Chris Patrie won’t be returning to City Hall anytime soon.
The former mayor of Elliot Lake — ousted from office in January after a judge ruled he violated two sections of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act during his previous term as a city councillor — has lost his much-publicized appeal to a higher court.
In a 37-page decision released late Friday afternoon, a three-judge panel of the Ontario Superior Court’s Divisional Court ruled against each of Patrie’s eight grounds for appeal.
In particular, the court ruled that the original judge properly admitted and weighed all the evidence against him, and that the penalty imposed — a two-year disqualification from city council — was appropriate.
The appeal panel also refused to alter the lower court’s order that Patrie pay more than $89,000 in legal costs to the City of Elliot Lake’s Integrity Commissioner.
“Mr. Patrie has failed to identify an error of law or principle in the application judge’s costs decision,” the ruling reads. “There is no reason to interfere with this discretionary decision of the application judge.”
Years in the making, Friday’s judgment is the latest chapter in a small-town political saga that revolves around the proposed construction of a $30-million multi-purpose sports and recreational complex known as “The Hub.”
In September 2019, the city’s Integrity Commissioner concluded that then-Councillor Patrie violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA) by lobbying the mayor, fellow councillors and members of the public to build the Hub on a plot of land across the street from Oakland Plaza — a mall owned by a company, Klover Building Inc., that is owned by Patrie and his wife. The couple also operates The Trading Post at the plaza.
In particular, Patrie was accused of bullying and intimidating then-Councillor Luc Cyr into abstaining from a council vote, in 2018, to purchase the former site of the Algo Centre Mall as a potential location for the Hub. Because Cyr didn’t vote, that motion ended in a tie and the purchase was postponed.
In October 2019, the Integrity Commissioner commenced a court application to determine whether Patrie had indeed contravened the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act — and if so, what the appropriate penalty should be.
The application was heard in August 2021 but a decision wasn’t rendered for nearly 18 months, on Jan. 9, 2023. In the meantime, Patrie had run for mayor and won the election.
The judge’s ruling — a two-year ban from holding office — took effect immediately.
Patrie has been fighting ever since to overturn that ruling, but Friday’s decision from the Divisional Court leaves him in the exact same position.
“In imposing the penalty in this case, the application judge carefully considered the evidence, the aggravating and mitigating factors, and the principles in relation to the duties of members of municipal councils endorsed by the province of Ontario and set out in the MCIA,” the ruling reads. “The application judge made no error in principle and there is no reason to disturb her decision with respect to penalty in this case.”
The panel also ordered Patrie to pay an additional $12,000 in legal costs to the Integrity Commissioner, bringing the grand total to more than $100,000.