Committee Unanimously Decides Ford Campaign Must Undergo Compliance Audit

By Hamutal Dotan

Rob Ford at his inaugural council meeting as mayor. Photo by Christopher Drost/Torontoist.

Last week, two Torontonians filed a detailed request for a compliance audit of Rob Ford’s mayoral election campaign—essentially, a request to determine whether Ford’s campaign followed all the relevant campaign finance rules. Today, Toronto’s Compliance Audit Committee, which is composed of three citizen (i.e. non-politician) members with expertise in auditing and election regulations, met to consider this request, along with another filed a few weeks earlier by another concerned resident.
A few minutes ago, after hearing from those residents, and lawyers representing Rob Ford, the committee voted unanimously that the concerns that have been raised have merit, and that Ford’s campaign finances must be formally audited by an independent, appointed auditor. (Thus far the documents he has submitted are from the audit the campaign itself conducted—all campaigns must submit such an audit to the City.) If the independent audit finds that election finance rules have been breached, Ford may face multiple fines, and in the worst (though highly improbable) case, removal from office.