This decision concerns an appeal under section 88.33(9) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, regarding the City of Ottawa Elections Compliance Audit Committee's refusal to order a compliance audit of a candidate's financial statement.
The court found that even a minor but substantive error in a candidate's Form 4 financial statement is sufficient to require an audit, and that the Committee erred in not ordering one.
The court ordered the Committee to appoint an auditor and clarified that the threshold for ordering an audit is low, focusing on transparency and accurate reporting rather than the magnitude of the error.
