Request to extend the voting period in Ontario’s Tory leadership race dismissed
TORONTO — The tumultuous Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race will end as planned Saturday after the party scored an important court victory, convincing a judge to reject a request to extend the contest by a week.
The latest battle in the chaotic campaign took place in a Toronto courtroom Friday with Ontario Superior Court Justice Todd Archibald ruling in favour of the Tories and rejecting the application of a disenfranchised party member.
Archibald said extending the race — which cost the party $1.5 million to run — would adversely impact the 60,000 people who have already voted in the race.
“This case turns on the balance of convenience,” Archibald wrote in his six-page decision. “The clear balance is in favour of the (party).”