Court rules against ousted mayor of small northern Ontario city

A court has dismissed an appeal filed by Elliot Lake's Chris Patrie, who wanted to overturn a lower court decision that saw him removed from the mayor's office earlier this year for violating conflict-of-interest laws.

That complaint was filed in 2019 when Patrie was a city councillor working on the location for a future multi-purpose sports and recreational complex referred to as "the Hub." 

In January, the court found that Patrie tried to convince his fellow council members to build the project near a commercial plaza where he owns a store. 

In his appeal of that decision, Patrie raised eight different issues, including whether the city's integrity commissioner had the jurisdiction to investigate him in the first place.

He also argued that the judge made mistakes when admitting and weighing the evidence against him and that she had wrongly interpreted the Municipal Act.

He also argued that the $90,000 penalty imposed against him was inappropriate. 

The three judges of the Divisional Court who heard the appeal dismissed all of Patrie's arguments in their decision released Friday. 

They found the integrity commissioner consulting firm E4M did have the authority to investigate Patrie and agreed with the lower court judge's interpretation of the evidence. 

The judges also dismissed Patrie's request to have the $90,000 penalty against him lessened. 

That amount is meant to cover the legal fees of the Integrity Commissioner, who had to argue the case before the Superior Court after the complaint was launched. 

As he lost the appeal, Patrie will have to pay an additional $12,000 to cover the integrity commissioner's subsequent legal costs and he is  disqualified from running for office until January 2025. 

The role of mayor of the City of Elliot Lake has remained vacant since Patrie was ousted earlier this year, with city councillor Andrew Wannan serving as acting mayor since January 2023.

Council will now decide how to fill the city's top job permanently, with the options including the appointment of a new mayor and the holding of a by-election, with the next general vote not scheduled until 2026.