Opposition parties ask Ontario premier to replace candidate reprimanded for debt collection practices

Ontario opposition parties are calling on the Liberals to dump a candidate who was once reprimanded over her law practice, which used threats and intimidation to pursue debts for collection agencies.

Both the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats said Premier Kathleen Wynne should get rid of Deanna Sgro, who is running for the Liberals in Toronto. “I think the party should fire her,” deputy PC leader Sylvia Jones said.

The outcry came after Global News reported Tuesday that Sgro was disciplined by the Law Society of Ontario in 2013 when she went by the name Deanna Lynn Natale. A tribunal found she had “engaged in professional misconduct.”

Her Markham, Ont., law firm was the subject of “an extremely large number of complaints” over the tactics it used to convince Canadians they owed debts to collection agencies — even though many of them didn’t.

“I don’t think she is an appropriate candidate to stand for election,” Jones said.

The New Democrats said that by endorsing her as a candidate in the new Humber River-Black Creek riding, the premier was sending the wrong message to those who had been “hurt and bullied” by Sgro’s firm.

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“Kathleen Wynne owes it to families of Humber River-Black Creek, and all those victimized by Sgro’s law firm, to reconsider Sgro’s place on her team,” the NDP said in statement that called the Liberal candidate’s conduct “disturbing.”

According to the law society, a collection agency passed thousands of names of supposed debtors to Sgro’s law office. The firm then sent out letters, signed electronically by Sgro, that falsely claimed to be drafts of lawsuits that would be filed unless they paid up in 10 business days.

Sgro’s staff would follow up with repeated phone calls, some of which the law society said were “rude, misleading, harassing and threatening.” Those erroneously targeted by the firm included seniors.

The law society said her “abusive collections practice caused significant harm” with its “persistent intimidation, harassment, and repeated threats that provoked fear, anxiety, and serious consternation among the individuals pursued, many of whom actually owed no money to Ms. Natale’s clients.”

She was reprimanded rather than suspended, in part because the law society said she cooperated with investigators, had a clean record and “demonstrated sincere efforts to make changes to her practice upon receipt of the complaints.”

In July, she entered provincial politics as a Liberal candidate under the name Sgro. The Liberal party said it was aware of her law society disciplinary record but was nonetheless pleased she was running for office.

“This woman harassed me for years, made me feel powerless, for a debt I did not owe,” Dean Ray wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “When was the last time that a provincial party nominated someone disciplined by the law society for harassment?”

In a statement issued through the Liberal party on Tuesday, Sgro said she had taken over a law practice from another lawyer in 2007 and “quickly became responsible for over 40 people.”

“Unfortunately, some mistakes were made and as a lawyer I am responsible for all matters in my office including the behavior of my staff. I accepted absolute responsibility for their conduct, I fully cooperated with the law society and apologized.”

Sgro is the daughter of Liberal MP Judy Sgro. She graduated from Toronto’s Osgoode Hall law school in 1992. She said had “an otherwise unblemished career and in addition to my practice of law, I volunteer regularly for Law Help Ontario.”

But Cyma Musarat, the Ontario PC candidate in the riding, questioned whether Sgro was fit to be an MPP. “It is repugnant that Ms. Sgro made a living by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the people she is running to represent.”