Former Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro is back in jail after losing a second appeal for his conviction of election fraud.
On Wednesday the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision from an appeal hearing which was held in June at Osgoode Hall in Toronto.
Del Mastro, the former Conservative MP, was found guilty in October 2014 of election fraud. Court heard then that Del Mastro had written cheques totaling $21,000 for voter polling software from a former company called Holinshed. During trial testimony, Holinshed owner Frank Hall said Del Mastro requested that invoices be backdated before the election campaign.
Del Mastro then submitted a false return to Elections Canada. At the time, Superior Court Justice Lisa Cameron ruled that Del Mastro had deliberately broken spending rules then tried to cover it up.
“He was prepared not only to break the rules but to be deceitful about it,” Cameron said then.
Outside the courtroom Del Mastro dismissed Cameron’s ruling;
“I know what the truth is. That’s her opinion. My opinion is quite different,” Del Mastro said on Oct. 31, 2014.
Days after his conviction an emotional Del Mastro – who was once parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, resigned his seat in the House of Commons.
In June 2015 he was sentenced to a month in jail and four months house arrest. However he spent just one night in jail before he was released for an appeal which he lost in April 2016.
Del Mastro then spent another six days behind bars before he was granted another release for another appeal.
On Wednesday the Court of Appeal stated that Cameron did not make any errors in the original trial and that the subsequent ruling to dismiss his appeal was correct. The full court ruling can be found here: http://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2017/2017ONCA0711.html
Del Mastro’s lawyer Scott Fenton of Fenton, Smith Barristers in Toronto, says they may consider filing an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“My client is very disappointed with the Court of Appeal’s decision concerning important matters regarding the proper interpretation of the Elections Act as they impacted his trial,” Fenton wrote in an email to CHEX News.
“We are actively considering an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. ”