Supreme Court won’t hear Toronto Coun. Jim Karygiannis’ bid to keep seat

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear a Toronto city councillor’s bid to hang on to his position.

Jim Karygiannis faced removal from office after exceeding a spending limit by about $25,000 during the 2018 election.

Under Ontario’s Municipal Act, such a spending violation results in automatic forfeiture of office.

However, an Ontario Superior Court judge allowed Karygiannis to keep his seat upon deciding the error at issue was made inadvertently and that he had not tried to hide anything.

The Ontario Court of Appeal then set aside the lower court decision, saying there was no jurisdiction to provide relief from forfeiture.

As usual, the Supreme Court gave no reason for refusing to hear the appeal.

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