Back in June, I shared with you the news that the Conservative MPs filed an outrageous request seeking reimbursement of $355,907 in legal costs. They wanted the nine individuals who bravely launched the election fraud cases to pay for the Conservative Party’s lawyers – even though they were the ones who needlessly drove up the cost by bringing countless procedural motions to keep the case from even being heard.
At the time of his ruling, the judge called these delaying tactics “trench warfare.” In his latest ruling on costs, he made sure that such trench warfare was not rewarded.
Rather than the outrageous $355,907 the Conservative MPs requested, the judge awarded them a truly modest amount – the $1,000 security deposit for each application plus $6,206 in disbursements, which is about five per cent of what they wanted.
In his decision, the judge made note of what you and I have known all along: that “the applicants in this matter were genuine public interest litigants motivated by a higher purpose” who “stood to gain nothing other than the vindication of their electoral rights.”
And thanks to donations from thousands of generous Canadians like you, vindication is exactly what the nine individual applicants received. It was in the original ruling that found that widespread voter suppression took place and that the likely source of the data used to perpetrate this fraud was the Conservative Party database. It’s in this latest decision rebuking the Conservative MPs’ exorbitant demand for costs.
Time and again, the individuals who launched these cases have proven the legitimacy of their cause. Thanks to their efforts and yours, election fraud is not just a passing scandal but an ongoing concern.
While these cases may be over, our quest for a vibrant democracy is not. Have you signed our petition to end electoral fraud yet? We need electoral reform legislation with real teeth to make sure something like this never happens again.
Thank you for standing up for our fundamental right to vote.
With hope and resolve
