Ottawa·NewTuesday’s decision from Ottawa’s election compliance audit committee stems from a complaint filed against Menard by prominent local developer Fred Phillips.Lawyer for complainant argued not reporting old signs gave Menard an advantageCBC News · Posted: Sep 09, 2025 4:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes agoOttawa’s election compliance audit committee has decided not to refer an election expense reporting issue concerning Coun. Shawn Menard to a prosecutor. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)Ottawa’s election compliance audit committee has decided that Coun. Shawn Menard’s failure to fully report the value of old signs he re-used during the 2022 municipal election should not be reviewed by a prosecutor for potential charges under Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act. Tuesday’s decision stems from a complaint filed against Menard by prominent local developer Fred Phillips.The complaint led to a third-party audit of Menard’s 2022 election spending reporting. The audit found Menard failed to comply with the act because the amount he reported for the value of previous election campaign signs was inaccurate by $310.98. Phillips was not present for Tuesday’s entirely virtual committee meeting, but his lawyer, John Pappas, was.Pappas argued that by not reporting the old signs, Menard had an unfair advantage over other candidates that was “hidden from public scrutiny.””We’re not dealing with a neophyte or a newcomer to municipal politics,” he said of Menard. “We’re dealing with an incumbent candidate who has experience running in multiple municipal elections. And with this experience, the public would have higher expectations.”But committee chair Timothy Cullen said he struggled to see how Menard’s “administrative error” amounted to an advantage. “[Incumbent candidates] did not have to spend money in the present election to obtain the benefit of some good that is being reused,” Pappas replied. Menard spoke only briefly, pointing out that the auditor did not find any other irregularities in his reporting. There is no public interest in taking this further, he said.The independent committee has five members but only three were present on Tuesday: Cullen, Nahie Bassett and Imad Eldahr.Cullen said the “fairly low” dollar amount of the discrepancy, and the fact that Menard did not go over his spending limits, factored into the committee’s decision. The committee also disagreed with Pappas that what happened constituted an unfair advantage.
Shawn Menard’s election spending discrepancy won’t go to prosecutor, committee decides
