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BREAKING: For a third and final time, Jim Karygiannis has been kicked out of office. The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected his last-ditch effort to keep his Scarborough seat. He is no longer a councillor and has no more legal options. Story coming.
This has been a long legal saga and it all started with the reporting of veteran city hall watcher @DavidNickle, who I respect and admire. Community news matters. https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/05/09/scarborough-councillor-raised-150000-over-spending-limit-in-toronto-election.html
That reporting was noticed by Toronto resident and fair elections advocate @AdamCF. With lawyer @SGAylward, they fought Karygiannis' attempts to get reinstated https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/06/04/request-made-for-audit-of-toronto-councillor-jim-karygianniss-election-spending.html
Karygiannis was first informed by city clerk in November last year that he had overspent a strict campaign limit and was therefore automatically removed from office. That was some press release - I remember running to get @DavidNickle, who was on the phone https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/11/06/councillor-jim-karygiannis-removed-from-office-over-campaign-expense-violations.html
Karygiannis successfully asked a Superior Court judge to reinstate him. The judge agreed there seemed to be an "absurdity" in provincial legislation that caused him to be automatically ousted https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2019/11/25/judge-rules-jim-karygiannis-can-have-seat-back-on-toronto-city-council.html
Chaleff appealed that decision ( https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/05/27/court-of-appeal-to-decide-if-judge-was-right-to-reinstate-coun-jim-karygiannis-despite-campaign-overspending.html) and won, with a panel of judges agreeing the automatic ouster is exactly what legislators intended https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/06/24/coun-jim-karygiannis-removed-from-office-again.html
Karygiannis took his fight to the Supreme Court which chooses which cases to hear https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/06/27/ousted-toronto-city-councillor-jim-karygiannis-taking-bid-to-reclaim-seat-to-supreme-court.html and temporarily got his seat back while we waited for today's decision https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/08/05/jim-karygiannis-gets-his-toronto-city-council-seat-back-once-again.html
And now, here's the final chapter: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/09/24/jim-karygiannis-removed-from-city-council-for-a-third-and-final-time.html
Here's the release dismissing Karygiannis' application. There are never reasons, it's just a yes or no https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/news/en/item/6945/index.do
Jim was a colourful character from the day we arrived at city hall, where most people call him "Jimmy K" https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/06/13/councils-new-lone-wolf-jim-karygiannis.html
He butted heads most often with Speaker Frances Nunziata, who often had to tell him he was out of line. He did not take kindly to this.
Earlier this year, I investigated how he was aggressively policing his own constituents over possible by-law infractions. "There's a new sheriff in town." https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/02/08/toronto-city-councillor-says-he-ignores-bylaw-infractions-if-they-vote-for-us-theyre-volunteers-and-they-donate-money.html
Lastly, I will never not giggle at this quote, courtesy @Samantha_KB https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2018/10/23/rookies-on-toronto-city-council-could-hold-balance-of-power.html
/end
Update: City press release says council will get report next week on options to replace Karygiannis. They can appoint or hold a by-election. Holding a by-election would be very interesting given the state of the city's voting machines, as we heard yesterday, and ongoing pandemic.
Statement from Karygiannis on his website:
