Peterborough candidates Clarke, Wright clash as taxpayers group condemns Wright’s bid for mayor

Peterborough mayoral candidate Henry Clarke denies an accusation that his campaign team was part of a Canadian Taxpayers Federation email that urges residents not to vote for Stephen Wright, one his opponents in the mayoral race.

The accusation came from Wright, who was once employed by the federally incorporated non-profit organization, which lobbies for lower taxes. The email, issued to approximately 2,000 Peterborough residents, states that while the CTF won’t endorse a candidate, “we encourage you not to vote for Stephen Wright.”

Also running for mayor are Jeff Leal, Brian Lumsden and Victor Kreuz.

Global News obtained a copy of the email sent by CTF president and CEO Scott Hennig, who said the CTF was “extremely disappointed” with a 2012 Ontario Superior Court court decision that found Wright not guilty of fraud over $5,000. Hennig encouraged residents to learn about the case before voting for the city’s next mayor.

According to court summary documents, Wright was hired by the CTF in 2004 as a field agent to fundraise for the organization. However, his contract was terminated in August 2008 when the CTF learned he was also soliciting donations for companies he created called “Ontario Taxpayers,” “Ontario Taxpayers Association,” and “Advocates for Ontario Taxpayers.” An investigation by City of Kawartha Lakes OPP determined the total donations to those organizations was estimated to be $14,395, leading to the fraud charge.

During his trial, the Crown argued Wright had led donors to provide funds to his organizations, thinking they were supporting the CTF.

However, Justice Jennifer Blishen found Wright not guilty, stating that despite donors’ testimonies, the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wright “subjectively intended to deprive the individual donors and/or their businesses and/or CTF of funds by cheating, misleading or more specifically, by misrepresenting himself while canvassing.”

Wright was first elected to Peterborough city council as a councillor for Northcrest Ward in 2018.

In his email, Hennig says Wright is “not someone to be trusted, let alone be elected mayor of Peterborough.”

Last week, Wright raised concerns when a Word document with Hennig’s email was submitted to The Peterborough Examiner. The Microsoft Word document identified the author as “David Goyette,” Wright says.

Goyette is Clarke’s election campaign manager.

In an interview with Global News, Wright claims the “digital footprint” is an indication Clarke’s campaign penned the email.

“They made a statement, a story written by the Henry Clarke team. The digital footprint is all over it,” Wright said.

“This is the difference between new-school and old-school approach of politics. While they think mudslinging is the way to get a win and get these issues addressed. Our new way of approaching things is to focus solely on the issue.”

“The digital footprint is all over that letter. David Goyette authored the letter. David Goyette sent it to Taxpayers Federation. I’m on the Taxpayers Federation distribution list. I followed the digital timeline.”

However, Clarke denies that neither he nor anyone on his campaign team wrote the original CTF letter. He argued Hennig’s email was simply copied and pasted onto a Word document before it was emailed to the media.

“Let’s put this one right to rest: Yes, my campaign sent it along — as many campaigns do — to the media,” Clarke says.

“We did not write it. We did not edit it. We had nothing to do with it.”

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“But if you want to cut and paste an email into Word and save it, you’ll find that out that you are suddenly the author — doesn’t mean you ever wrote it. That was how it happened.”

Clarke, current city councillor for Monaghan Ward, says Goyette and another campaign both forwarded the CTF’s email to the media.

“We were not the only one, and (so did) many other individuals,” he says “It came to us third-hand, I believe, and we simply passed it along to the news media to decide if it’s a story or not.”

But Wright isn’t convinced. He says his campaign and legal teams will address the issue with Elections Ontario, arguing a third-party, non-registered agency in Ontario is “meddling in a municipal election affair.”

“That’s all I’m going to say on that. I am focused on my clear vision on what needs to happen to move Peterborough progressively forward,” Wright says.

“Ensuring we’re focusing on our community safety, our climate change, leading and engaging balanced growth, economic development, our airport strategy and reinventing our downtown.”

Wright also says his prior relationship with the CTF has been litigated and he will not discuss it. He notes he was recently endorsed by Kevin Gaudet, a former director with the CTF.

“The Henry Clarke campaign colluded with a third-party, non-registered agency, and as far as our campaign position is concerned, we will leave that to Elections Ontario to determine what they should do next,” he says.

Online voting for the municipal election began Oct. 1 and advance polls are held each Saturday leading up to the Oct. 24 election.

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