City drops legal action against Horizon Ottawa

OttawaThe City of Ottawa is no longer pursuing legal action against Horizon Ottawa for alleged breaches of campaign finance rules during the 2022 election.Fruitless audits stemming from 2022 municipal election cost taxpayers $456KGabrielle Huston · CBC News · Posted: Oct 16, 2025 5:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoAn independent prosecutor has advised the City of Ottawa that it’s ‘not in the public interest’ to pursue legal action against a progressive advocacy group over alleged campaign spending infractions during the 2022 municipal election. (Jean-Sebastien Marier/CBC)The City of Ottawa is no longer pursuing legal action against Horizon Ottawa for alleged breaches of campaign finance rules during the 2022 municipal election.An independent audit in July found it reasonably likely that the progressive advocacy group violated the Municipal Elections Act when it promoted a festival attended by candidates before registering as a third-party advertiser. Council approved the audit and the case was referred to the independent prosecutor in August 2024. In a memo to members of council on Thursday, however, the city clerk said the prosecutor had advised on Sept. 25 that in their opinion, continuing with the case was “not in the public interest.” The clerk did not elaborate on the prosecutor’s reasons for offering that advice.”We were elated to be exonerated,” Horizon Ottawa board member Sam Hersh told CBC News on Thursday. “We’ve always maintained our conduct was in good faith.” Audits, advice cost $456KAll audits stemming from the 2022 municipal election are now complete. The Election Compliance Audit Committee (ECAC) decided against pursuing legal action against Capital ward Coun. Shawn Menard and candidate Doug Thompson, who were also accused of contraventions.The ECAC reached those decisions in September.Altogether, the audits and legal advice cost taxpayers a combined $456,172, the memo revealed. Hersh said it wasn’t in the public interest to spend so much money investigating minor campaign financing infractions, and again questioned the motives of the prominent local developer whose complaints spurred some of the audits.He noted that Menard’s discrepancy amounted to about $300. The audit into Horizon Ottawa focused on about $1,400 in spending.The city initially decided not to audit Menard, but was forced to pursue the case after an appeal.