PCs back candidate who broke election laws in 2014 and has criticized Doug Ford
The Progressive Conservative party is standing by Scarborough Centre candidate David Smith who was found guilty of violating the Municipal Elections Act in a 2014 school board election and has criticized Doug Ford's education policies.
Dave Smith paid the fine, corrected the administrative error, and since then has been re-elected by the people of Scarborough to serve as trustee," PC campaign spokesperson Christina Wramhed said in an email. In a subsequent email, Wramhed also said Smith was proud" to be running for the PCs.
In June 2017, Smith was fined $6,505 (including court costs) by Justice of the Peace Lorraine Watson after being found guilty of paying campaign expenses from his bank account, rather than a campaign bank account during his successful run to become a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee in 2014.
An audit found that Smith set up the campaign account after he won the election.
The NDP and Liberal parties blasted the PCs for keeping Smith as a candidate.
This is extremely disappointing to hear and only further proves that Doug Ford has questionable judgment and will let just about anyone run for him under the Conservative banner. We have rejected candidates for similar Municipal Elections Act violations and Mr. Smith would not be permitted to stand as a Liberal candidate given his ethical breaches," said Liberal spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks.
An NDP campaign spokesperson, citing a 2019 Smith newsletter, said Smith had previously slammed PC education policy. In the newsletter, Smith said Ford had turned a blind eye to the need of students."
Mr. Smith will have to answer for why he now wants to join the Conservatives after they slashed $800 million from our kids' classrooms, just like the Conservatives will have to answer for why they apparently agreed to look the other way on Mr. Smith's censure for running afoul of expense rules as a school board trustee," the NDP spokesperson wrote via email.
Wramhed defended Ford's education spending.
The Ford government has made record investments in Ontario's education system and Dave Smith is proud to be running as a member of Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative team," Wramhed said.
Former Kathleen Wynne adviser Mazhar Shafiq, who finished third in 2018, is running for the Liberals in Scarborough Centre. Former city councillor Neethan Shan is running for the NDP.
Smith was also censured by his fellow TDSB trustees in 2017 after the board's then-integrity commissioner Suzanne Craig found he had violated expense rules, offences unrelated to the Municipal Elections Act conviction. That censure vote by other trustees was unanimous.
In a meeting ahead of the vote, trustee Pamela Gough called the situation a humiliation to the whole board."
At the time, Smith - who had worked as an accountant for more than 30 years - insisted he hadn't violated the expense rules, and said he'd kept records very clearly" since first being elected in 2010.
In 2018, Christina Mitas won Scarborough Centre for the PCs. Mitas announced in early January that she wouldn't be running again.
When Mitas took it for the PCs in 2018, it was the first time Scarborough Centre had gone to the party since 1999, and came as the Liberal vote across the province collapsed. Mitas won with 38.45 per cent of the vote, beating out Zeyd Bismilla of the NDP, who finished with 33.36 per cent and the Liberals' Shafiq, who had 22.14 per cent.
The seat was held from 2003 to 2018 by former Liberal cabinet minister Brad Duguid.
With files from Star archives
Josh Rubin is a Toronto-based business reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @starbeer