Coun. Mark Taylor off the hook over 'apparent breaches' of election finance rules

An independent prosecutor hired by the City of Ottawa will not proceed with action against Coun. Mark Taylor, even though it appears he contravened campaign finance rules during the 2014 municipal election.

Last December, the city's election compliance audit committee voted to prosecute the Bay ward councillorafter an outside audit determined Taylor had made a"clerical error"in how he carried over a deficitfrom the 2010 campaignto theone in 2014.

The city then hiredlawyer Tony Fleming from the firm Cunningham Swan to prosecute the case. According to a letter from Fleming to city solicitor Rick O'Connor, "there are apparent contraventions" of the Municipal Elections Act.

But the lawyer has the authority to decide whether to proceed with the prosecution. He found that there was no evidence Taylor or his team deliberately used the wrong form in their financial reporting.

"Undertaking a very high profileprosecution over what are, in our opinion, insignificant apparent contraventions to obtain potentially a low value fine is not in the public interest," wrote Fleming.