September 22, 2003
The front runner in the 2003 Toronto mayoralty race should be investigated by Toronto police, says an Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge.
"(Jakobek) has reasonable grounds to support his belief that Ms. Hall has directly or indirectly contravened the election-campaign finances provisions of the (Municipal Elections) Act through the organization called Friends of Barbara Hall before her candidacy was declared on Jan, 2, 2003," Mr. Justice Brian Trafford wrote in a 15-page, Sept. 18 ruling.
Although Judge Trafford said that Tom Jakobek’s prosecution is not the proper legal route, he said Jakobek could go to Toronto City Council and ask for a campaign audit, or file a complaint with the Toronto police.
(Readers can find the full transcript of Judge Trafford’s ruling on this site.)
Barbara Hall, whose campaign is advertising a Sept. 30 champagne reception, did not seem too concerned with the judge’s ruling.
In fact, Toronto Free Press/Canadafreepress.com has written evidence that Hall had intended to stay in the race--even if Trafford ordered her to court.
…"Finally, a `tasteful’ way to show your support at a one-of-a-kind, wine tasting/fundraiser. Please join Barbara Hall, Wallace McCain and Tony Aspler, Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Brascan Financial Boardroom, BCE Place," stated a flyer obtained by TFP.
Torontonians were being asked to pony up $2,500 apiece to attend the champagne reception for Hall on Sept. 15--three days before Trafford’s ruling came down.
Wallace McCain and Tony Aspler work for the Barbara Hall campaign.
On Sept. 19, TFP called 416-227-2272, the number advertised on flyer. A young man, who said his name was Brian, answered the telephone from Hall’s campaign office. TFP asked to speak to McCain and Aspler. "I don’t think they’re here right now," the young man answered.
The young man then put the call through to Hall’s campaign manager, Paul Oliver.
This is the message left by TFP on Oliver’s voice mail: "Given the Sept. 15 flyer for the champagne reception, we are asking whether Barbara Hall intended to carry on with the $2,500 a plate fundraiser even if Judge Trafford sent her to court on Sept. 18."
Oliver did not return our call.
Who can say if a $2,500 per person champagne reception is a "tasteful" way for Torontonians to show their support for Hall, when she had a possible court date hanging over her head, due to allegations of illegal pre-election fundraising?
This mayoral candidate has not, and will not, appear on televised debates during the campaign.
Hall’s handlers must know that their candidate does not appear to have a good grasp of the issues being raised at all candidates meetings. They must know, too, that their candidate does not have the level of communication skills held by any one of the main four opponents in Toronto’s mayoral race.
Are these the main reasons why Hall will continue to be a no-show for televised debates during the municipal election campaign?
Rumours are also beginning to surface that Hall could be suffering from some physical malaise that is affecting her voice. Criticism of her slowness when she’s answering questions has surfaced from time to time in the mainline media. A prime candidate for elocution, Hall seems to have shown no marked improvement in her voice.
By not making their candidate available for televised debates, Hall’s handlers have taken a page from the book of Prime-Minister-in-Waiting Paul Martin, who seems to be riding out the Nov. 18 Liberal leadership race at his Quebec farm.
Hall’s campaign had the edge over her opponents by virtue of having kicked off months before theirs.
The mainline media in Toronto have created an image of an inevitable Hall victory from the beginning of the mayoral campaign. One popular radio call-in show even indicated that Hall should be declared mayor before Nov. 10th’s Election Day.
Toronto Star municipal affairs columnist, Royson James, wrote in an August column that Hall has already won the mayoralty.
It is a media-created image that has stuck throughout the campaign.
Rather than being wildly popular with the Toronto electorate, Hall had a decided edge over her opponents by virtue of having launched her campaign months before theirs.
But the local mainline media has been consistently wrong in predicting the outcomes of municipal election campaigns.
Predicted Toronto Star winners have fallen on election night, including the 1997 Megacity mayoral race, when Hall was soundly defeated by Mel Lastman.
Back in 1991, the newspaper predicted the victory of Coun. Jack Layton as mayor, who was in fact soundly defeated by June Rowlands.
Hall, who suffered a badly bruised ego in 1997, has been determined to get back into public life ever since her defeat.
A Ndipper masquerading as a Liberal, she has always managed to reinvent herself.
A jelled-up, short spiked hairdo became her trademark early in the 2003 campaign, when she began frequenting the city’s trendy gay bars.
Meanwhile, it is an insult to taxpayer intelligence that Hall continues to claim an arm’s length relationship with the Friends of Barbara Hall group, particularly when it was revealed that she had invested $5,000 of her own money to convince herself to run.
Three of Hall’s opponents in the mayoral are or have been lawyers.
"Barbara Hall’s a cheater," said John Nunziata at a York University mayoral debate earlier this week.
"I think what this ruling shows is how the elections act is almost unenforceable. There is no one overseeing it," said mayoral candidate Coun. David Miller.
Candidate John Tory believes the issue needs to be settled before voters go to the polls.
"Barbara Hall needs to be accountable," he said.
"She should step forward and do everything possible to ensure that either city council or the Toronto Police Service, or both, can reach a speedy conclusion on the legality or illegality of her activities."
Now that an Ontario Superior Court of Justice judge has found grounds to lay charges, it’s crucial to the integrity of the City of Toronto to have Toronto police investigate Barbara Hall.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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