Thornhill candidates must pay own recount costs, judge rules

Aug. 27, 2014
yorkregion.com
By Simone Joseph

Have you wondered who paid the legal costs for the recount in Thornhill after June’s provincial election?

Both sides - a court has determined in a decision rendered this week.

This means Vaughan Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco and Thornhill MPP Gila Martow - or their parties - will pay their own legal costs.

Liberal candidate Yeung Racco had said she wanted to be reimbursed $24,670 by Elections Ontario for legal costs.

Martow’s costs totalled $38,313, of which she hoped $18,763.65 would be paid for by Yeung Racco.

Justice Peter Tetley’s decision was released to the media this week.

“I conclude there is no legal or factual basis for the applicant’s (Yeung Racco’s) claim for costs against Elections Ontario,” Justice Tetley said.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the tabulation of the vote on the election night, to cite Lederer J’s words in Wrzesnewskyj v. Canada (Attorney General) were not carried out, ‘by responsible public officials and well intentional individuals who are motivated by nothing less than a desire to do the job properly’,” he wrote.

“I’m not surprised,” Martow said Monday. “I am definitely disappointed.”

“We accept and respect the judgment of the judge,” said Yeung Racco’s campaign manager Milton Chan. “We don’t have strong feelings about this,” he said Tuesday morning.

On election night, Thursday, June 12, Yeung Racco was declared the winner in unofficial results by 85 votes.

During Elections Ontario’s official tabulation, a data entry error was discovered June 13 and Conservative candidate Gila Martow was declared the winner.

Yeung Racco requested a recount June 14.

“We are alarmed at the number of what Elections Ontario deemed to be ‘transposition and minor clerical errors’ that led to this decision,” she said.

But in Justice Tetley’s judgment, these errors were described as understandable.

“Given the number of votes cast in the riding, the various methods by which the votes were received and the number of polling stations and election officials involved, it is inevitable that some mistake would occur in the calculation of the the vote.”

Elections Ontario officials acted as they should have, Justice Tetley said.

“There is no evidence adduced before me to suggest that Elections Ontario or any of the named officials related to that organization acted in other than an unpartisan, neutral and professional capacity, in the determination of the vote and in the recount application process that ensued,” the judgment states.

The judge pointed out that the unofficial candidate results on election night are communicated to Election Ontario officials by phone from the polling stations and human error can occur.

“These vote totals, may, and often do, differ from official results on formal review by the riding’s returning officers,” Justice Tetley said.

Martow was hoping Yeung Racco would pay part of her costs, because she did not believe she deserved to pay these legal costs.

The recount, done at the end of June, showed Martow won by 106 votes.

“I didn’t feel I had done anything that warranted incurring the added expense,” Martow said. “I followed the rules of the election to the best of my ability,” she said.

The Provincial PC Thornhill Riding Association will cover the cost, Martow said.

The association is planning a fundraiser for the fall.

“We thought the recount was unnecessary,” said Jared Sarfin, president of the riding association.

With a byelection in February, Thornhill had two elections this year, which was already very expensive, he added.

“It is unfortunate. At the end of the day, we’ll have the bill to pay,” he said.

Sarfin pointed out that the results of the election were not murky for long.

“It was clear the next day who the winner was,” Sarfin said. “Once it was retabulated, it became very clear,” he said.

Who will pay Yeung Racco’s legal costs is still unclear, whether Yeung Racco will foot the bill herself, if the Thornhill Liberal Riding Association or anyone else, Chan said.

The cost of the recount was not Yeung Racco’s main concern, according to Chan.

“Cost is a peripheral issue. Our main concern was for the public to get the MPP it had voted for,” he said, adding the cost was a small amount compared to the overall cost of running the Thornhill election.

“Any reasonable person would want to make sure the correct results are secure,” Chan said.

Martow says she will abide by the judge’s ruling, pointing out a positive side effect of the election and recount.

“It woke up people to the fact that voting does matter. Make sure to make time to cast your ballot.The lesson is how much every vote counts.”