COURT FILE NO.: TBD DATE: 20200324 ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

B E T W E E N:

DIMITRIOS KARAHALIOS, Applicant

– and –

CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA et al., Respondents

BEFORE: F.L. Myers J.

COUNSEL: Daniel Z. Naymark, for the Applicant

READ: March 24, 2020

Endorsement

The Application Background

[1] The applicant challenges his disqualification as a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada on March 20, 2020. He seeks a variety of relief including recognition as a candidate, funding, inclusion in leadership debates, and the like.

[2] The leadership contest is to be determined by a vote that is currently scheduled to be held on June 27, 2020. The formal list of eligible candidates is currently scheduled to be announced on March 25, 2020. Formal events such as debates are scheduled to occur in the next several weeks.

The Global COVID-19 Pandemic

[3] There is no indication in the materials filed whether the current state of the global pandemic is affecting this leadership race. It is affecting the court’s operations however.

[4] On March 15, 2020 the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice released a Notice to the Profession advising that as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the court had adjourned all scheduled civil hearings. The Notice to the Profession allows for the hearing of “urgent and time-sensitive motions…where immediate and significant financial repercussions may result if there is no judicial hearing.” It also allows for the hearing of strictly limited number of “other matter[s] that the Court deems necessary and appropriate to hear on an urgent basis.”

[5] In my view, this is a matter that is necessary and appropriate to hear. Although the application does not raise a strictly financial issue, it is time sensitive and the consequences have implications on the national political process in the country.

[6] I designate Mr. Justice Edward Belobaba to hear this application.

[7] Counsel are to contact Justice Belobaba by email to the Motions Coordinator as soon as counsel for the respondents have been contacted in order to schedule a first case conference to discuss the scheduling of steps in this proceeding. Counsel are to agree upon and propose to the court a few times at which they will all be available for the first telephone case conference.

[8] Counsel and the parties are to cooperate to an extraordinary degree to ensure that scheduling and procedural matters are resolved without the necessity of contested hearings to the fullest extent possible.

Process Issues

[9] The applicant shall commence this application forthwith. If counsel is unable to do so due to the court office being unavailable, counsel shall undertake to commence the proceeding as soon as practicable under Rule 37.17 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, RRO 1990, Reg 194.

[10] Service of any materials for this motion may be made by email to counsel for a party and shall be deemed effective on the date the email is sent or, if sent after 4:00 p.m., on the next day. No acknowledgement of receipt for email service is required for this motion.

[11] All evidence, motion records, and factums shall be filed with the court by delivering them as attachments to an email to the other parties and the Motions Coordinator in searchable PDF format. No Books of Authority or statutory materials are to be sent to the other parties or the Motions Coordinator. References to case law or statutory material shall be made by hyperlinks to contained in the parties’ factums or in a separate list of authorities.

[12] The hearing of the motion will be held by telephone conference on a line to be provided by the Motions Coordinator. The parties and the presiding judge may use videoconference technology (whether Skype or Microsoft Teams or otherwise) as may be available to them all and acceptable to the presiding judge.

[13] Upon the courthouse reopening to the public, each party shall file with the Civil Motions Office a hard copy of all the material he, she, or it delivered electronically for this motion, with proof of service, and pay the appropriate fees therefor.

[14] This endorsement is effective when made. No formal order is required.

[15] All parties are given notice that:

a. The presiding judge may convene one or more case conferences and make all orders as he or she deems appropriate under Rule 50.13(6) to ensure the efficient hearing of the urgent proceeding that is the subject of this endorsement; and

b. The outcome of the proceeding whether conveyed in typed or handwritten format is an order of the court enforceable by law from the moment it is released regardless of whether a signed order is signed or entered with the court;

c. All of the provisions of this order may be varied by the presiding judge on such terms and he or she deems just; and

d. All case conferences and hearings may be recorded for the court’s purposes.

F.L. Myers J.

Date: March 24, 2020