Sudbury councillor accused of violating election spending rules says he did nothing wrong, serves city legal papers

Sudbury Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, who is facing Municipal Elections Act charges in connection with the 2022 vote, has served the city with legal papers and plans to defend his actions in divisional court.

The move comes after Sudbury’s election compliance audit committee decided Leduc should face legal action because of apparent contraventions of campaign finance rules during his re-election campaign.

The audit identified four areas where the Act was apparently violated.

The committee said the biggest issue is Leduc didn’t report five campaign expenses from a Grandparent’s Day event, which was held in September 2022. If those campaign expenses had been reported, the committee said he would have exceeded the campaign spending limit.

Under the Act, exceeding the spending limit forces a candidate to give up their council seat.

Leduc said he's sought legal opinion and said the committee was biased in its decision. As a result, he's seeking to have it overturned.

He said his lawyer has affidavits explaining contributions to his campaign and insisted he's done nothing wrong.

"I've put everything out front with the public,” Leduc said.

“It's the interpretation of the committee that I really don't agree with. The (Municipal Elections Act) was written back in 1996 -- it's 28 years old (and) needs to be redone."

Greater Sudbury confirmed it has received the court application and said it will be defending the committee's decision.

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"Municipalities in Ontario are required by the act to establish election compliance audit committees to consider applications for compliance audit of election campaign finances of candidates in municipal and school board elections,” the city said in a statement.

“The committee's processes and decisions are independent from city council. Municipalities are responsible for the costs of the committee's operation."