battle of the last election finally ended with an appeals court affirming that the Guelph results of 2011 will not be overturned. Frank Valeriote will be allowed to serve out his term as Guelph MP for giving it up to his successor in October.

Urbacon Issue Finally Settled with Two More Cheques

It's been almost a decade of debacle, but the long legal fight between the City of Guelph and the contractor Urbacon over the cancellation of their contract to build the new City Hall and renovate the old one into the Provincial Court building, has been completely settled. 

Editorial - Final Thoughts About Sona Trial

A week ago today, Michael Sona was sentenced to nine months in prison and one year of probation. From all accounts it was an emotional affair for Sona's family as he was lead away in cuffs, remanded to begin his jail sentence, which could be as short as three months ultimately. In a sense, Sona was sentenced in this case long before last Thursday. Once a valued political operative in the party that so thoroughly stuffed hum under the bus to be run over again and again, he's lost friends, respect, and a career that could have taken him all the way to party leadership or his own elected position in Parliament. Now he's a machinist's apprentice going to prison for a crime that was much bigger than himself. Ultimately, Sona's biggest crimes were foolishness and naivety.

Press Release - City and Urbacon Settle Out of Court for Over $6.5 Million

If you're running for re-election to city council this is probably both good news and bad news. Good news because with the announcement of a settlement marks the end of what can liberally be called a debacle for the City of Guelph; but on the other hand it puts the issue right back on the front page as it were. The sunny side up statement from the city below goes out of its way to point out that the $6.635 million settlement will not impact property taxes in the City of Guelph, but Royal City citizens have got to be left scratching their heads as to what exactly will be delayed and/or cancelled with nearly $7 million going to pay off Urbacon. In the end, look for this to remain a fairly pointed election issue over the next several weeks.

Sona Found Guilty But May Not Have Acted Alone

Crown Prosecutor Croft Michaelson talks to media after the verdict

Wrapping up an odyssey that's been in play for over three years, Michael Sona was found guilty in a Guelph courtroom this morning of "willfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent an elector from voting." After a summation of the trial and the facts offered into evidence, Judge Gary Hearn rendered his judgment to a packed gallery of media and observers at the provincial courthouse on Wyndham Street. Hearn said that upon consideration of the "balance of evidence" he was satisfied that Sona had aided and abetted the May 2, 2011 robocall scheme to misdirect nearly 7,000 Guelph voters to different polling stations, and "was a party to it."

Sona Trial Begins With Testimony from Burke Campaign Team

For local politicos, this was the biggest thing to hit the Guelph scene since we had back-to-back federal elections in 2008. I know, we lead a dull life, but for everyone who have wanted to see some kind of justice come out of the 2011 attempt to defraud voters of their right to vote, all hope now rests on Courtroom #2 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Guelph. Michael Sona, the communications director for the Marty Burke campaign, arrived for the start of his trial in fine spirits. He said he felt "great" and was looking forward to seeing how it all played out. What played out Monday was a recital of uncertainty as the first three witnesses called to testify teetered between throwing Sona under the bus (again) and exonerating him by omission.

Court Rules That City Was in the Wrong When Urbacon Was Fired

With really only the controversy of the "Green Wall" mucking things up, life in the new city hall building at 1 Carden St has been pretty good these last four years. Still, getting the darn thing built came not without its fair share of controversy, including the eleventh hour firing of the contractor Urbacon. Naturally, court action followed, and the other day the ruling came down and it was in favour of Urbacon. The reasoning will be revealed later when the full decision is released, but for now, the spin has begun as the Urbacon ruling has become the season's first, full-blown election issue.

Robocalls - The "We Just Kidding" Excuse

The legal action around the 2011 robocall scandal is another reminder that real-life legal proceedings are nothing like Law & Order; one hour and you're done! The bad guys are in jail, and it's on to the next case. The comparatively glacial pace of real-life legal matters as compared to their fictional TV counterparts in understandable - We want justice, and we want it now! - but the wheels of jurisprudence grind slowly and deliberately. Every once and a while though, news breaks and we get somewhat closer to a resolution.

In the news this week were the details of a partially lifted publication ban on the case thus far against Michael Sona, director of communications for the Guelph campaign of Marty Burke during the 2011 election. Sona is charged with wilfully preventing or endeavouring to prevent a voter from casting a ballot, and the court placed a publication ban on the case this past August. After petitioning by various media sources, including PostMedia and the CBC, the ban was partially lifted in September, but the full ban coming off this past Wednesday. As for Sona himself, court proceedings have been held over till June at which point it will be decided whether or not Sona will be taken to trial, but the new papers suggest that he maybe somewhat less than the innocent pawn he's been selling himself as since he was thrown under the bus by the party he so loyally served last year.

This Time, David Won

That thud you heard last week was Nestlé Waters giving up its appeal to a decision made last fall by the Ministry of the Environment to grant them permission to take water from a Hillsburgh well with the caveat that their intake be reduced in times of drought. Nestlé's surrender is being seen as a victory by many of the local environmental groups, a capitulation by the industry that the unlimited taking of water from our local fresh water sources is going to be tougher row to hoe from this point on. But will that be the case?

New Transit Supervisor Fired Under Mysterious Circumstances

Taken on it's own, a press release sent out by the city yesterday was a bit on the mysterious side. "Bill Richardson, Guelph’s Transit’s recently hired Supervisor of Transit Mobility, is no longer employed with the City of Guelph, effective this afternoon," it said. 

The release went on to say the termination notice was tied to an arbitration ruling in a Hamilton court yesterday, the circumstances of which were not known at the time of Richardson's hire. It also said that Richardson's application to the Guelph job came complete with two satisfactory references from the Hamilton Street Railway. So it begs the question, what went wrong?

Sona Goes Under the Bus Again?

He said he didn't do it, but it seems that Elections Canada begs to differ in the case of Michael Sona and the great robocall election scandal of 2011. 

City of Guelph Acquitted of Charges in Warren Case

Hard to believe that it's been almost four years since teenager Isabel Warren died after a wall collapsed on her in a washroom at a south end park. The fallout included a full city review of facilities and resulted in more than a few closures and repairs in buildings across Guelph.

Since that time, it's been a point of legal curiosity if the City of Guelph was at all culpable in the death of this young woman, and on that account, the court finally release a decision today.

Press Release - City to Appeal Dolime Permit

It would surely be nice if the City saw all water taking permits as impacting with equally compelling zeal, but I digress.

Seriously, this actually might be worse than the whole Nestle situation. Think about the location - Wellington and the Hanlon - and what runs past there. Also, this news that Dolime wants to take more water comes with especially bad timing with recent reports that the Great Lakes are at near historic low water levels, and this just in, but the Speed River is part of the system that feeds into the Great Lakes.

Perhaps emboldened by the defeat of the Melancthon "mega"-quarry near Orangeville, the City feels that they have a good chance to get a stay. I hope so. Water is far too precious a resource, and I'm not yet sure people realize just how precious.

Ford Survives

It was somewhat of a surprise to both legal scholars and haters alike when at 10:30 am this morning came news that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford would be allowed to keep his job, and a November verdict that would have saw him removed from office on charges of violating the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act had been overturned. As consequence, Ford will remain Mayor of Toronto until the 2014 election.

The three justices of the higher court ruled that Charles Hackland's judgment of removal from office following Ford's February vote in a city council motion demanding he return over $3,000 in private donations to his footbal charity was basically too severe. Hackland, said the decision of the judges, acted outside the prevue of the available reprimands under both the MCOI and the City of Toronto Act, which recommends imposing “either of the following penalties:” a reprimand or a suspension of pay. In layman's terms, Hackland was given an inch, and he took a mile.

Going Mobile...

If you recognize the name Matt Wozenilek you're either presently a downtown business owner, or you remember the name vaguely from the classroom of your youth. The former-teacher has taken up the role of crusader in his retirement, his crusade is against obstacles to mobility and his Saladin is any downtown building that was built before more humane standards in construction were demanded in the name of human rights.

Under ordinary circumstances, Wozenilek would be the head of a movement, a local hero. But if you own a downtown building that pre-dates Pearson, the sight of Wozenilek coming your way might have you ducking for cover.

Wrapping Up the Year of the Robocall

The Guelph Mercury's choice of male Newsmaker of the Year was the disappointingly pedantic choice of Cardinal Thomas Collins, but really, did any Guelphite get more press in 2012 than Pierre Poutine?

Of course, as Scott Tracey pointed out in his column, there's no way to know if Pierre is a male, or even a Guelphite, but let's just make that assumption, especially given the fact that Elections Canada's suspect pool is all male, and were working in the Guelph area. And let's face it, on the one hand we have someone -alias be damned - who was part of systematic attempt to undermine our democracy, and on the other we have a man who got a promotion. Granted that promotion was to the College of Cardinals, but how many people in a given year get a promotion? Even I got a promotion this year.

I won't go so far as say that the Mercury copped out, but the robocall scandal represented, to me anyway, the most important political story in Canada in 2012. And even though the story has fallen off the front page for the most part, before we launch into the new year, there's still some developments to discuss.

The Incomprehension of Rob Ford by the Justice Charles Hackland

Tuesday's loss of the Metro Bowl by his beloved Don Bosco Eagles probably did nothing to help Mayor Rob Ford's mood. In a week when where he was basically fired, and as consequence lost in a legal fog of what happens in the meantime between appeals, stays, by-elections, appointments and other jargon, the man could have used a reason to perk up. But sadly, like a full term for his mayoralty, it was not meant to be.